Of this second pyramid, whose size was similar to the surviving one, if not even larger, no trace at all is left today. Whether it was older than the aforesaid tomb of Gaius Cestius cannot be told. What we know about the monument mostly comes from several descriptions found in guides of Rome dating back to the 12th-14th centuries, written in medieval Latin and in early Italian, for the benefit of the many pilgrims. Unfortunately, these accounts were not very detailed, but still give us an idea of what the monument looked like, and where it was located. Encased between the Tiber (east), the Vatican Hill (west) and the Janiculum Hill (south), outside the city boundary, in ancient times the Vatican was rather different from what it is today. There stood the circus built by emperors Gaius (better known as Caligola) and Nero (finished in AD 56).

the pyramid of Gaius Cestius, by St.Paul's Gate

map of the Vatican in ancient Rome: the spot where the Meta Romuli stood is marked in red,
the urban area is coloured in pink, and the main buildings yet to come are outlined with a dotted line

the Meta Romuli, between the Circus of Nero and the Tomb of Hadrian (whose base is seen at the back), from a map of ancient Rome by Pirro Ligorio (1561)		During the Middle Ages the impressiveness of the white pyramid indeed caught the imagination of common people, who related it to famous roman heroes. It was known as Meta Romuli (Romulus' Meta), because its shape recalled the pillars used in ancient circuses to mark the two ends of the track, called metae; the pyramids built in Rome had a sharper angle (i.e. were narrower) than the Egyptian ones. But art historian Umberto Gnoli, in a work about Rome's topography (1939), claimed that in medieval Latin this word had a meaning of 'hostel', thus the monument may have been called a meta because included in a building that acted as an inn for pilgrims. In fact, during the Middle Ages many family houses and small fortresses incorporated ancient ruins left standing, in order to grant the building a greater steadiness, as in those years the building techniques were rather primitive. According to a popular belief, the mythical founder of Rome, Romulus, was buried in the pyramid. Some sources also refer to this monument more explicitly as 'Romulus' tomb'. This was clearly a legend. But the name Meta Romuli became so common that, during the Middle Ages, the now surviving pyramid of Gaius Cestius, despite bearing an inscription with his name, was known as Meta Remi (the meta of Remus, i.e. Romulus' brother), in opposition to the one in the Vatican, which evidently was better known by the people. Another name the pyramid was commonly known with is Borgo's Meta, after the district that during the early Middle Ages had spread over the Vatican plains, or St.Peter's Meta.

Most of the sources that describe the Meta Romuli also mention a second tall building that stood very close to the pyramid, more often referred to as Terebinthus of Nero, (but in some cases as Terabintum, or Tiburtinum i.e. "made of travertine marble"), whose purpose and age are also unknown. Provided that it did not exist only in the fantasy of medieval authors, it might have collapsed or been destroyed much earlier than the Meta Romuli, as all texts refer to it in terms of there once was..., in times during which the pyramid was still standing. view of Borgo district, in 1493: the pyramid (centre) towered over → the surrounding houses, but there is no trace of the Terebinthus

today's look of the place: once in the central part of the picture stood the old buildings, among which the early church of Santa Maria Traspontina

Furthermore, several sources say that the marble which the two aforesaid buildings were lined with was used for the making of the old St.Peter's basilica (finished in AD 349); in fact, when the proscription of the Christian religion came to an end, under emperor Constantine I (4th century), it became a common practice to take away marble and other valuable material from abandoned pagan temples for building new churches. Therefore, by the time the guides were written, the Terebinthus may have not been there any longer, whereas the Meta Romuli was still standing in the late 15th century.

XX. about the Meta and Nero's Tiburtinum [Terebinthus]. By the Naumachia is the tomb of Romulus, which is called Meta, and was covered with fine stone [marble], out of which the floor and the stairway of St.Peter's were made. It had a 20-foot open space around it, made of travertine marble, with its own drainage gutter and flowers. Next to it stood Nero's tiburtinum [Terebinthus], as tall as Hadrian's Castle, covered with fine stone, out of which the steps and the courtyard [of St.Peter's] were built. This round building had two round walls in a fashion similar to the Castle, whose top part was covered with marble slabs for the water to drip; by this spot the saint apostle Peter was crucified. from Mirabilia Urbis Romae (the wonders of the city of Rome), c.12th century

III. about the Meta and the Castle. By the Naumachia is the tomb of Romulus, which is called St.Peter's Meta. It was covered with fine marble, out of which the floor and the stairway of St.Peter's was made. It had a 20-foot open space around it, made of travertine marble, with a drainage gutter in which the water of the Meta's open space flowed. IV. about Nero's Terebinthus. Beside the Meta stood Nero's Terebinthus, as tall as Hadrian's Castle. It was covered with large slabs. And it had two round walls, in a fashion similar to the Castle. And the upper part of the walls was covered with large marble slabs for the water [as waterproof cover]. The Terebinthus stood next to the spot where the saint apostle Peter was crucified, and where now stands the church of Santa Maria in Trasbedina [Traspontina]. from Le miracole de Roma (the wonders of the city of Rome), c.13th century

By the Naumachia is the tomb of Romulus, which is called Meta; it used to be covered with fine stone, out of which the floor and the stairway of St.Peter's were made. It had a 20-foot open space made of travertine marble all around it, with a drainage gutter and flowers of its own. Next to it stood Nero's Terebinthus, as tall as Hadrian's memorial, covered with fine stone, out of which the steps and the courtyard [of St.Peter's] were built. This round building had two round walls, in the fashion of the memorial, whose top part was covered with marble slabs for the water to drip; by this spot the saint Apostle Peter was crucified. from Graphia aureae urbis Romae (account of the sublime city of Rome), late 12th century

By the Almachia [a corruption of Naumachia], that is to say by Santa Maria in Traspontina's church, stands the meta which, it is said, was the tomb of Remulus [i.e. Remus], killed on the Janus [likely, the nearby Janiculus hill] by order of Romulus; and with regard to this meta, as I already said, I am in doubt that it may have not been built by Romulus for Remulus, because in those days Romulus and his clan did not have so much power. I cannot find another origin that can be relied on; but in any case, it was very beautiful, covered as it was with marble slabs, which emperor Constantine had Saint Peter's floor built and decorated with. The aforesaid meta had a circle of twenty steps around it, and a hight of ten feet, with a patio in travertine marble, a drainage gutter and a hole. In front of it stood Nero's Terabintum [Terebinthus], which was built over the remains of the Temple of Jupiter: from this building comes the fountain's basin in the square, in which the parasite priests preached in the time when the Terabintum was there. After its destruction, a temple of Diana was built, and Hadrian's great tomb with the bridge, which today is called Sant'Angelo Castle, as will be said further, according to what can be read in the inscriptions, up to emperor Crescentius, who changed its name into Crescentius' Castle, and the aforesaid name Sant'Angelo Castle, chosen by saint pope Gregory, has been haded down up to our days. from Tractatus de rebus antiquis et situ urbis Romae ("essay about antiquities and the site of the city of Rome"), by an anonymous author, early 15th century

the Vatican area with the 'tomb of Romulus', in a map of Rome by Pietro del Massaio (1472)

The legend about the origin of the pyramid misled even cultured people, such as Petrarch. Around 1440-50 Poggio Bracciolini, a distinguished man of letters, wrote: Furthermore in the Vatican stands a large-sized pyramid, similar to a massive building, free from any ornament. (...) What surprises most, being the inscription still preserved, is that Francis Petrarch, a most learned man, wrote in one of his letters that this is the tomb of Remus; I believe that, following the popular belief, he did not make an in-depth investigation of the inscription, covered by branches, in reading which those who came after him, yet being less cultured, proved to be more careful.

the pyramid (bottm right) between St.Peter's and the Castle, from an illuminated book of 1456

in the map of ancient Rome by Étienne Duperac (1574) the pyramid is referred to Scipio		Scipio's palace stood by the 'horse', along the Cornelian way, where it is still visible now. Such dual interpretation of the monument shows how little reliable were its medieval descriptions; but, on the other hand, this further entry confirms the location of the pyramid in the Vatican area. The aforesaid 'horse' is a simplification of the old name of the site once called coxa caballi ("horse's leg"), later in time Italianized into Scossacavalli, in the heart of Borgo district; up to the 1930s the main local square bore this name (before it disappeared, following some heavy alterations), and also a nearby street is still called via Scossacavalli. In a map of ancient rome drawn by Pirro Ligorio (1561) the pyramid is labelled Monumentum Sempronii ("Sempronius' monument").

Most visual sources of the Meta Romuli (i.e. etchings, paintings, reliefs, etc.) date back to the 1500s. During this century the revived interest for classicism led many cartographers to draw not only new maps of Rome, whose urban structure was rapidly changing, but also plans of the ancient city, based on the investigation of the many ruins that were still scattered all over the urban area. Although these maps often featured buildings and monuments no longer extant shaped as the cartographer had imagined them, the Meta Romuli, constantly depicted by Hadrian's tomb (see the several sample pictures), can be considered reasonably faithful to its original look, having been demolished only 50-100 years earlier, thus still lingering in the memory of the elder population. Only few visual sources of the monument date back to earlier years, prior to the pyramid's destruction; one of them is represented by the bronze doors of St.Peter's basilica, cast in 1445 by the famous sculptor Filarete; in the panel depicting St.Peter's martyrdom, the Meta clearly recognizable in the foreground. But in the opposite corner of the same panel, a similar structure shaped as a pyramid is undoubtly the mysterious Terebinthus mentioned by medieval sources.

the panel of St.Peter's door featuring the saint's crucifiction: the Meta is in the left corner, the Terebinthus in the right one, and in the centre is Hadrian's tomb, later turned into the Castle

No other image of the Terebinthus seems to exist, likely because artists considered the vague description provided by the early guides of Rome insufficient for a graphic rendering of the building. The Meta survived up to 1499. In that year pope Alexander VI had the main street of Borgo district straightened, and renamed via Alexandrina after himself. For this reason about one half of the pyramid, which obstructed the street, was sacrificed. The surviving part was demolished only a few decades later, in 1564, when the nearby church of Santa Maria in Traspontina was taken down and rebuilt 100 metres off the original spot, where it still stands today. the Renaissance church of Santa Maria in Traspontina

Leonardo Bufalini's map of Rome (detail on the right), drawn a few years before the last half of the Meta disappeared, clearly shows the pyramid's position in relation to pope Alexander's arrangement of the district. The church of Santa Maria in Traspontina is still featured in its original location, while the Meta, whose floor plan is the dark square labelled as 'the tomb of Scipio Africanus', is crossed by via Alexandrina. The new Santa Maria's church was then built just past this spot. Bufalini's map (1551): the asterisk marks Santa Maria in Traspontina's still in its old location, while the arrow indicates the spot where the church was rebuilt; the floor plan of the pyramid is clearly visible (dark area along via Alexandrina)