Mining Library Treasures

Hidden away in the collection of the Royal Netherlands Institute Rome is the Lexicon antiquitatum Romanorum by Samuel Pitiscus (1637 - 1727) dating from 1713. Pitiscus, nephew of the famous Bartholomaeus Pitiscus, was a Dutch historian and classicist from Zutphen, nephew of the famous trigonometrist Bartholomaeus Pitiscus (1561 – 1631). Samuel Pitiscus studied theology in Deventer and was later appointed as headmaster of the Latin school in Zutphen. In 1690 he made a commentary on Suetonius’ Vita. In 1713 he revised and edited Rosinus’ (1550 – 1626) work called Antiquitatum romanarum corpus absolutissimum, which first appeared at Basel in 1585. Rosinus was one of the first antiquarians to provide a topographical and institutional account of Roman antiquities.

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The Royal Netherlands Institute Rome possesses both volume 1 and 2 of Pitiscus’

Lexicon antiquitatum Romanorum. These books in the collection are truly extraordinary. Both books are printed in folio format, which is one of the biggest formats, and are equipped with a contemporary prize band of the Deventer school made out of parchment, with golden imprint of Minerva Dordracena. The first volume is enriched with illustrations that offer us a unique window in time. There is a portrait of emperor Karel the 6th, a portrait of Pitiscus himself and most importantly, a print of a mosaic floor. Last mentioned illustration offers us a unique insight in the interest in archeology and the classical culture in that period of time. The illustration is accompanied by the following text:

 

‘’En tibi imaginem pavimenti tessellati, hoc anno cIↄ Iↄ cc xiii in Britannia reperti, quod inter reliquias Antiquitatum Romanorum, ex solo Britannico erutas, principem facile locum tenet. Longum est pedes XXXVI, latum XV casu in illud incidit agricola, haerente aratro in lapillis istis, quos litera a notavimus ad locum Stunsfield dicto, non longe a Woodstock terra tegebatur omne per trium pedum spatium, qua remota  eximium hoc pavimentum se prodidit. Narravit mihi vir clarissimus Hadrianus Relandus, ad quem ex Britannia haec imago delata fuerat ab aliquo, qui ipse pavimentum conspexerat, quique illam mecum comminucavit se vidisse aliquot lapillos sive tesseras, e quibus hoc pavimentum constructum erat ex ista area in qua Bacchus cernitur ; desumtas hae omnino erant quadratae et hujus magnitudinis quum aliae essent tesserae altero tanto majores in ambitu areae. Quas ipse vidit, erant coloris rubri, aliae nigrae, albae aliae aut cinericeae".

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Translation: ‘’Behold! For you an image of the mosaic floor that has been discovered during this year 1712, among remnants of the Antiquity. Remnants which have been dug up solely from Brittan, which easily holds the most majestic prestige.

The floor measures 36 feet. A farmer accidentally stumbled upon this floor at the height of section fifteen, a plough has been driven in these stones which we have marked with a letter in accordance with the place as mentioned. Not for long it was covered by the earth with a measure of 3 feet high, after this earth has been removed, this excellent floor revealed itself.

The most intelligent man Hadrianus Relandus told me this, to whom this illustration was sent from Brittan by someone, who saw the mosaic for himself, he informed me that he had seen some tiles or mosaic stones from which this floor is made in the area in which Bacchus is seen; these are all squares and they are equal in size while the other stones are way bigger than the other in the surrounding area. Those he has seen himself are red of color, other are black, other white or ashy.’’

 

This mosaic depicting Bacchus, the Roman name for Dionysus: god of wine and intoxication, riding a panther is interesting because it was used to illustrate one of the earliest encyclopedias or dictionaries of Roman archeology and tells us the story of the methodology of early archeology.

 

The original discovery was made by a farmer called Geroge Handes at January 25

1712, when his plough landed upon some ancient foundation-stones. After investigating the field further, he layed bare a figurated mosaic pavement depicting the god Bacchus riding a panther. The news quickly spreaded and reached Oxford where it reached the antiquarian Hearne (1678 – 1735). Hearne noted on Friday February the first, that a fragment of the mosaic has been handed to him. The next day he travelled to Stunsfield to see the pavement for himself, but he at first thought it was a modern mosaic instead of Roman because of the structure and decoration of the mosaic. During the next months Hearne travelled to Stunsfield numerous times to investigate the mosaic, his opinions about the mosaic changing constantly. Hearne succeeded to persuade the owner of the land so that he could have a drawing made of the mosaic which would be turned to an engraving so that he could publish an illustration of the mosaic along with his research.

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This original engraving was made by the famous Dutch illustrator Burghers (1648 – 1727). The fame of the mosaic spread quickly and others began to make an engraving and print of their own to sell to tourists. One of these is the engraving signed by E.L. which was sent to Samuel Pitiscus by Hadrian Reland (1676 – 1718) one of the most important Dutch representatives of the Enlightenment. Pitiscus inserted an engraving of the mosaic copied by F.Halma (1653 – 1722) as a frontispiece at the end of the preface of volume one of the first edition. The engraving got copied and was used by various other authors in their works. In this way the image became widespread and known in a wide area. However, the mosaic itself vanished. Maver, the author of A new description of Blenheim tells us that the mosaic had been removed and divided amongst three people, one being the Duke of Marlborough. In 1779 Hence Gough states in his new edition of Camden’s Britannia that the pavement had been destroyed but that some borders and corners still remained and that the mosaic on the Duke’s ground would be well preserved and perhaps even restored. However, even these remains were later on removed and the entire mosaic in this way vanished.

 

Such is the story of what might have been an important and incredible beautiful monument of Ancient Rome, which has tragically vanished from the face of the earth. The lesson we can learn from this story is that it is of the uttermost importance to immediately report an archeological finding to a responsible authority. Furthermore, it teaches us just how important illustrations and the preservation of books really are.