IMPERIAL ROME.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 165, 15 July 1939, Page 7

IMPERIAL ROME.

FAST LIVES AGAIN.

MAGIC OF ARCHAEOLOGY. ' _ j ANCIENT ALTAR TO PEACE, i 1 In the romanre of the story told to- , day by Dr. A. D. TrendnU, distinguished , New Zealand archaeologist, who arrived by the Mataroa, Latin became more than a dead language, and Rome lived again as it was in the days of the Caesars, Dr. Trendall has been doing extensive work in archaeology in Greece and Rome over a period of years. Nine years after the birth of Christ, he Maid, Augustus Caesar set up in the .Eternal City an altar to commemorate the peace which Home had imposed over her vast empire, practically the whole of the known world. He called it the "Am Paris," or the altar of peace. Centuries parsed, and with the passing of Rome's glory the altar be-1 ca.rne lost beneath the dust of the centuries. It was literally tho dust of the centuries, since many other building* had] been erected on top of it. One which had) had to be removed, was a 16th century palace. Now, due to the skill of the archaeologist, it had again been set up in its pristine glory. It etood now in one piece, and Dr. Trendall described the infinite care which its resurrection had necessitated. It had been built in the first place on marshy ground near the Tiber, and on such unstnblp foundations, with the passing of tlin centuries, it had gradually sunk.

Been use of the nature of the ground, he explained, it had actually been necessary to freeze the entire area in its vicinity. Excavations had been made all round it. nnd once the ground had been frozen solid, the altar had been literally chipped out. The fact that it measured some 38ft iby 34ft gave some indication of the magnitude of the work.

On September 23 last, the 2000 th anniversary of the birth of Atijnistus Caesar. the altar had been dedicated by Mueeo-

Roman life in those days had been much the same as to-day, Dr. Trendall continued. For example, the house occupied by Livia, wife of Augustus Caesar, had been excavated. It had ■actually been found to contain a central heating system. "Their public baths," Dr. Trendall said, "were of a standard which modern Italy has not yet reached." Referring to the connection between Biblical history and archaeology, he said that excavations iti Italy were illustrative of the written text of the NewTestament. Places mentioned in Holy Writ had been found and identified by I archaeologists.

A great, deal of arehaclogical work was lx-iiig done in Italy, Dr. Trendall declined. Mussolini was iniicb interested in it. and for the great Italian exhibition to be held in 1»42 he had ordered that the whole of the ancient port of Otitin should be restored. A good deal of work had already been done there, but some 42 acres remained. If the work continued as it had been begun, the result would be a revelation of the Rome of the Imperial period. Ostia, he added, promised to be one of the richest fields ever attacked.

Under the modern system of archaeology, he explained, the result would be more interesting than under the methods of the past. Now, the buildings were set up as they had been when I built, and left in their original positions. j Dr. Trendall is the son of Mr. A. D. iTrendall, the well-known master at the Mount Albert Grammar School. Dr. Trendall left New Zealand some eight yeare ago. Hβ took the B.A. degree at Cambridge University with first-claes honours and distinction in 1933. For two yeare he did research in Italy and Greece on Grecian pottery. Then he was elected to the Rome Scholarship in Archaeology. In 1936 he published hie book, "Pottery of Paeetrum," which gained for him a Doctorate in Literature, in the New Zealand University and a Fellowship at Trinity College. (Cambridge.

He has come to New Zealand to delh-er a course of lectures, both public and before the University. He will deal with excavations in Italy, and with Roman «rt, particnlsrly its connection" witn Roman literature. He hae prer pared over 300 elides especially for this team at itMsemm, • ' ,