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longest axis

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longest axis

The Longest Axis / The Axis of Life
1997.09.21

The longest straight axis within Piranesi's plan of the Campo Marzio runs through the Gardens of Nero and the Bustum Hadriani, the formal burial grounds of the Emperor Hadrian. Specifically, the axis begins at the Nympheum Neronis on the Vatican Hill, runs through the Area Martis, passes Hadrian's Tomb, and ends at another nympheum at the bend in the Tiber River.

The following plan images offer a detailed view of the buildings and places disributed along the axis.

The Horti Neroniani and the Bustum Hadriani

The axis begins with the Nympheum of Nero.

The nymphaeum is situated at the height of the Vatican Hill and overlooks the Gardens of Nero, which were in this area during the first two centuries AD.

Although there is no textual or archeological evidence for the cruciform Porticus Neronianae, Piranesi is here evoking the original Basilica of St. Peter's constructed adjacent to this site by the Emperor Constantine c. 330 AD. The plan of the Porticus Neronianae mirrors the plan of Old St. Peter's, and is placed just to the right of the Christian basilica's actual location.

Given its phallical plan, the Temple of Mars may well be interpreted as the generative force behind the Campo Marzio's longest axis. Since "campo Marzio" means "the fields of Mars," the placement of a temple honoring Mars in a position of apparent importance is altogether logical. Moreover, Piranesi marks the Templum Martis and its Area Martis forecourt as the place of preparation for the Triumphal Procession. Overall, however, these are symbolic gestures on Piranesi's part because there is no historical evidence for this Temple of Mars, nor that the Triumphal Way ever began at this location.

Down and to the left of the Area Martis are the Gardens of Agrippina, the granddaughter of Augustus Caesar and the mother of the emperor Caligula. Although the garden's location is historically correct, Piranesi's reconstruction here stems entirely from his own imagination.

Hadrian's Tomb, today known as the Castle Sant Angelo, is the only ancient remain that is within this portion of Piranesi's Campo Marzio. Its formidable presence for over 1800 years no doubt inspired Piranesi's equally impressive grandiose schemes. The tomb's relationship with the long axis, however, is only secondary because the tomb generates its own axis perpendicular to the main axis. The Hardian axis runs through the Bustum Hadriani, which Piranesi situates north of the tomb (to the right in the drawing here).

Piranesi correctly positions the Horti Domitiae, the Gardens of Domitia (aunt of the Emperor Nero) along the banks of the Tiber, just east of Hadrian's tomb.

The nymphaeum within the Horti Domitiae ends the long axis, and, together with the nymphaeum in the Garden of Nero, gives the axis an abstract cyclical symmetry. The concave plan forms of the Domitianian nymphaeum, moreover, complement the "phallic" thrust of the Temple of Mars, and Piranesi himself supplies the clue towards this reading by placing a tiny "intercourse" building at the very tip of the axis.

1998.05.04

Campo Marzio: The Longest Axis

The axis begins with the Nymphaeum of Nero.
The nymphaeum is situated at the height of the Vatican Hill and overlooks the Gardens of Nero, which were in this area during the first two centuries AD.

Although there is no textual or archeological evidence for the cruciform Porticus Neronianae, Piranesi may be commenting on the original Basilica of St.Peter's constructed adjacent to this site by the Emperor Constantine c. 330 AD. The plan of the Porticus Neronianae mirrors the plan of Old St. Peter's, and is placed just to the right of the Christian basilica's actual location.

Given its phallical plan, the Temple of Mars may well be interpreted as the generative force behind the Campo Marzio's longest axis. Since "campo Marzio" actually means "the fields of Mars," the placement of a temple honoring Mars in a position of obvious importance is altogether logical. Moreover, Piranesi marks the Templum Martis and its Area Martis forecourt as the beginning point of the Triumphal Way. Overall, however, these are symbolic gestures on Piranesi's part because there is no historical evidence for this Temple of Mars, nor that the Triumphal Way ever began at this location.

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