Temples
Four Republican temples were part of the market complex. The two earliest were built during the First Punic War, the first a Temple of Janus vowed by Gaius Duilius following his victory in a naval battle at Mylae with the Carthaginians in 260 BC. A Temple of Spes ("Hope") was built soon after by Aulus Atilius Calatinus. A Tmple of Juno Sospita was vowed in 197 BC and dedicated two years later. The Temple of Pietas that was dedicated in 181 was later relocated by Julius Caesar to begin construction on the Theater of Marcellus.
Under the present church of San Nicola in Carcere are the ruins of three temples, standing side by side with the same orientation and facing the forum Holitorium. Besides some of marble of the later restorations, the architectural fragments are republican period work in travertine, tuff and peperino (previously decorated in stucco). The central and largest of these temples is Ionic, and is probably that of Spes. The northernmost temple is next in size and also Ionic, and is generally assumed to be the temple of Janus which is mentioned in the written sources, and is usually dated to about 90 BC. It is hexastyle, peripteral except at the back, and six of its columns, 0.70 metre in diameter, are still standing, built into the wall of the church. The southernmost temple is the smallest and Doric, and probably that of Juno Sospita.
These ruins are incorporated into and lie beneath the church (possibly after being incorporated into a prison, called carcere, which means prison). Remains of other temples lie under and around the Church of Sant'Omobono.
Read more about this topic: Forum Holitorium
Famous quotes containing the word temples:
“Goddesses never die. They slip in and out of the world’s cities, in and out of our dreams, century after century, answering to different names, dressed differently, perhaps even disguised, perhaps idle and unemployed, their official altars abandoned, their temples feared or simply forgotten.”
—Phyllis Chesler (b. 1941)
“Within the hollow crown
That rounds the mortal temples of a king
Keeps Death his court, and there the antic sits,
Scoffing his state and mocking at his pomp,
Allowing him a breath, a little scene,
To monarchize, be feared, and kill with looks.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“If the world would only build temples to Machinery in the abstract then everything would be perfect. The painter and sculptor would have plenty to do, and could, in complete peace and suitably honoured, pursue their trade without further trouble.”
—Wyndham Lewis (1882–1957)