New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-12-02

FRIES BY RodOfo IaNciafh, LII ~ N'e.,,,c'
With 100 Illustrations svo, PIP. xAM o2V'
Houghton. Miiiin & Co
handsomer volume than this OF Professor Ian
ciani has seldom been issued from any press ana
its interest is commensurate with inc care anu
Pains bestowed upon 1t by the publishers LII IT.
cords the beginning Of quite new era IN roman
archaeology, and focuses a mass OF important ais
covcries made during the past eighteen or twenty
wears, which have thrown moro hght upon lhe
history, manners and customs OF the ancient
Romans, in many directions, than the researches
of the preceding 500 years had done. Prolessor
Ianciani is an enthusiastic archaeologlst, ana inc
reader can hardly escape the contagon OF his de-
light in his fascinating occupation. When he
snpaks of the possibilities of some new " hn0, or
relates the particulars of some unusually inter-
esting discovery made by himself. his emotion is
visible even through the veil of print, and he
evidently has TO put restraint upon himself to
avoid entrance upon those details which would
unGuly extend his work. lie is delightful g'hde
end. unlike many Of MS profession. he puts human
interest into all he writes, and hcIghtens the sig
nificance of the discoveries he chronicles by show
ing their relation TO the extinct civilization oil
which they are monuments,
Excavation in and about Rome has never
been pursued on such n scale, or with such 1rult-
ful results, as since 1872 The author gives
list OF the objects which have been uncovered
during this period, and these comprise onN INC
treasures reclaimed by the municipality OF honie'
and 10 not include those which the Governmeh1
has possession Of The list embraces 100 am
phCrae with important Inscriptions 2,Soo Terra
Gotta lamps S24 inscriptions on marble or stone
II columns of rare marble; 3l3 pieces OF col
umns 1877 marble capitals; II g bases; 500 works
Of art in terra Gotta 4O5 works of art in bronze;
cophagi: 1872 bas-relefs; % marble statues, in
good preservation; 81 marble figureseof anmals;
266 busts and heads; "a pictures in polychrome
Mosaic; AZ objects of gold. 30 of silver; 36,679
coins of gold silver and b:onze; and an almost
incredible amount Of smaller relics in terra Gotta,
bone, glass, enamel, lead ivory, iron copper ana
stucco These collections, moreover" says the
Professor do not contain merely common or Or
binary objects: they contain masterpieces IN every
branch and OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES when, III
an age a little less devoted TO finance and poll
tics, would have created deep sensation all over
the world Nor are these the only recent gums
The conqUests of science are far greater rake
geography alone, Of which the author decltreS that
" in ten years the the Roman soil has supplied
cricyaphy with one-fourth as much as the total
amour, brought to light during the five preceding
centuries"
A new archaeological stratum has also been
discoycrrd--thc stratum of prehistoric or tradi-
tional an,ouities: an ancient metropolis has been
found, older than the walls of SeIvlus luihus;
large section Of the great agyer or embankment
of Julius has been uncovered and, to sum up
in the Professors words, We have unearthed
the remains OF nunbcress houses and palaces,
temples and shrincs roads and drains, parks and
gardens, fora and porticOs, fountains and aque-
H., ont
that whereas before 1872 science possessed only
approximate attempts at an archaeological map
Of Rome We have put al the disposal of students
magnificent cnes, covering an area Of 100000
square metres Of the ancient city" 1t is evil
dent from this that in many respects the current
ideas about old Rome must be revised, and that
in some instances new position will have to be
taken Not the least interesting among the new
views is that concerning the origin of Rome Iis
torians generally have relegated the story oi
Romulus to the realm of legend and now, al thc
end Of the nineteenth century, archaeology is con-
neled TO announce that all the historians nave
been mistaken, and that what they set down Us
fiction is really fact. A man named Romulus, ~
is discovered did in sober truth found home Tel-
haps in few years the archaeologists VIII come
upOn some remains Of the wall whch 'ho Wv
bilarious Rcmus Jumped over, or the bones Of the
or wolves indeed there arc enough and to spare
10 p.ove that the wolf legend really does go back
20 very hoary antiquity 1t was, 700, story
Of nastornl times Romulus shepherd, ana
IL is now concluded that bc and his fellows were
driven from the Alban Hills by the activity Of
the volcano which then occupied the site OF the
present Lake of Albann.
Professor Lancani has curious theory about
this volcano. It seems that while it was active
the vicinity Of Rome was healthy, but that with
the extinction of the crater of Albano malaria
broke out. 1t might be surnised that while the
volcano in action thorc VIII" hVed near II
had too much TO think about &c trouble them
selves concerning malaria, but that when the dan
ger TO life and property ceased they began to pay
some attention to hygiene. Dr. Hecker, however,
in his curious book on the epdemics Of the Middle
Ages preached theory not unlike this OF Lam
Giants, TO the effect that disease was connected
with tclIuric magnetism in some way and tnat
Volcanic outbreaks and human epidemics showed
relations Certain it is that Rome proved very
unhealthy during it's first century, and that the
Romans exhibited the strangest mixture Of down
right sayagery and advanced notions Of sanitary
tcrnce. Thus they showed remarkable lmowl
edge of sanitary engineering in their drainage sys
TEN, and at the same time they exposed them
selves to plague and pest'lcncc by burning thcil
dead with reckless promiscu.ty close 10 the city
walls. and even within them 1t has been as
certained recently that they were accust )mcd Ia
throw out rubbish of all kinds, and even human
corpses on waste places appointed for that pur-
pose, and that in epidemics they dug shallow
pits in which thousands Of bodies were packed.
Such a pit was opened not long ago, and Pro-
fcssor Lanciani calculates that il must have con-
tainei not less than "a, 600 bodies. In some OF
these holes masses of decomposed, viscid animal
matter have been found, and the stencil was SO
bad that the workmen could not stand it.
But the whole site of Rome is the burial place
of the ages and this truth Was never NOR clearly
shown than by the modern explorations. The
Difficulties of Roman archaeology are peculiar and
enormous The mere finding Of ancient remains