Little Work on the Wonders of the New and Old City of Rome

...paved with stones and adorned with statues and colossal figures.

Forum

The Emperor Antoninus Heliogabalus Reigned 218–222 CE; known for his lavish building projects and eccentricities had paved the courtyard of the palace with Lacedaemonian stone original: "saxo lacedemonico," a green porphyry from Greece and purple porphyry.

Forum P...

There were many open spaces original: "Areae," referring to public plazas or temple forecourts in the City itself: such as the Capitoline Area, in which there were subterranean chambers, according to the testimony of Gellius Aulus Gellius, a 2nd-century author of "Attic Nights" in his second book. In these chambers, old statues were stored that had fallen from the temple, along with other items religiously consecrated as offerings. The remains of these are still seen today, commonly called Caesar's Hall original: "Sala Caesaris". There was also the Pinarian Area and the Area of Apollo, as will be discussed in the section on the Regions.

The Navel

There was, furthermore, the Navel of the City original: "Vmbilicus Vrbis," the symbolic center of Rome from which all distances were measured in the Eighth Region, as is shown on an ancient marble moved to the church of Saint John of the Pine Cone original: "Sancti Ioannis de Pinea".

Nevertheless, Most Blessed Father The author is addressing Pope Leo X: we cannot all do everything. What I have done, however—with the Lord’s help—I have done quickly, so that I may sing the following verses:

On the Bridges of the City

Bridges

There were seven principal bridges of the City, though Vibius Sequester An ancient geographer and Publius Victor An authority frequently cited for Roman topography in the Renaissance confirm there were eight. Namely: the Aelian, the Aemilian, the Aurelian, the Tarpeian, the Palatine, the Esquiline, the Vatican, and the Janiculan. Annius of Viterbo A Dominican scholar (1432–1502) notorious for "discovering" forged ancient texts, in his commentary on Fabius Pictor, writes that the Carmental Gate was located where the Carmental Bridge stood. It was by this bridge that the three hundred Fabii The 306 members of the Fabian family who were famously wiped out by the Veientes in 477 BCE, crossing the Tiber to face the people of Veii, left the Janiculum on their right, as is clear in the writings of Livy.

Tiber

Sublician

The first was called the Sublician Bridge; it was made of wood from...