[Much of my site will be useless to you if you've got the images turned off!]

p60 Auditorium Maecenatis

Article on pp60‑61 of

Samuel Ball Platner (as completed and revised by Thomas Ashby):
A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome,
London: Oxford University Press, 1929.

Auditorium Maecenatis: the modern name of the remains of a building that stands in the angle between the via Merulana and the via Leopardi. p61 This building is constructed of opus reticulatum of the time of Augustus, and stands obliquely across the line of the Servian wall. In form it is a rectangular hall with a semi-circular apse at the west end, the total length being 24.10 metres and the width 10.60. Since the floor is 7 metres below the ancient level of the ground, the hall had to be entered by an inclined plane. The walls reach 6 metres above the ancient ground level, and the roof was probably vaulted. In the apse are seven rows of curved steps, arranged like the cavea of a theatre. Above the steps in the apse are five niches, and six more in each of the side walls of the hall. All of these were beautifully painted with garden scenes and landscapes in the third Pompeian style, but the frescoes have mostly disappeared. The original pavement was of white mosaic, over which a later pavement of marble was laid. The purpose of this hall is unknown. It is probably not an auditorium, but may have been a sort of conservatory, although it is difficult to see how it could have been properly lighted. It has been ascribed to Maecenas because his Horti (q.v.) were supposed to have extended as far south as this point, but this is very uncertain (HJ 351; AJA 1912, 390, 394; Reber 488‑491; Bull. d. Inst. 1874, 141‑44; 1875, 89‑96; Ann. d. Inst. 1880, 137; BC 1874, 137‑171; 1875, 118; a good plan is in BC 1914, 139, where Pinza calls it the Odeon (q.v.).)

Thayer's Note: In addition to the excellent detailed page on the Auditorium linked in the navigation bar below, some photographs of it can be seen on these pages by

René Seindal • Kalervo Koskimies

Images with borders lead to more information.
The thicker the border, the more information. (Details here.)

The Dictionary's table of bibliographical abbreviations is here;
it includes links to those complete works that are online.

OFF
SITE:

Roma SPQR

UP TO:

[Link to Platner and Ashby's Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome]

Platner
& Ashby

Topographia
Urbis

Rome

LacusCurtius

Home

A page or image on this site is in the public domain ONLY if its URL has a total of one *asterisk. If the URL has two **asterisks, the item is copyright someone else, and used by permission or fair use. If the URL has none the item is © Bill Thayer.

p60 Auditorium Maecenatis

Article on pp60‑61 of

Samuel Ball Platner (as completed and revised by Thomas Ashby): A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, London: Oxford University Press, 1929.

Samuel Ball Platner (as completed and revised by Thomas Ashby):
A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome,
London: Oxford University Press, 1929.