Plan basilica Santi Marcellino e Pietro ad Duas Lauros

The Mausoleum of Helena is an ancient building in Rome, Italy, located on the

Via Casilina The Via Casilina is a medieval road in Latium and Campania. It led from Rome to Casilinum (present-day Capua), to present-day Santa Maria Capua Vetere. It was created from the fusion of two ancient Roman roads, the ''Via Latina'' and the ''Via ...

, corresponding to the 3rd mile of the

ancient Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient h ...

Via Labicana The Via Labicana was an ancient road of Italy, leading east-southeast from Rome. The course after the first six miles from Rome is not taken by any modern road, but it can be clearly traced from remains of pavement and buildings. It seems possibl ...

. It was built by the Roman emperor

Constantine I Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...

between 326 and 330, originally as a tomb for himself, as indicated by his sarcophagus found there, but later assigned to his mother

Helena Helena may refer to: People *Helena (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Katri Helena (born 1945), Finnish singer * Saint Helena (disambiguation), this includes places Places Greece * Helena ...

who died in 330. Access to the mausoleum and the catacombs is to the west of the church of

Santi Marcellino e Pietro ad Duas Lauros Santi Marcellino e Pietro ad Duas Lauros is a church in the Prenestino-Labicano quarter of Rome, Italy. Located on the ancient Via Labicana on land once owned by Helena, mother of Constantine, it was along the southern part of the Via Francige ...

History

The area where the mausoleum is located was known as ''Ad Duas Lauros'', was probably imperial property and used as a cemetery of the

Equites singulares The ''equites singulares Augusti'' or ''equites singulares Imperatoris'' (lit: "personal cavalry of the emperor" i.e. imperial horseguards) were the cavalry arm of the Praetorian Guard during the Principate period of Roman Empire, imperial Rome. B ...

. This has been attested by numerous inscriptions mentioning the Equites at Ad Duas Lauros, although the exact location of the necropolis has not been discovered. It has been supposed that the necropolis was deliberately destroyed by Constantine as revenge against the Equites who, in the battle of Ponte Milvio, sided with

Maxentius Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius ( 283 – 28 October 312) was a Roman emperor from 306 until his death in 312. Despite ruling in Italy and North Africa, and having the recognition of the Senate in Rome, he was not recognized as a legitimate ...

against him. Nearby, in the present Park of Centocelle, was the great Roman Villa "ad Duas Lauros" which was later owned by Helena and known as the home of the Flavian Christians. She later donated the property to the Church. It dated from the Republican era to the 5th-6th century AD when it reached its maximum extent of almost two hectares and was the place of death of

Valentinian III Valentinian III (; 2 July 41916 March 455) was Roman emperor in the Western Roman Empire, West from 425 to 455. Starting in childhood, his reign over the Roman Empire was one of the longest, but was dominated by civil wars among powerful general ...

. The Catacombs of Marcellinus and Peter were established here and Constantine built a basilica for the same martyrs near their tombs. The mausoleum was built from 326 next to the basilica in a similar complex to that of Santa Constanza and after the death of Helena in 330, the tomb was assigned to her. The mausoleum was later damaged by the use of its materials for other constructions. In the 8th century it became a defensive fortress. However, it continued to house Helena's tomb until the 11th century, when the sarcophagus was brought to the

Lateran 250px, Basilica and Palace - side view Lateran and Laterano are names for an area of Rome, and the shared names of several buildings in Rome. The properties were once owned by the Lateranus family of the Roman Empire. The Laterani lost their p ...

(currently it is in the

Vatican Museum The Vatican Museums (; ) are the public museums of the Vatican City. They display works from the immense collection amassed by the Catholic Church and the papacy throughout the centuries, including several of the best-known Roman sculptures and ...

Lanzoni and Duchesne place in this area the town known as Subaugusta, whose name referred to the Augusta Helena, and which for a while formed a small diocese, four of whose bishops took part in synods held at Rome between 465 and 502. The see is included in the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

's list of

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbi ...

s.''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2013, ), p. 977

Architecture

The building has a circular plan and is constituted by two cylinders, the upper one being of smaller diameter (, internal diameter ). The original height was , while today it has reduced to some . Internally, the lower cylinder has an octagonal shape. At the vertices are niches, alternatively rectangular and semicircular; one of them housed the entrance. In correspondence with the niches, in the upper ring, were eight arcaded windows. In order to lighten the dome, it included large amphorae (as in the

Temple of Romulus A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

or the Mausoleum of

Villa Gordiani Villa Gordiani is a park along the Via Prenestina, in Rome, Italy. It is home to several ancient Roman remains, traditionally identified with the villa of the Gordian imperial family, which included three Roman emperors of the 3rd century, Gor ...

), which are now visible after the vault has collapsed. This led to the medieval name of the mausoleum, ''Torpignattara'' (''Torre delle pignatte'', meaning "Tower of the Vases"), today also used for the quarter which has grown around. The rectangular niche facing the entrance most likely contained the sarcophagus of Helena, in red

porphyry Porphyry (; , ''Porphyrios'' "purple-clad") may refer to: Geology * Porphyry (geology), an igneous rock with large crystals in a fine-grained matrix, often purple, and prestigious Roman sculpture material * Shoksha porphyry, quartzite of purple c ...

. The external faces of the sarcophagus are decorated with war scenes as it was probably originally to be used for emperor Constantine.

References

Citations

Sources

External links

* {{Authority control 330 establishments Buildings and structures completed in the 4th century 330s establishments in the Roman Empire Ancient Roman buildings and structures in Rome