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Septizodium

Ancient Roman buildings and structures in RomeBuildings and structures completed in the 3rd centuryBuildings and structures demolished in the 16th centuryPalatine HillSeptimius Severus
Sites of papal elections
SEPTIZODIUM Rome
SEPTIZODIUM Rome

The Septizodium (also called Septizonium or Septicodium) was a building in ancient Rome. It was built in 203 AD by Emperor Septimius Severus. The origin of the name "Septizodium" is from Septisolium, from the Latin for temple of seven suns, and was probably named for the seven planetary deities (Saturn, Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus) or for the fact that it was originally divided into seven parts. The building had no known practical purpose and was probably meant to be a decorative façade, known as a Nymphaeum. Ancient and medieval sources describe its purpose as being intended to impress Severus' fellow north Africans as they entered the city, as it was located at the place where the Via Appia passes the Palatine and leads east towards the Forum Romanum. Other examples of septizodia are known, all from Africa.Ammianus Marcellinus refers to the building in an ambiguous passage: "The plebs...had come together at the Septemzodium, a popular place, where Marcus Aurelius built a Nymphaeum in a rather ostentatious style."By the 8th century, the edifice was already ruined and had been incorporated in one of the numerous baronial fortresses of the medieval city, held in the 12th-13th century by the Frangipani family. In August 1241, after the death of Pope Gregory IX, the 11 cardinals who were able to get into Rome through the lines of Emperor Frederick II's army came together in the ramshackle palace of the Septizodium. The two-month-long election was arduous, not only because of the deep political crisis but the physical hardships. There was a frightful heat and the rain leaked through the roof of the chamber of the cardinals, mingled with the urine of Matteo Rosso Orsini's guards on the rooftiles. One of the cardinals fell ill and died. The new pope, Celestine IV, was also very worn out, and died 16 days after his election. In 1588, during the reign of Pope Sixtus V, the eastern facade of the building was demolished under the direction of Domenico Fontana. The stones obtained were used for the basement of the Flaminio Obelisk of Piazza del Popolo, the restoration of the Column of Marcus Aurelius, the pope's tomb in St. Mary Major and other structures.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Septizodium (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Septizodium
Via di San Teodoro, Rome Municipio Roma I

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Latitude Longitude
N 41.8854 ° E 12.4889 °
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Palatino

Via di San Teodoro
00184 Rome, Municipio Roma I
Lazio, Italy
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SEPTIZODIUM Rome
SEPTIZODIUM Rome
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Domus Severiana
Domus Severiana

The Domus Severiana is the modern name given to the final extension to the imperial palaces on the Palatine Hill in Rome, built to the south-east of the Stadium Palatinum in the Domus Augustana of Septimius Severus. It included the Baths of Septimius Severus (Latin: Balneum Palatii). All that remains of the building are the imposing brick substructures at the corner of the hill, which created an artificial platform at the same level as the palace of Domitian, extending it, since the emperors had run out of space on the hill. There are very few remains of the building itself, which was then built on the terrace under the substructures. It had a view of Rome from the Circus Maximus and the Aventine Hill to the Caelian Hill and the Baths of Caracalla. They were part of an imperial baths complex or thermae, now visible in the remains below the exedra of the Stadium Palatinum, which may have been built under Domitian and which was rebuilt by Maxentius. They were fed by a branch of the Aqua Claudia, which spanned the valley between the Palatine Hill and the Caelian Hill and whose arches are still visible. On the side facing the via Appia, Septimius Severus commissioned an impressive three-level facade akin to the scaenae frons in a theatre, with fountains and colonnades. This became known as the Septizodium. It is said that the emperor monumentalised this side of the building to impress his fellow Africans, who would arrive in Rome along the via Appia. The Septizodium's remains were demolished in the 16th century and it is only known from Renaissance drawings.