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Archaeologists excavating on Piazza Venezia, just across the street from the colossal Victor Emmanuel Monument, say they may have uncovered the Athenaeum of Hadrian.  The excavations, undertaken as explorations intended to determine where and how a third metro line might run through the city of Rome.

According to the 1875 Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities by John Murray, the Athenaeum was a school founded by the Emperor Hadrian at Rome in 133 AD, for the promotion of literary and scientific studies, and was named after the city of Athens, which at the time was regarded as the seat of intellectual refinement.

Ancient sources say that the Athenaeum was situated on the Capitoline hill and that it was a kind of university with a staff of professors who oversaw the various branches of study. In the early 5th century AD, for example, under the reign of Theodosius II, there were three orators, ten grammarians, five sophists, one philosopher, and two lawyers on staff. Besides the instruction given by faculty members, poets, orators, and critics recited their compositions there. The Athenaeum seems to have continued in high repute till the fifth century.

Little is known of the details of study in the Athenaeum, but some literary sources suggest that young men from all parts, after finishing their usual school and college studies in their own town or province,came to Rome for higher education.

So, what have archaeologists actually discovered?  It seems that they’ve uncovered twin monumental staircases of six steps each that are buried in debris that was the result of the collapse of upper floors of the building.  Each of the staircases faces onto a room with granite and marble paving, suggesting that the stairs were used as seats.