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Doc. 206.] SWEDENBORG’S TRAVELS IN 173S. 123
gorgeous style ; it is adorned with marble statues, eleven of
which are at the top of the church. The great Palace of Gio
vanni in Laterano is also there ; the place where Constantine
the Great was baptized is pointed out [il Battisterio or S. Gio
vanni in Fonte]. In the middle of the Piazza [di S. Gio
vanni in Laterano] is the largest obelisk, being 145 hand
breadths high. It is also the oldest ; was conveyed from
Thebes to Alexandria and thence to Rome ; it is still well
preserved, and was erected by Sixtus V. In the immediate
neighbourhood is the Scala Santa, where persons go up some
steps on their knees, and crawl up to the chapel, or to the
holy of holies. The palace of Constantine was near the fountain
where he was baptized ; afterwards it belonged to the family
of Lateranus from which it derives its name.* Eight columns
of it used to belong to the Palace of Pilate [?] and were con
veyed hither. Near the church and the garden are seen the
ruins of the palace of Constantine ; two large hospitals are also
in the neighbourhood.
October 9. I was at the Villa Farnesi [ Orti Farnesiani], †
built on the ruins of the Palace of Tiberius, which was after
wards repaired by Nero and Vespasian ; forty statues and
fourteen busts are there ; from this villa are visible the Mons
Aventinus, the Circus Maximus, the temple where the she
wolf of Romulus and Remus was found, which is round ;
likewise the ruins of the palace of Augustus. I was in the
Temple of Janus with four gate-ways ; in its immediate vicinity
is the triumphal arch of Antoninus Pius,‡ and close to it is the
* According to modern researches the place occupied by the Church
and Palace of S. Giovanni in Laterano belonged originally to an ancient
Roman family, by the name of Lateranus, who owned the grounds and
buildings up to the time of the Emperor Nero. By his command the last
owner, Plautus Lateranus, was executed, and Nero appropriated his pos
sessions. The Lateran Palace thus became imperial property. Constantine
the Great presented the palace to the pope ; and it thus became the resi
dence of the popes until they removed to Avignon. On their return to
Rome they removed to the Vatican.
On the Palatine Hill.
Swedenborg means here probably the arcus argentarius, near the
Church of S. Giorgio in Velabro, which was erected by the merchants of
the Forum boarium in honour of Septimius Severus.
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