The destruction of ancient Rome : a sketch of the history of the monuments . nce for the historyof the monuments. These are, the erection of the col-umn of Phocas, the transformation of the Pantheoninto a church, and the inauguration of the practice oftransferring relics of martyrs from the Catacombs tosanctuaries within the walls. Phocas, the murderer of the Emperor Mauritius, hadseized the throne of the East in November, 602. Theportraits of this ^ base and cowardly assassin andof his wife Leontia were received in Rome with thecustomary honours by the clergy and the Senate assem-bled in the
The destruction of ancient Rome : a sketch of the history of the monuments . nce for the historyof the monuments. These are, the erection of the col-umn of Phocas, the transformation of the Pantheoninto a church, and the inauguration of the practice oftransferring relics of martyrs from the Catacombs tosanctuaries within the walls. Phocas, the murderer of the Emperor Mauritius, hadseized the throne of the East in November, 602. Theportraits of this ^ base and cowardly assassin andof his wife Leontia were received in Rome with thecustomary honours by the clergy and the Senate assem-bled in the Basilica Julii at the Lateran, and after-ward exhibited to the public in the church of in Palatio.^ The Romans went even a stepfarther in their show of servility: they raised an hon-orary column, inscribed, Phocae clementissimo principlein the middle of the Forum, which still remained freefrom the ruins that were later to bury and con-ceal it. This is the last monument erected in that 1 The remains of this church are described in Bums and Excavations,p. 169. 106. Fig. 21. — The column of Phocas in the Forum. At the right, further back,the remains of the temple of Saturn. THE MONUMENTS IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY 109 historical place. It marks the end of the ancientperiod and the beginning of tlie Middle Ages. Ofthe three monumental columns still extant at Rome,Dyer well remarks, two were erected to the bestemperors (Trajan and Marcus Aurelius), one to theworst and basest; their merits are aptly typified bythe style of their monuments.^ From the inscription on the pedestal of the columnof Phocas (discovered February 23, 1813) we learnthat the pillar was surmounted by a statue m giltbronze. Now such a statue could not have been mod-elled and cast in Rome in 608 (the column wasdedicated on August 1 of that year). It must havebeen an old statue, cast centuries before, of which, Iam inclined to believe, not even the head was changedfor the occasion. The column is forty-f
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