Grzegorz Pasternak

The oldest version of Mirabilia Urbis Romae and the renovation of the Roman senate in 1143–44. Is the treatise pro-republican in character or is it a mere work of literature?
The oldest version of Mirabilia Urbis Romae was written ca. 1143, i. e. at the same time when the republican fraction in medieval Rome renewed the Roman Senate. Fragments of the oldest version suggest a link between the origins of the treatise and the republican fraction. This connection has been repeatedly pointed out since the 19th century by such historians as: Louis Duchesne, Percy Ernst Schramm, Ferdinand Gregorovius. Nowadays the existence of this link is often negated, e.g. in the works of Chiara Frugoni and Nine Robintje Miedema, who suggest that the treatise has only literary meaning. But the evidence indicating the republican character of the treatise is too strong to accept without objections that the oldest version of Mirabilia is a mere work of literature. The text of the treatise is filled with admiration for the ancient Rome much in the same spirit as the actions of the Senate aimed at restoring some of the old splendor to the neglected city. This clearly indicates a republican undertone in the treatise. The newly elected Senate renovated some of the ancient monuments, ordered the protection of the Traian’s column and began the restoration of the Capitoline Hill, where on the ruins of the Tabularium the Palace of the Senators was build. The importance of the Capitoline is clearly stressed in the oldest version of Mirabilia, where that hill is referred as Caput Mundi. The republican meaning of the treatise is also indicated by: the content of the legend about the equestrian monument of Marcus Aurelius, the lack of mention of other ancient bronze monuments displayed in front of the Lateran Palace, which might be interpreted as the symbols of the power of the popes who considered themselves as heirs of Constantine the Great. The researches conducted by Ingo Herklotz and Norberto Gramaccini also undermine the thesis that the treatise is a mere work of literature. Considering all the evidence, Louis Duchesne’s thesis that the oldest version of Mirabilia was written in the same spirit which inspired the revolution on the Capitoline Hill in 1143–44 and the restoration of the Roman Senate, is still very probable