The Eglinton Tournament

I was just reading a reprint of the 1900 Baedeker Guide to London, as you do, when I got to its description of the contents of the armouries in the Tower of London. It states that on display are (or at least were in 1900) a couple of suits of armour that were made for the 1839 Eglinton Tournament, one of which was worn by the future Napoleon III.
The tournament took place at Eglinton Castle, which lies on the outskirts of my home town - Kilwinning - hence my interest.

The castle ruins that can be seen today belong to a rebuild of the late 18th, early 19th Century. There was a much older castle on the site - seat of the Earls of Eglinton. It was burned down in the 16th Century, and took the form of a typical medieval Scots fortress. The new castle was built in grand gothic style - similar to those at Inverary or Culzean.

The Victorians had a great love for all things medieval. Just take a look at the decoration for the post fire Houses of Parliament, or for the Earl of Bute's Cardiff Castle. Arthurian figures with big Victorian mustaches abound.
It comes as no surprise, then, that the 13th Earl of Eglinton decided to stage a re-enactment of a medieval joust in the grounds of his castle in 1839. There was a great deal of excitement about the event, and the nearby railway line was even opened in advance of its planned date to accommodate the crowds.
Sadly, the typical weather of the region - relentless rain - made a bit of a damp squib of the occasion.

Now, once upon a time, the BBC's Blue Peter programme used to do a report on the tournament every year - back in the golden era of Valerie Singleton and her co-hosts. It was always a thrill for me as a child to see mention of this local landmark on national television. Sadly the story was always told from the studio in White City, using art work. The presenters never came up to Kilwinning to report from the location itself.
The castle fell into disrepair when the family fell into straitened circumstances (due to death duties) in the mid 1920's.
It was then used by the commandos for training in WWII, which was when it was reduced to the state in which you see it today.

Yeah butt, no butt...

The other day I had to give someone directions to the rear car park of the building where I work in Deptford. This involved a turn into New Butt Lane. This name possibly derives from archery butts - pieces of land where archers fired at targets set up in or on mounds of earth. In medieval times through into the Tudor / Stuart periods, archery practice became compulsory - in order that the male population would have the skills needed for when they were called up to go to war.
Many towns and cities have an area known as the Butts. However, the issue is complicated in that a butt can also simply refer to a strip of land - not necessarily one used for archery practice. Newington Butts, near Elephant and Castle, was often thought to be the site of an archery field, but there is no historical evidence to support this.
The fact that my local road is called New Butt Lane might suggest that this is one of the archery related places, if the "new" refers to the butt rather than to the lane.

The Temples of the Forum Boarium

Lying on a flat area between the Tiber and the Capitoline and Palatine Hills, this was Rome's original port district - the Portus Tiburinas. It later became the city's principal cattle market - the forum venalium. Legend has it that the demigod Hercules visited Rome and slew a monster which lived in a cave at the foot of the Capitoline Hill.
In 264 BC, the first recorded gladiatorial fight took place here, as part of a funeral ceremony. It is also recorded that a human sacrifice was conducted here. In order to avert a war, two Gaul slaves - a man and a woman - were buried alive on the site.
Today, the area is a small park surrounded by busy roads - one running alongside the sharp bend of the Tiber, and the other along the foot of the hills. Two temples can be seen, dating from before the Imperial era. Both have survived due to their being converted into churches in the early medieval period.

The circular one is the Temple of Hercules Victor - also known as Hercules Olivarius, as Hercules was supposed to protect the lucrative olive trade. He had a great altar set up to him nearby as well. The building dates to the second century BC, and is Rome's oldest marble temple. 20 Corinthian columns surround the central cella, and it sits on a base of the volcanic tufa rock. It once had an architrave, which would have made it look like a mini Pantheon, but this has long gone. The roof is modern. Its circular appearance led it to be misidentified as the Temple of Vesta for many years.
In 1132 it was converted into the church of S. Stefano alle Carozze ("of the Carriages"). In the 17th Century it was rededicated to S. Maria del Sole ("of the Sun").

Close by is the later rectangular Temple of Portunas. Built between 120 - 80 BC, it is also known as the Temple of Fortunas Virilis ("manly fortune"). Portunas was the god of locks, keys and also of livestock - and so would watch over the cattle being delivered to the market here. The columns are Ionic. The ones holding up the portico are free-standing, whilst the ones along the side and across the back are only half-columns - embedded into the walls of the cella.
This temple was converted into a church in 872 - S. Maria Egyziaca ("of Egypt").

The Palatine Ephebos

A popular statue form in ancient Greece was the Ephebe - an adolescent male, always presented nude. The philhellene Romans adopted this fashion - as they invariably did with any Greek artworks - and latinised the name to Ephebos. The Ephebe - usually aged around 17 or 18 - was a boy who had been removed from his family setting (generally the supervision of his mother) and placed in isolation so that he could become a man - and was thus ready to do adult things like join the army.

The Romans made a big deal of the transition from youth to adulthood. The Emperor Nero, for instance, held several day's worth of Games to celebrate the first shaving of his beard. The statue - clearly badly damaged - which you can see in the Palatine Museum, set in what was once a convent in the middle of the Palatine complex, used to adorn a Temple of Apollo which Augustus had built right beside his house. Apollo was his favoured God, and is invariably represented as a handsome young man. On the occasion of his wedding to Livia, Augustus had dressed as Apollo, and he believed that it was Apollo who had favoured him throughout the Civil Wars which led to his rise to power. It dates to between 17 - 14 BC.

This particular museum is often overlooked by the many tourists who wander around the Palatine Hill - from where we get "palace" and "palatial". Its exhibits all derive from the excavations on the hill itself - the location for Romulus' (legendary) hut and the later palaces of the Caesars. When Augustus set up home there, it was an exclusive residential district for the rich and powerful. Augustus' home was quite modest in comparison with its neighbours. However, over time, his successors would quickly take over the entire hill and it became exclusively the domain of the Emperors. In the aftermath of the Great Fire of 64 AD, Nero would attempt to spread his palace to two nearby hills - the Oppian and the Caelian - with his Golden House.

Kilwinning Abbey

Time to move away from Rome for a little while, as we take a look at my own home town. Kilwinning lies in Ayrshire, in South West Scotland. Its original name was Segdoune - from "Sanctoun" - the town of the saint. "Segdon" still appears in a few street names in the town.
St Winning came to Scotland in 715 AD as a missionary from Ireland. He is supposed to have had a vision of an angel telling him where to set up his first church. The prefix Kil- in Scottish town names means "church of -".
Kilwinning Abbey was founded by monks of the Tironensian Benedictine Order - from Tyron near Chartres in France. A group were based in Kelso, in the Borders, and they began building the abbey around 1162. It was completed by 1188. There was some major work done again around 1230. The abbey church was one of the biggest in Scotland - its nave wider that Glasgow or St Andrews cathedrals.

Unusually, the abbey did not have a royal benefactor. The original patron was supposed to be Richard de Morville, Lord of Cunningham and Grand Constable of Scotland. Its early history is vague, as the abbey records were removed during the Protestant upheavals of the 16th Century, and were apparently later given to a local group of antiquaries in the early 18th Century - supposedly to publish, but nothing ever came of this. The records are now lost.
The first Abbot is recorded as taking his seat in 1190.

Revenues came from all over Ayrshire. The Abbot had a house in Glasgow, at the Drygate, and later a palace at Kerelaw.
The masons who built the abbey were responsible for Kilwinning having the Masonic Mother Lodge, only a short distance from the abbey today. As the first lodge in Scotland, it claimed the number "1". When the capital insisted that it should have the No.1 lodge, Kilwinning renumbered itself "0" to stay one step ahead.

With the rise of Protestantism in Scotland in the early 16th Century, the abbey was raided a number of times, and suffered damage. Its statues and stained glass were broken up, and treasures removed. The abbey was finally dissolved in the 1590's.
The buildings were never demolished, however, as it still had to perform the function of a kirk for the local population. The ruins we see today are the result of slow atrophy. With the loss of its lands and revenues, the local people could no longer afford its upkeep, and it slowly fell into ruin.
A lot of stone was quarried away for other building projects - such as the rebuilding of Seagate Castle in nearby Irvine, and Eglinton Castle elsewhere in Kilwinning. At Eglinton is a dovecot - or doocot as we say in Scotland. This originally belonged in the abbey and was moved to the castle stone by stone. The Earls of Eglinton lived in part of the abbey until their castle was built in the 17th Century.

The clock tower is a later addition, but built on original foundations. In 1649, the tower was used as the prison for a suspected witch - Bessie Graham. She was found guilty, and was burned to death in the area to the east of the River Garnock known as the Corsehill - a corruption of Cross Hill, as it used to have a large cross established to guide pilgrims to the abbey. The Corsehill was the site of a number of other witch burnings.
As a child, I used to hear stories that the tower was haunted. The spectre was known as the "Crack-faced Man". This was because he had a livid scar running down the middle of his ashen face. He never stopped you going into the abbey grounds after dark, but you certainly ran and never lingered.
There is a very atmospheric graveyard, and I could never understand how anyone could choose to live beside it.

Today, the various sections of the abbey have now been given signage, so you can tell what it is you are looking at. The tower is open during the summer months as a museum, and gives fantastic views over the entire town, the countryside around, and the nearby Firth of Clyde with the island of Arran dominating the western horizon.
Kilwinning's a nondescript little town in many ways these days, one you pass through going somewhere else, but if you are ever in the area do stop off and have a look around. You could see the abbey, Eglinton and Seagate Castles all in a day.
Eglinton still has the medieval doocot in its park, though there isn't much left of the castle itself (trashed by commando training during WW2). Seagate once hosted Mary Queen of Scots, and Irvine has literary links to Burns and Edgar Allan Poe. Just up the coast you can also visit Ardrossan Castle, which this year celebrated its 470th anniversary.

A couple of other mysteries to round off with. The treasures of the abbey have never been found. Some say that they are still buried somewhere in the grounds. Others say that they were buried on the crannog in Stevenston Loch, to the north of Kilwinning. There is reputed to be a tunnel leading all the way from the abbey to Eglinton Castle, which follows a ley line.

The Capitoline Apartment Block

Often overlooked by tourists scurrying to or from the steps up to Capitoline - sandwiched between these and the steps of the Victor Emmanuel monument - is a well preserved Roman apartment block (or insula). A rare survivor in Rome itself, this five storey block was buried beneath the 17th Century church of S. Rita, which was built on the remains of an earlier church - S. Biagio "of the Market" which dated from the 12th / 13th Centuries. S. Rita's was demolished in 1927, and the apartment block uncovered.

It is a fresco from the earlier church that you can see roughly at today's street level, though the church was actually built into the 3rd and 4th floors of the insula. The later church got its name from its proximity to Trajan's Market, and this insula was built around the same time they were, in the 2nd Century CE.
The lower portion, which you can now see deep below you, was buried by the rising ground level.
These lower storeys would have contained shops. The fourth floor - due to the hill behind sloping back - was big enough for 11 rooms. These cramped, lightless chambers would have housed some of the very poorest of Romans, perhaps even slaves employed on the Capitoline or on the Palatine, though the latter had extensive slave quarters of its own.

Livia's Dining Room

In the 1590's, a substantial villa was uncovered on the Via Lata, in the grounds of a convent. The building appeared to have been constructed in four stages, the earliest in Republican times, and the latest during the reign of Constantine the Great. In the 19th Century, the famous statue known as the Augustus of Prima Porta was found nearby, and the villa was finally identified as that which had belonged to his wife, the Empress Livia. It was known as the Villa Ad Gallinus Alba - from the pure white chickens that were reared there.
There is not a lot to see now of the actual structure, but the fresco walls of Livia's dining room have been reconstructed at Rome's national museum - the Palazzo Massimo Alle Terme.

Diners would have used the room in the cooler autumn and winter months. They would have found themselves surrounded by a beautiful garden of trees and bushes, with a pale blue sky. Birds and animals are to be seen amongst the foliage. The effect would have been like dining al fresco on a warm summer's day.

Very little remains of the vaulting that would have gone above, save for a few pieces of stucco work.
The room in which the dining room frescoes are housed has a number of very comfortable, though somewhat low, padded benches. It is an ideal spot in which to rest your weary feet, and contemplate how the room might have looked had you been fortunate enough to be one of Livia's dinner guests - provided you don't subscribe to the Gravesian image of her as an arch poisoner...

The Hellenistic Prince

The other bronze statue found on the Quirinal within a few weeks of the Boxer, which has been on display beside it for many years in both the Terme of Diocletian and (currently) in the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme.
It is a life size nude, again made from the lost wax process. It dates to the late 2nd Century BC.
Widely believed to represent King Attalus II of Pergamon, the lack of any royal diadem has led many to believe that it is actually a victorious Roman General, commissioned to celebrate a successful campaign. The features of the face do suggest that it is supposed to be a particular individual, rather than a type. The faint beard might show that he has not had the time to shave during his travails.
It is possibly based on a Pergamese original.
There is a distinct hint of a Hercules about it, without any of the obvious attributes like a club or lion skin.
This particular general might have simply wanted to show himself as comparable to that god in his victory.
Like the Boxer, it would have originally had lifelike eyes made of stone.

The Boxer

One of the highlights of the collection at the Palazzo Massimo Alle Terme, not far from Rome's Termini Railway Station and the Baths (Terme) of Diocletian. The statue known as the Boxer is a life-size bronze piece. It depicts a mature fighter, with injuries from his most recent bout, as well as the scars from a lifetime of boxing. In antiquity, boxers were only permitted to land punches on the head.
He has a broken nose, cauliflower ears, and missing teeth.
He's naked, although Roman boxers were expected to wear a small jockstrap affair to cover the genitals. The gloves on his hands run from the knuckles up the forearm, ending in a metal band. The knuckles themselves are protected by a band of thicker leather. This style of glove was typical of the Imperial period, but was also of a type known to the Greeks. As with a lot of Roman statuary, it is believed to be a copy of a Hellenistic original, created using the lost wax process. It is actually composed of eight separate sections. Details such as the blood flowing from his facial wounds, created by adding a different alloy, and the detail such as the chest hair were added later. He would have had eyes that were also added in later, made of different coloured stone.

Believed to date to the First Century BC, the Boxer was found in the 19th Century (1885) on the southern slopes of the Quirinal Hill. It is thought that it was housed in the private residence of a senior senatorial figure, rather than in the ownership of the Imperial family.

For many years it was to be seen in the Octagonal Hall of the Baths of Diocletian, alongside the bronze known as the Hellenistic Prince, found in the same area within the same month. Now both statues have been relocated to the ground floor of the Palazzo nearby.

Bad Emperors No.1

Commodus.
It's funny, but he looks nothing like Joaquin Phoenix, or Christopher Plummer, does he? Any TV series or movie that wants to depict someone from recent history always goes to great lengths to find someone who looks like them. We know from photos and newsreel what they are supposed to look like. When it comes to figures from the more distant past, that seems not to matter, despite there being portraits and busts of the real individuals. Producers and directors just don't seem to bother.
There are many busts of Commodus to be seen, in Rome and elsewhere. Probably the most famous is the depiction of him as Hercules which can be seen, flanked by a pair of Tritons, in the Capitoline Museums in Rome.
Hercules was a popular deity in Rome. Not just because of the strength and fortitude he embodied, but because he was supposed to have actually visited the city and killed a monster that lived in a cave on the Palatine Hill.
The Capitoline statue shows the Emperor Commodus with the attributes of Hercules - the skin of the Nemean lion, the club in his right hand, and the apples of the Hesperides in his left. The base of the statue has a couple of figures of Amazons, though the one on the right has long gone. They hold a pair of cornucopias, and there is a globe with astrological symbols.

Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus Augustus was born in 161 AD, the son of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. He became Emperor himself in 180 AD on his father's death, after acting as co-Emperor since 177 AD. He was the first Emperor since Titus to be the natural son of his predecessor. He was the youngest of twin boys - his brother dying at the age of 4.
He was made a Consul at age 15 - the youngest in history at that point. He became sole ruler when his father died fighting a campaign on the Danube.
He had little interest in the administration of the Empire - leaving that to his favoured officials - but he was popular with the army and the people for his staging of gladiatorial games, in which he did like to take part. He also liked to take part in horse races and chariot competitions.
In 182 AD a conspiracy to assassinate him, was foiled. It had been led by one of his sisters, Lucilla. She was exiled to Capri and later killed.
From this point Commodus began to play more of a part in the ruling of his Empire, but in an increasingly dictatorial style. He also tended to stay away from Rome, preferring his various country estates.
His chief adviser had been murdered during the conspiracy, and he promoted in his place a man named Cleander - not knowing that it was actually Cleander who had been the murderer.
Cleander would eventually over-reach himself and was put to death.
Over time, Commodus grew more and more megalomaniacal. He became obsessed with the cult of Hercules, seeing himself as the re-embodiment of the deity and thus a son of Jupiter, rather than the heir of Marcus Aurelius. He gave himself new names - twelve of them - and these became the new months of the year. Everything, and everyone, would be named after him - Romans now becoming Commodians. Nero's golden statue, which gave its name to the Colosseum, had its head replaced with his own.
In November 192 AD, an assassination attempt by some political rivals failed. The poison he was given he vomited up. Then on 31st December, his wrestling partner Narcissus strangled him in his bath. There then followed the Year of the Five Emperors, his successor - Pertinax - not lasting very long.
Initially his memory was damned by the Senate, but three years later he was deified on the request of the incoming Emperor Septimius Severus, who wanted to placate the surviving members of his family.
The chief source of information about Commodus comes from the writer Dio Cassius, and this has tended to paint him as very much a bad Emperor. Movies such as The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) and Gladiator (2000) have entrenched this view. There were no mass persecutions of Christians under Commodus' rule. Rather, one of his officials actually freed many Christian slaves from the mines on Sardinia, and his mistress Marcia is said to have been a Christian herself.

The inclusion of a pair of statues of Triton in the group refer to Commodus' apotheosis - becoming divine. Triton was a son of Poseidon, and always represented as a Merman, with a human torso, covered in scales and barnacles, and a fish tail. Over time, Tritons became a whole species - aquatic cousins of the Centaurs. Disney fans will know that Triton is the father of Ariel, the Little Mermaid.

The Dying Gaul(s)

One of the masterpieces of the Capitoline Museums, for many years this statue was thought to represent a dying gladiator. Indeed, the room in which it is to be seen - in the Palazzo Nuovo - is still called to this day the Hall of the Gladiator, because of this erroneous misidentification.

The statue is now known to represent a Galatian warrior, nude except for a torque around his neck, with short chopped hair and a moustache. He has a wound just below the right pectoral. It is known that the Gauls often fought naked, and with lime in their hair that made it look like that represented here.
It was found in the Gardens of Caesar, once owned by Julius Caesar, near the Via Salaria. After his assassination they were bought by the historian Sallust - becoming known as the Horti Sallustius. They later reverted to the Imperial Family and were much frequented by Tiberius. The Emperor Nerva died of a fever there in 98 AD.
The statue, along with others, was discovered in 1734 when the site was bought by Ludovici Ludovisi, nephew to Pope Gregory XV, in order to build a villa. Alongside it was another statuary group which can now be seen in the Palazzo Altemps, close by Piazza Navona, which contains other Ludovisi finds. This is the group known as "The Gaul Killing Himself And His Wife".

Here, another Galatian warrior has already killed his wife to prevent her falling into the hands of the Romans, and he is seen in the act of killing himself - plunging his sword into his heart through his chest. He has the same short chopped hair and a moustache, but this time wears a cloak - so may be of higher rank than the "Dying Gaul", perhaps his chieftain. Despite the fact that these two masterpieces reside in museums a mile or so apart, they were once part of a single composition.

As with many of Rome's greatest statues, the originals are thought to be Greek, and these later copies. The original for the Palazzo Altemps group was probably in bronze. It is known that the Greeks defeated Gauls who had attempted to settle in their territory around 279 BC. The date for these marble copies is not known. It might seem likely that, as they were found in gardens belonging to Julius Caesar, they dated from his time - commemorating his own victory over Vercingetorix - but equally they may have been commissioned by Sallust or a later Emperor in tribute to the deeds of the first Caesar.
Perhaps one day the two statues will be finally brought back together again, as Caesar, Sallust, or one of the later Emperors intended them to be seen.

The Tomb of the Baker

Visit the Porta Maggiore, a busy road intersection and tram terminus, and you'll see the tomb of the baker Eurysaces. The tomb lies on the side facing away from the city centre, as it was tradition that people couldn't be buried within the city itself. The gate is really an overground conduit for a pair of aqueducts, named as it sits on a road that leads to S. Maria Maggiore. Take a close look at the image below and you'll see the channels that the water ran through.

These were the aqua Claudia and Anio Novus. Both were begun by Caligula, and completed under Claudius. Originally an aqueduct intersection, this only became a real gate when it became incorporated into the Aurelian Walls, sections of which can be seen on either side.

The tomb was already in existence when the gate was built. It dates to between 30 - 20 BC. The tomb survived for centuries as it was incorporated into a tower that was built onto the gate by the Emperor Honorius. It was only exposed during excavations in the 19th Century. The odd circular motifs are actually dough bins - in recognition of Eurysaces' trade. These are real bins, as there is the rusted evidence of the kneading mechanism inside each one. The columns are also created by real bread bins, standing one on top of the other three high.
An inscription reads: EST HOC MONIMENTUM MERCEI VERGILEI EURYSACIS PISTORIS, REDEMPTORIS, APPARET - This is the tomb of Marcus Vergilius Eurysaces, baker, contractor, it's obvious! Eurysaces was an ex-slave who helped provide the bread dole for the Roman people - as in bread and circuses.

The tomb is fenced off and sits on a patch of scrubby grass, so you can't get too close to it. If you could, you would see the remains of a frieze around the entablature of scenes of life in a bakery. Plaster copies can be seen in the Museum of Roman Life at the EUR district. The remains of Eurysaces' wife, Atistia, were also deposited here. She was described as an "excellent woman", and her remains could be found in this panarium (bread bin). It is believed that Eurysaces' bakery was close by where his tomb now stands.

The Temple of Minerva Medica

In one of central Rome's less touristy sections - standing alongside the tracks leading into Termini railway station - sits what has become known as the Temple of Minerva Medica. It has been known as this since the 16th Century, but it was never a temple of any kind.
It is a 12-sided building and it used to have a concrete dome. There is evidence of underfloor heating - which led some to think it was part of a baths complex - and the walls were veneered in marble, with statues placed in niches around the interior. Unlike the Pantheon, the dome was made of thin panels of concrete attached to brick ribs. The roof survived until the 19th Century when it finally collapsed. The design was found to be too weak quite early on, as heavy buttresses were built into the structure within 20 years of its construction.

It is now widely believed to be a dining pavilion - part of a larger summer residence built by the Emperor Gallienus (253 - 268 AD). His horti (gardens) lay in this area, and he moved his entire court here each summer. Some 6th Century AD statuary was found embedded in Medieval walls built into the pavilion - suggesting the building was still in use at this time. With a busy road and tram-line on one side, and the railway tracks on the other, it is a remarkable survivor, which features in very few guidebooks.

Castrense Amphitheatre

A short distance from the church of Santa Croce Gerusalemme lies the remains of a small oval amphitheatre. Only the first and part of the second levels survive, but it originally had three tiers. The name probably derives from it being located next to the castra or barracks of the Imperial Cavalry. It is believed to date from the short reign of the Emperor Elagabalus (218 - 222 AD), designed to keep the Cavalry on his side. (The plan failed, as he and his mother were assassinated by their troops). It could seat 3500 spectators. Excavations in the 18th Century found a large number of large animal bones, so it is believed that the amphitheatre was used as a training ground for animals that would go on to feature at the Colosseum. It may also have been used for more intimate gladiatorial contests for the Emperor and his friends and family.

It owes its survival in part due to its incorporation into the Aurelian Walls in the 270's AD. This is when the open arcades were bricked up. There is a long section of well-preserved Wall in the area, running from the Castrense all the way to the Lateran.

According to Procopius the Aurelianic Walls were breached by the Goths in 537 AD at a weak point near the Praenestine Gate "at the animal enclosure" (vivarium). This may well refer to the Castrense Amphitheatre.