The Colosseum Archaeological Park completes the first of 10 projects of the Caput Mundi National Recovery and Resilience Plan within Mission 1 Digitalization, Innovation, Competitiveness, Culture and Tourism, with the opening to the public of the Schola of the Heralds of the Circus Maximus on the southern slopes of the Palatine.
A complex intervention that involved all aspects of interdisciplinary research, from preliminary investigations through prospecting, to 3D photogrammetric surveys (ante and post operam), up to archaeological excavations, conservative restorations of the surfaces, lighting enhancement with the sponsorship of iGuzzini and the preparation of a new ramp and glass window for the best view of the mosaic and paintings that gave the context its name.
The construction of the Schola, which dates back to the 3rd century AD, but which undoubtedly was built on pre-existing buildings, takes place in a historical moment that saw the Severan dynasty carry out a general restructuring of the southern slope of the Hill. Its construction follows an orientation that respects that of the axis of the Circus Maximus. From an architectural point of view, it is characterized by the presence of a rectangular courtyard surrounded by a portico with pillars (no longer legible today except for the open walkable space), which overlooks a tripartite system of vaulted rooms with walls entirely in brick, the central one being larger than the lateral ones. The continuity of use until the 5th century AD has been established above all starting from the reading of the sequence of vertical and horizontal decorative apparatuses.
The pictorial decoration, dated to 200-240 AD, depicts male figures in a standing position, dressed in servile clothes, placed inside an aedicule architecture, each holding a stick, a map, a wreath or a box in their hands, interpreted as tricliniarii. Later the walls were covered with slabs of cipollino and the large mosaic floor that gave the building its name was laid on the floor: a black and white tessellated, unique in its kind, with figures in which eight male figures appear dressed in short tunics and organized in two groups of four, holding a caduceus, a banner, and a stick. The dating of this floor could date back to the beginning of the 4th century AD, the period in which the emperor Maxentius undertook further restructuring work on the southern side of the Hill.
These figures have been variously interpreted now as heralds, or praecones, now as public employees in the service of the State, also called apparitores, now even as charioteers: what is quite certain is that the building and those who lived there performed functions strictly connected with the Circus and the related events. There are even those who hypothesize that the building had a second floor used as an imperial tribune for circus shows.
Photo credits: official poster of the event
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