The Mausoleum Hadriani

[L C Cinna]

Hi.<br>
<br>
I have a question:<br>
<br>
I just read that the mausoleum of Hadrianus in Rome has been changed into a fortress during Roman time and then the popes started to mess around with it. Now my question is: Are the emperors still there or did they remove them and placed them somewhere else, or were they victims of some destructive Christians and just thrown away and carefully destroyed like so many other things? <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p200.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=lccinna>L C Cinna</A> at: 7/23/04 1:10 pm<br></i>

[TITVS SABATINVS AQVILIVS]

<br>
<br>
Well, it was called mausoleum only since XVII century, in the classical era it was <em>Sepulchrum Hadriani</em>. Tacitus and Virgilius call it <em>Tumulus</em> too.<br>
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There were buried fifteen Emperors till Caracalla.<br>
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After Aurelianus' walls construction, the Sepulchrum became part of them, like the Piramide Cestia, and acted like a fortress with almost no modifications.<br>
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Till when Totila and the Goths invaded Roma in 546 CE, tranformed the Sepulchrum in a real fortress but with few works on it, he made more around the monument building a fortified burgus. The Emperor Hadrian and the other emperors was there yet in their sepulchral room placed almost at the top of the monument.<br>
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Then, after 590 CE, the Pope Gregorius Magnus destroyed the top room and build on it the church of S. Michele to delete any trace of the pagan Emperor and cover with a christian symbol a pagan place.<br>
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The destiny the Emperors mortal remains are not known.<br>
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Vale,<br>
Titus <p></p><i></i>

[L C Cinna]

Thank you very much for the information. <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

Funny thing............. Years back when i visited the Mausoleum in Rome i couldnt keep myself from sticking my arm in a hole in the wall in one of the chamber walls and have a good feel round...... and i got a few bone fragments out, one of which was the top of a charred human arm bone.. or as we call it in Holland, Ellepijp.... dunno the English name for it, but it is human, as a friend who is a medic confirmed.<br>
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could i hold a relic here???<br>
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ill post a picture of it soon!<br>
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best wishes..<br>
<br>
M.VIB.M. <p></p><i></i>

[Jeroen Pelgrom]

isn´t that graverobbery? You could hold the former arm of an emperor! <p>-------------------------------------------------------<br>
Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings -- they did it by killing all those who opposed them.<br>
<br>
<br>
</p><i></i>

[aitor iriarte]

Yes, 'Marcus Vibius, the plunderer', a good title for a historical novel!<br>
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Aitor <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p200.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=aitoririarte>Aitor Iriarte</A> at: 7/27/04 12:10 pm<br></i>