Porticus Octaviae
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The Porticus Octaviae (Latin for the 'Portico of Octavia'; Template:Langx) is an ancient structure in Rome. The colonnaded walks of the portico enclosed the Temples of Juno Regina (north) and Jupiter Stator (south), as well as a library. The structure was used as a fish market from the medieval period up to the end of the 19th century.
History
After celebrating his triumph for his 146 BC victory at Scarpheia during the Achaean War, Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus constructed a portico around M. Aemilius Lepidus's Temple of Juno Regina, near the Circus Flaminius in the southern Campus Martius and erected a new Temple of Jupiter Stator beside it. He decorated both with equestrian statues of Alexander the Great's generals brought back from Greece. This portico was known as the Portico of Metellus (Script error: No such module "Lang".) or Portico of Caecilius (Script error: No such module "Lang".).
Augustus refurbished the portico and its temples and rededicated it to his sister Octavia the Younger sometime after 27 BC. Cassius Dio stated that this was done in 33 BC from the spoils of the war in Dalmatia out of confusion with the adjacent Portico of Octavius (Script error: No such module "Lang".), which was similarly refurbished and rededicated by Augustus and his stepbrother L. Marcius Philippus. Besides the temples, the portico included a Greek and Latin library erected by Octavia in memory of her son Marcus Claudius Marcellus, an assembly hall (Script error: No such module "Lang".), and lecture rooms (Script error: No such module "Lang".). Whether these were different parts of one building or entirely different structures is uncertain. The Roman Senate met in the curia.[1] The whole is referred to by Pliny the Elder as the works of Octavia (Script error: No such module "Lang".).[2]
The portico and its buildings burned in AD 80Script error: No such module "Unsubst". and were restored, probably by Domitian. After a second fire in 203, they were restored again by Septimius Severus and Caracalla. It was adorned with foreign marble and contained many famous works of art, enumerated in Pliny's Natural History.[3] The structure was damaged by an earthquake in 442 when two of the destroyed columns were replaced with an archway that still stands. The church of Sant'Angelo in Pescheria was built on its ruins c. Template:TrimScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".,Script error: No such module "Unsubst". the name commemorating the portico's medieval and early modern role as a fish market. The building, which lies in the Sant'Angelo rione, represented the center of the medieval Roman Ghetto.
See also
References
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- ↑ Cassius Dio LV.8; Josephus, Jewish Wars. VII.5.4
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Pliny, xxxiv.31; xxxv.114, 139; xxxvi.15, 22, 24, 28, 29, 34, 35.
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External links
- LacusCurtius.com: Samuel Ball Platner, revised by Thomas Ashby, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome: Porticus Octaviae
- The Portico of Octavia (etching by Giovanni Battista Piranesi) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)
| Preceded by Portico Dii Consentes |
Landmarks of Rome Porticus Octaviae |
Succeeded by Tabularium |
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