Messorium

In ancient sources, this area is referred to as Spes Vetus or ad Spem Veterem , that is, "Old Hope" or "at the old Hope", since back in republican times there was a temple of the goddess Spes (Hope) ^[1] , which began to be called old after construction in III BC e. the second Temple of Spes in the Vegetable Market .

The name “Sessoria” does not appear in written sources until the 6th century AD, except for one dubious mention by Plutarch : describing the events of the Year of the Four Emperors , he uses this toponym to indicate the place where the death sentences of the emperors were carried out (without specifying location of the place) ^[2] .

An early medieval Anonymous Valesia mentions a “palace called Sessorius,” describing the events of the year 500. The reference to Sessorius in two comments dates back to the same era - as a place on Esquiline , where the beggars and criminals are buried ^[3] .

In the 2nd century AD e. wealthy Roman families set up many gardens to the southeast of the city walls. Here, on Esquiline, in one of the highest points of the city, eight of the eleven aqueducts of Rome entered Rome at once ^[4] , which created favorable conditions for gardening. Subsequently, many of these gardens became the property of the emperor ^[5] .

According to archaeological data (hallmarks on bricks and lead pipes), the beginning of large-scale construction at this place is dated by the reign of Septimius Severus (193–211), and the end by the reign of Elagabal (218–222). Under Septimius Severus, a residential core of palace buildings, thermae and a long (more than 350 m) portico with a colonnade formed. At Caracalla (211–17), an impressive size (620 × 133 m) of Varian circus was built along the Labican road (inheriting the name from the Variy family gardens that were here earlier) ^[5] . The amphitheater was completed at Elagabal.

After Elagabal, the residence was left for many decades by emperors. This is associated with the attempt to assassinate Elagabal on his cousin (and adoptive son) Alexander : the “gardens of old Hope” are mentioned in the context of preparing the assassination and as a place where the rebel Praetorians , supporters of Alexander, came to capture Elagabal ^[6] . When Alexander, after the assassination of Elagabal, became emperor, he did not want to live in this residence, preferring the Palatine ^[7] .

At the end of the III century. n e. the residence was divided into two parts, laid through it by the wall of Aurelian . The part that was outside the city (including the circus) was destroyed. The inner part again became the imperial residence at the beginning of the 4th century.

In Sessoria lived Elena Equal to the Apostles , mother of Constantine the Great . Under Constantine or his sons, one of the halls of the palace was turned into a church ( Basilica Heleniana ), where the relics brought by Elena from Jerusalem, including a fragment of the Holy Cross , were kept. On the basis of this church in the XII century was built the basilica of Santa Croce in Jerusalemme , one of the seven pilgrimage churches of Rome .

Currently, apart from the Castrense amphitheater, a separate exedra of the main reception chamber of the palace (c. 320 C.E.), as well as a rectangular lobby (36.5 × 21.8 m), incorporated into the Church of Santa, have been preserved Croce in Jerusalemme (masonry from the Septimius Severus era can be seen on the northern wall of the basilica). Some scholars also include the Helena baths in the Sessoria complex, the ruins of which are visible on via Eleniana to the northwest of the Santa Croce Basilica ^[5] .