Temple of Caesar - Architecture

Architecture

The plan of this temple is missing in the Imperial Forma Urbis as it is presently known. The remaining fragments for this area of the Roman Forum are all on the slabs V-11, VII-11, VI-6 and have plans of the Regia, the Temple of Castor and Pollux, the Fons and Lacus Iuturnae, the Basilica Iulia and the Basilica Aemilia.

Vitruvius says that the temple was an example of pycnostyle front porch (i.e. six closely spaced columns on the front). However, the real arrangement of the columns is again uncertain, as it could be both prostyle or a peripteral.

Which type of order was originally used for this temple is still uncertain. Ancient coins evidence with representations of the Temple of Divus Iulius suggests the columns were either Ionic or composite, but it is a fact that fragments of Corinthian pilastre capitals have been found on the site by archaeologists, so a few scholars hypothesize that the temple had an Ionic pronaos combined with Corinthian pilasters on the cella walls, i.e. at the corners of the cella, other scholars consider the temple all Corinthian and the coins evidence as bad Corinthian columns representation. The real distinction between Corinthian and composite is a Renaissance distinction and not an Ancient Roman one: in Ancient Rome, Corinthian and composite were actually part of the same order, but it seems that composite was common on civil buildings and arches exteriors and less common on temples exteriors. Many temples and religious buildings of the Augustan Age were Corinthian, such as the Temple of Mars Ultor, the Maison Carrée in Nîmes and others

The temple was destroyed by a fire during the reign of Septimius Severus and then restored: being the coins from the period of Augustus and Hadrian, there is also a possibility that the order of the temple was changed during the restoration by Septimius Severus.

The entablature and the cornice found on the site have a modillions and roses structure typical of the Corinthian order.

The actual position of the staircase of the podium is also uncertain and is a problem still to be solved. It has been supposed that staircase was frontwards in front of the podium and at the sides, or that it was backwards, at the rear of the podium and at the sides.

There is no clear evidence about the real position of the staircase of the podium. The backwards position is a reconstruction model based on a hypothesized similarity between this temple and the Temple of Venus Genetrix in the Forum of Caesar. This similarity is not proved and is merely based on the fact that during public funeral and Mark Antony's speech the body of Julius Caesar was set on an ivory couch and in a gilded shrine modelled on the Temple of Venus Genetrix. The frontwards position is based on some evidence from the 19th century excavations and the overall impression from the actual site and the ancient coins.