File:The destruction of ancient Rome - a sketch of the history of the monuments (1901) (14780223512).jpg

Identifier: destructionofan00lanc (find matches)
Title: The destruction of ancient Rome : a sketch of the history of the monuments
Year: 1901 (1900s)
Authors: Lanciani, Rodolfo Amedeo, 1847-1929
Subjects:
Publisher: London : Macmillan
Contributing Library: PIMS - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
To this cor-ridor many popes and cardinals have been indebted forescape from death or servitude; one of the most strik-ing instances is that of Pope Clement VII., who inMay, 1527, fled through this passage from the hordesof Charles of Bourbon. The construction of the Leonine wall, so elaboratein the level stretch between the Vatican and the for-tress of S. Angelo, becomes more simple on the hillbehind the church, the steep slopes of which consti-tute a natural and effective line of defence. Herewe find a plain wall with no galleries, save a passageat the height of the battlements, as may be seen inour illustration. (Fig. 24.) The most exposed angleswere protected by round towers, two of which arestill in existence and form a conspicuous landmark inthe Vatican landscape. The one represented in the 134 DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME illustration, which stands at a height of 187 feet abovethe sea, commands an unlimited view over the Cam-pagna and the coast, and is therefore described as the
Text Appearing After Image:
Fig. 24. — Tower of the wall of Leo IV., uow used as an observatory. turris unde mare prospicitur in the early representa-tions of the Vatican group. It is now used as an ob-servatory for photographing the section of the heavenswhich was allotted to the Holy See by the Interna- INCURSION OF THE SARACENS, IN 846 135 tional Astronomical Congress.^ The other tower isused as a chapel for the new summer casino ofLeo XIII. The pontifical treasury and the resources of the citi-zens of Rome were unequal to the task of completingthe walls in the required time. A system of forcedservice (^praestatio operis) was in consequence resortedto, and the colonists of the fortified farms of theCampagna were called upon to take a share in thework. Two inscriptions, now affixed to the arch whichspans the Via Angelica, give important details of thescheme adopted to obtain thus speedy assistance andcheap labour. One says, In the time of our Lordthe Pope Leo IV., the Militia Saltisina (a colony onthe road t

Note About Images