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<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Mura dell'antico Castro Pretorio</TITLE> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META NAME="description" CONTENT="The walls of Castro Pretorio in the etching by Giuseppe Vasi and as they are today"> <META NAME="name" CONTENT="The walls of Castro Pretorio in the etching by Giuseppe Vasi and as they are today"> <META NAME="author" CONTENT="romeartlover"> <META NAME="generator" CONTENT="FreeFormEditor 1.0"> <style>body, html { margin:0; padding:0; color:#0D1138; background:#a7a09a; } #wrap { width:960px; margin:0 auto; padding:0; background:#F0EA92; } #header { background-image: url("Bghall.jpg");} #nav { background:#F0EA92; } #main { background:#F0EA92; padding:0; } #sidebar { background:#cc9; } #footer { background:#cc9; } #main { float:left; width:200px; background-image: url("Bghall.jpg"); } #sidebar { float:right; width:760px; background-image: url("Bgvas05a.jpg"); } #footer { clear:both; background:#cc9; } table { background-image: url("Bghall.jpg"); font-weight: bold;} td { padding: 4px; border: thin solid DarkGoldenRod; vertical-align: top;} caption { caption-side:center;} </style><link rel="stylesheet" href="prova2.css"> </HEAD> <body> <div id="wrap"> <div id="header"></div> <div id="nav"></div> <div id="main"></div> <div id="sidebar"></div> <div id="footer"></div> </div> <div id="wrap"> <div id="header"><div class="boxed"><h1><em>Rome in the Footsteps of an XVIIIth Century Traveller</em></h1></div></div> <div id="nav"> <ul class="nav site-nav"> <li class="flyout"><a href=#>About this Website</a> <ul class="flyout-content nav stacked"> <li><a href="index.html">Home</a></li> <li><a href="Romeartlover.html">About & Feedback</a></li> <li><a href="Hallfame.html">Hall of Fame</a></li> <li><a href="Biblio.html">Bibliography</a></li> <li><a href="Glossary.html">Glossary</a></li> </ul> <li class="flyout"> <a href="#">Vasi's Roman Views</a>  <ul class="flyout-content nav stacked"> <li><a href="Books.html">Rome in 10 Books</a></li> <li><a href="View.htm">View of Rome</a></li> <li><a href="Map.html">Map of Rome</a></li> <li class="flyout-alt"><a href="#">Other Views</a>  <ul class="flyout-content nav stacked"> <li><a href="Vasigrs1.html">Roman Forum</a></li> <li><a href="Vasigrs4.html">The Vatican</a></li> <li><a href="Vasigrs2.html">Aventine Hill</a></li> <li><a href="Vasigrs3.html">S. 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Write to <a href="mailto:romapip@quipo.it">romapip@quipo.it</a>.<p class="stacco"> <a href="New.htm"><img class="displayed" src="Newnuovo.jpg" title="See the most recent additions to this website" height=135 width=180></a> <p class="stacco"><a href="superind.html"><img class="displayed" src="Sitemap.jpg" height=135 width=180 title="See a detailed list of this website pages"></a></p> <p class="stacco">Notes:<p class="stacco">Page revised in May 2020. </div> </div> <div id="sidebar"><div class="boxed"> <img src="Minivas2.jpg" width=220 height=120 title="Vasi at work"><em><strong><span>  Mura dell'antico Castro Pretorio</span><br>   (Vasi at work in the <a href="Aev4.htm">Grand View of Rome</a>)</em> <p><p class="stacco"> Links to this page can be found in <a href="Book1.html">Book 1</a>, <a href="Mapa2.html">Map A2</a> and <a href="Rimonti.html">Rione Monti</a>. <p class="stacco"> The page covers:<br> <a href="#The Plate">The plate by Giuseppe Vasi</a> <br><a href="#Today">Today's view</a> <br><a href="#Castro Pretorio">Castro Pretorio</a> <p class="stacco"><a NAME="The Plate"></a><h4>The Plate (No. 5 - ii)</h4> <p> <img class="displayed" SRC="Vasi05a.jpg" style="border:5px solid DarkGoldenRod" title="The Plate showing Castro Pretorio" height=284 width=740> <p class="stacco"> This 1747 small etching by Giuseppe Vasi is a bird's-eye view of the ancient walls which surrounded <em>Castra Praetoria</em>, the barracks of the <em>Praetoriani</em>, the Roman imperial guards; at Vasi's time balloon flights were yet to come, but this type of view was very popular and the "maps" of Rome were all drawn with this approach, with the exception in 1748 of the first "modern" map of Rome by Giovan Battista Nolli. <br> The theoretical observation point is indicated by a green dot in the excerpt from Nolli's map here below. In the description below the plate Vasi made reference to: 1) <a href="Vasi05.htm#The Plate">Porta Chiusa</a>; 2) <a href="Roads.html#Tiburtina">Via Tiburtina</a>; 3) <a href="Vasi04.htm#The Plate">Porta Pia</a>; 4) <a href="Roads.html#Nomentana">Via Nomentana</a>; 5) "Vigne" (farms/villas) inside the walls; 6) <a href="Vasi191.htm#The Plate">Villa Patrizi</a>. 1), 3) and 6) are shown in other pages. <p class="stacco"> <img class="displayed" SRC="Vas05ap2.jpg" title="Small images" style="border:5px solid DarkGoldenRod" height=232 width=730> <p class="stacco"> <a NAME="Today"></a><h4>Today</h4> <p class="stacco"> <img class="displayed" SRC="Vasi05af.jpg" title="The view today" style="border:5px solid DarkGoldenRod" height=380 width=730> <em><h2>View of the north-eastern corner of Castro Pretorio in June 2010 (on an early Sunday morning)</em></h2> <p class="stacco"> Today very busy roads go round the ancient walls, which have lost most of the small towers shown in the etching. The large area inside the wall is now occupied by the Italian National Library and by barracks of the Italian Army. <p class="stacco"> <a NAME="Castro Pretorio"></a><h4>Castro Pretorio</h4> <p class="stacco"> <img class="displayed" SRC="Vasi05ag.jpg" style="border:5px solid DarkGoldenRod" title="Views of the walls" height=420 width=730> <em><h2>(left to right) Eastern side of the walls; a former gate in the northern side; a small chapel between the projecting walls of a former tower; <a href="Musei.html#24">Centrale Montemartini</A>: statue of Athena which was found in 1882 near Castro Pretorio (IIIrd century BC)</em></h2> <p class="stacco"> The barracks were built at the time of <a href="Storia7.html#Castra">Emperor Tiberius</a> on a site which was well outside the city limits, in compliance with the law which forbade armed people from entering Rome. The <em>castra</em> had a rectangular shape and were protected by walls with a gate on each side; in 275 <a href="Storia10.html#Gallienus">Emperor Aurelian</a> incorporated them into the new walls of Rome; the external gates were closed. The Praetorian Guard was dissolved by <a href="Storia11.html#Constantine">Emperor Constantine</a> who probably ordered the demolition of the western wall of the barracks which was not part of the city fortifications. The image used as background for this page shows a walled up arch in the northern side of the walls. <p class="stacco"> <img class="displayed" SRC="Vasi05ah.jpg" style="border:5px solid DarkGoldenRod" title="Mosaic" height=410 width=730> <em><h2><a href="Vasi33.htm#Carthage">Museo del Colosseo</a>: floor mosaic found at Castro Pretorio in 1984</em></h2> <p class="stacco">The mosaic records the twentieth anniversary of the reign of <a href="Storia9.html#Antoninus">Emperor Antoninus Pius</a>. It depicts either a hunting scene or a fight in the amphitheatre; the letter theta indicates that the animal will die and the V near the man stands for vicit (won). <p class="stacco"> Next plate in Book 1: <a href="Vasi06.htm#The Plate">Porta S. Lorenzo</a>.<br> Next step in your tour of Rione Monti: <a href="Vasi05.htm#The Plate">Porta Chiusa</a>. <br> <br> </div> </div> <div id="footer"><div class="boxed"><p class="stacco"><h2>Other pages/sections which might be of interest to you:</h2>                                      <a href="Roads.html"><img src="Miniroad.jpg" width=220 height=120 title="Roads of Rome"></a><a href="Umbereco.html"><img src="Minihist.jpg" width=220 height=120 title="Abridged History of Rome"></a><a href="Rome.htm"><img src="Minirome.jpg" width=220 height=120 title="Ancient Rome"></a><h2>See you at another page of this website!</h2></p></div></div></body> </HTML>