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Mausoleum of Honorius

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Vatican Hill and Old St Peter's Basilica, Rome. Illustration from the Nuremberg Chronicle (1490). The large domed structure with windows at the left represents the Mausoleum of Honorius.

The Mausoleum of Honorius was a late antique circular mausoleum and the burial place of the Roman emperor Honorius and other 5th-century imperial family members. Constructed for the augustus of the Western Roman Empire beside Old St Peter's Basilica in Rome, the Mausoleum of Honorius was the last Roman imperial mausoleum built.[1][2]

It became the Chapel of St Petronilla, dedicated to Saint Petronilla, the purported daughter of Saint Peter. Her relics were translated to the mausoleum in 757 at the behest of Pepin the Short, king of Francia.[1] Its association with the medieval Kingdom of France continued until the Renaissance, and it was known by the Italian: Capella dei Re Franchi, lit. 'Chapel of the French Kings' or Capella de' Franchi, 'Chapel of the French'.[1] The mausoleum was demolished in late November 1519, during the construction of St Peter's Basilica.[1]

History

Construction

The empress Maria died before 408, but the building may not have been complete at that time; it may have been begun any time between around 400 and 415.[1] Maria's early death itself may been prompted the mausoleum's construction.[1]

Burials

The first burial inside the mausoleum was that of the augusta Maria, daughter of Stilicho and first wife of Honorius.[1] The first emperor of the Theodosian dynasty to be entombed there was Honorius himself, buried in 424.[1] Honorius's second wife Thermantia was very likely also buried there.[3] Theodosius, the first son of the augusta Galla Placidia by her first husband Athaulf, king of the Visigoths, was recorded as buried there in 450.[1]

Honorius's sister, Galla Placidia, her husband the augustus Constantius III, and her sons Theodosius and Valentinian III were probably buried there.[3][4]

It was later the probable tomb of the western augusti Libius Severus and Olybrius.[3][4]

The sarcophagi were buried beneath the floor of the mausoleum, beneath the niches in the walls.[5]

Like the Mausoleum of Constantine connected with the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople, the Mausoleum of Honorius was a "symbol of the elevated status of the emperors", since the imperial mausolea of the emperors were symbolic of the deification of Roman emperors, the Latin: divi, lit. 'gods'.[6] Imperial mausolea during late antiquity were probably used in the manner of a heroön, for commemorative meals in honour of the deceased, as the centre of a family cult including sacrifices to the dead, and during Parentalia, the Roman festival of the dead in February.[6] This was generally separate from the public commemoration of divinized imperial figures; these were usually associated with the honorand's official birthday (Latin: dies natalis) and their public temples.[6]

Chapel

Reconstruction of Old St Peter's Basilica. The Mausoleum of Honorius is the domed structure at the extreme top left, behind the rotunda Sant'Andrea and the Vatican Obelisk.

Demolition

The building has never been the subject of archaeological excavation.[1]

Architecture

The mausoleum was a rotunda with a hemispherical dome. According to Giacomo Grimaldi, it was built of Roman brick.[1] The mausoleum connected to the basilica built on the site of Saint Peter's tomb by Constantine the Great. The southern transept of the basilica opened onto a vestibule from which one entered the rotunda.

The building's floor plan is known from a drawing in the 16th-century codex known as the Anonimo Fiorentino in the National Central Library of Florence, which also shows the adjoining Vatican Rotunda, built in the 3rd century during the reign of the Severan dynasty and later known by the Italian: Sant'Andrea, lit. 'St Andrew'.[1] The plan suggests the Mausoleum was extremely similar to the Vatican Rotunda, though the Renaissance artist may have "regularized" the design.[1] A "crude" likeness of the building appears in an illustration of the Nuremberg Chronicle from 1490, which shows it had exterior buttressing for the drum, which itself had large windows.[1] The windows are recorded as having been repaired in 1463, along with the ceiling.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Johnson, Mark Joseph (2009). The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 167–74. ISBN 978-0-521-51371-5. OCLC 309835740.
  2. ^ Gehn, Ulrich (2018), Nicholson, Oliver (ed.), "tombs", The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acref/9780198662778.001.0001/acref-9780198662778-e-4797, ISBN 978-0-19-866277-8, retrieved 2020-08-05
  3. ^ a b c Johnson, Mark Joseph (2009). The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 202. ISBN 978-0-521-51371-5. OCLC 309835740.
  4. ^ a b Johnson, Mark Joseph (2009). The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 199–218. ISBN 978-0-521-51371-5. OCLC 309835740.
  5. ^ Johnson, Mark Joseph (2009). The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 177. ISBN 978-0-521-51371-5. OCLC 309835740.
  6. ^ a b c Johnson, Mark Joseph (2009). The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 188–189. ISBN 978-0-521-51371-5. OCLC 309835740.
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