Basic Biographical Information
Born in Venice, Italy, on April 25, 1859, Giacomo Boni was a prominent figure in the development of the discipline of Roman archaeology and, in particular, a key figure in the excavation of contexts connected to early Rome. Boni studied architecture in Venice and worked there as an architect but is best known for his excavations at Rome, especially those in and around the Forum Romanum undertaken from 1898 onward. He saw military service in World War I and resumed his fieldwork in 1916. He was appointed as a member of the Italian senate in 1923 and died in Rome, Italy, on July 10, 1925, and is interred in the Orti Farnesiani on the Palatine Hill.
Major Accomplishments
Boni’s excavations in Rome resulted in many significant archaeological discoveries, and it is for this work that he is most well-known; in fact, Boni was a pioneer in terms of excavation methodology. Boni’s stratigraphic excavations in the center of Rome were revolutionary, as no one had...
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References
Ammerman, Albert J. 1990. On the origins of the forum Romanum. American Journal of Archaeology 94: 627–645.
Further Reading
Ammerman, Albert J. 2016. On Giacomo Boni, the origins of the forum, and where we stand today. Journal of Roman Archaeology 29: 293–311.
Capodiferro, A., and P. Fortini. 2003. Gli scavi di Giacomo Boni al foro Romano, Documenti dall’Archivio Disegni della Soprintendenza Archeologica di Roma I.1 (Planimetrie del Foro Romano, Gallerie Cesaree, Comizio, Niger Lapis, Pozzi repubblicani e medievali). (Documenti dall’archivio disegni della Soprintendenza Archeologica di Roma 1). Rome: Fondazione G. Boni-Flora Palatina.
Coarelli, F. 1983–1985. Il Foro Romano. 2 v. Rome: Quasar.
Coarelli, F., ed. 2004. Lexicon topographicum urbis Romae/Suppl. 2,1, Gli scavi di Roma: 1878–1921. Rome: Quasar.
Consolato, S. 2006. Giacomo Boni, l’archeologo-vate della Terza Roma. In Esoterismo e fascismo: storia, interpretazioni, documenti, ed. G. De Turris. Rome: Edizioni mediterranee.
Gjerstad, E. 1953–1973. Early Rome. 6 v. Lund: C. W. K. Gleerup.
Romanelli, P. 1970. Boni, Giacomo, in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, 75–77. Rome: Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana fondata da Giovanni Treccani.
Steinby, E. M. 1993–2000. Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae. 6 v. Rome: Quasar.
Tea, E. 1932. Giacomo Boni nella Vita del suo tempo. 2 v. Milan: Ceschina.
Whitehouse, D. 1996. Boni, Giacomo. In Encyclopedia of the history of classical archaeology, ed. N.T. de Grummond, vol. 1, 171–172. Westport: Greenwood Press.
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Becker, J.A. (2018). Boni, Giacomo. In: Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_1453-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_1453-2
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