PORTICVS OCTAVIAE
Musa and the apprentice made their way through the huge gateway
which stood at the entrance of the porticus. The gate was made of marble and
consisted of 4 Corinthian pillars, above which, the apprentice noticed a carved
entablature and pediment. However, he could not make out the frieze that was carved there.
As Musa hurried him into the portico, glad to finally get into the shade and to
relax a bit. The apprentice and Musa began to stroll down the colonnade of
columns, as Musa began to tell the young man about the porticus.
"This was originally the porticus of Metullus, built around the temple of Juno Regina. That temple was built at an earlier date. Metellus also built the temple of Jupiter Startor at the same time as he built the porticus." The young apprentice looked at the Porticus admiringly, as Musa continued, "The porticus was later rebuilt and the temples restored by Augustus as part of his improvements to city and dedicated to his sister, Octavia, some time after 27B.C." Musa smothered a yawn with his hand, he didn't think the young doctor would ever get tired of hearing all this information. "You see," he continued with a sigh, "Augustus realised how beneficial it would be to public health if the people were able to get fresh air, so he introduced many of these open areas for the citizens of Rome. There are nearly 10 hectares of open areas within Rome now. These open areas also provide spaces for the recreation that Augustus knows keeps the people happy. He is highly skilled at staying in their favour!"
Musa then pointed to the two magnificent temples which stood in the middle of
the open area. "The temple on the left is the temple of Juno Regina it was one of the first temples in Rome to be made completely out of marble.
It was
dedicated in 179 B.C." Musa told the apprentice who was busy looking
at the impressive temple. The temple had 6 fluted columns along the front which
reached over 12meters tall each, all made out of white marble. The apprentice
then started to head anti-clockwise around the portico walking past the other
temple which Musa explained was the temple to Jupiter Strator and like the
temple of Juno it was made purely out of marble. The temple had been built in
146B.C.(2) at the same time as the Porticus by
Q. Caecilius Metellus to celebrate his victory over the Macedonians. As Musa and
the apprentice walked around the Porticus the apprentice began to admire the
numerous statues that were placed around the Porticus(3).
Pointing to a great bronze statue of a man on horse back
surrounded by 25 more men, the young apprentice asked whether it was the statue of Alexander the
Great and his cavalry companions. The young doctor had heard much about
this as it had been made by the
famous Greek artist Lysippus, and taken by Metullus from Greece as a
trophy for his success in battle. Musa told the apprentice that he was correct
and then went onto explain that there were also more Greek works of art
displayed within the temples, while within the porticus there were also statues
of Venus and Eros.
After Musa had told him about the works of art within the porticus the
apprentice then began to wonder why all these works of art, although placed
within the Porticus by Metullus, were so similar to the other works of art that
Augustus had placed in the city. Musa explained that it was just a coincidence.
But it was possible to link statue of Alexander with Augustus because in his
seal he used a likeness of Alexander and the statue of Venus linked to Augustus'
uncle Julius Caesar's who had ties to the goddess.
As they made their way round to the(4)
north side of the porticus they encountered some rooms which Musa explained
were a schola and a library containing collections of art and sculpture as
well as the statue of Ero's. These rooms had been endowed by
Octavia in memory of her son Marcellus who died in 23B.C. Musa sighed,
remembering how his father had been unable to save Augustus nephew.(5)
The young man was
quite surprised to see another library after they had already seen one library
in the Temple of Apollo on the Palatine. Musa explained that Caesar had wanted
to introduce public libraries into the city in 39B.C. as previously the
only libraries which had existed were private. Augustus had carried out
Caesar's plan by building the library in the Temple of Apollo and his sister
helped as well by building a library in the Porticus Octaviae.
Musa and the young apprentice now left the porticus, it was
starting to fill up with the theatre goers who used the porticus as a waiting
area. The porticus was the largest open space near the theatre so had plenty of
room for people to gather there. They headed
south to the theatre of Marcellus, pushing through the milling crowds who were
all excited about the performance they were going to see. As they walked
down the street, the theatre loomed large above their heads. They made their
way down the street to the temple of Apollo Medicus Sosianus. The temple
had six white marble Corinthian fluted columns across the front of the temple
that held up an entablature. Musa by now knew that the young man would start to
ask questions about the temple so he launched into a long explanation of the
building as they made their way up into the temple.
"The original temple was built 400 years ago by
an ancestor of Julius Caesar to the Apollo Medicus, the healer. It was vowed to him during the plague
we had long in the past and was the first temple built for
Apollo within the city limits. In those days Apollo was essentially seen as a Greek god
which meant that the temple had to be built outside of the pomerium. Senators in
earlier years would come here for meetings which could not be held within the
pomerium. However, this temple was built nearly 100 years ago. It's called the
Temple of Apollo Medicus Sosianus because Gaius Sosius, one of Julius Caesars
lieutenants, later an enemy of Augustus, started to restore the temple. In the violent politics
of the age he lost to Octavian, the frieze you
will see on the inside of the temple shows Octavians triumph not Sosius'.
Augustus still respected him though because after he was pardoned in for
disgracefully supporting Antony and Cleopatra he was still allowed to preside
over the secular games which were held in the Theatre of Marcellus. Sosius made the restorations of the temple so elaborate not just as a way of
showing his devotion to Apollo but also to Augustus who also worshipped Apollo."
As they climbed the last of the steps up to the cella of the temple, Musa pointed
out the podium above the columns that depicted the goddess Athena stood in the
middle of the battling Greeks and Amazons. The young man stared up at the
podium as they walked up the steps, Musa had to remind him to look where he
was going as he nearly tripped and fell. As the apprentice finally pulled his
eyes down from the podium he noticed the laurel leaves that decorated the frieze
which ran around the whole building and stared to chatter excitedly about how it
was like the palatine, with laurel leaves
everywhere. As the young man reached the top of the steps and entered into the
cella his chattering ceased as he stared in amazement at different types of
coloured marble that decorated the cella and at the large collection of statues
and art related to Apollo that was housed in the temple. After the young man
had looked around for a while at the art Musa suggested that they should be on
their way as they still had one last thing to look at before they were due to go
to the theatre.
After
they had exited the temple of Apollo Medicus Musa and the young apprentice
headed towards the Tiber.
FROM THE CAMPUS MARTIUS .HOME TO THE INSULA TIBERINA
(2) This date is disputed and 146B.C is taken from Claridge , but Platner and Ashby say 147B.C.
(1)