The Porticus Octavia (Latin for the "Octavian Portico"), also known as the Portico of Octavius, was a portico in ancient Rome built by Gnaeus Octavius in 168 BC to commemorate his capture of Perseus of Macedonia during the Third Macedonian War. [1] It stood between the Theatre of Pompey and the Circus Flaminius beside the Porticus Metelli. Pliny describes it as a double portico with bronze Corinthian capitals, for which it was also called the Corinthian Portico (Porticus Corinthia). [2] It may have been the earliest use of this architectural order in Rome[ citation needed ] and is possibly to be identified with remains on the Via S. Nicola ai Cesarini, represented in the Severan Marble Plan (frg. 140). [3] Velleius Paterculus called it "by far the loveliest" (multo amoenissima) of the porticoes of his time. [4]
The portico surrounded the Temple of Hercules Musarum ("Hercules of the Muses") which the consul and censor Marcus Fulvius Nobilior erected c. 187 BC. It may have replaced or refurbished the portico that he supposedly erected around his temple at the time of its construction.
In 33 BC, Octavian (the future Augustus) recovered the military standards lost by Gabinius to the Illyrians and displayed them at the Porticus Octavia. Octavian and his stepbrother L. Marcius Philippus then entirely rebuilt it and the temple within to commemorate the conquest of Dalmatia. [5] Cassius Dio (XLIX.43) confounded this Porticus Philippi ("Portico of Philippus") and the adjacent Porticus Octaviae, [6] which Octavian established around the same time over the former Portico of Metellus. The Porticos of Octavius and Philippus have both left few traces. [7]
Caesar Augustus, also known as Octavian, was the founder of the Roman Empire; he reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. The reign of Augustus initiated an imperial cult as well as an era associated with imperial peace, the Pax Romana or Pax Augusta, in which the Roman world was largely free of armed conflict aside from expansionary wars and the Year of the Four Emperors. The Principate system of imperial rule established by Augustus lasted until the Crisis of the Third Century.
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa was a Roman general, statesman, and architect who was a close friend, son-in-law, and lieutenant to the Roman emperor Augustus. He was responsible for the construction of some of the most notable buildings in history, including the original Pantheon, and is well known for his important military victories, notably the Battle of Actium in 31 BC against the forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra.
Gaius Asinius Pollio was a Roman soldier, politician, orator, poet, playwright, literary critic, and historian, whose lost contemporary history provided much of the material used by the historians Appian and Plutarch. Pollio was most famously a patron of Virgil and a friend of Horace and had poems dedicated to him by both men.
Atia was the niece of Julius Caesar, and mother of Gaius Octavius, who became the Emperor Augustus. Through her daughter Octavia, she was also the great-grandmother of Germanicus and his brother, emperor Claudius.
Illyricum was a Roman province that existed from 27 BC to sometime during the reign of Vespasian. The province comprised Illyria/Dalmatia in the south and Pannonia in the north. Illyria included the area along the east coast of the Adriatic Sea and its inland mountains, eventually being named Dalmatia. Pannonia included the northern plains that now are a part of Serbia, Croatia and Hungary. The area roughly corresponded to part or all of the territories of today's Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Slovenia.
The Porticus Octaviae 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.
The gens Marcia, occasionally written Martia, was one of the oldest and noblest houses at ancient Rome. They claimed descent from the second and fourth Roman Kings, and the first of the Marcii appearing in the history of the Republic would seem to have been patrician; but all of the families of the Marcii known in the later Republic were plebeian. The first to obtain the consulship was Gaius Marcius Rutilus in 357 BC, only a few years after the passage of the lex Licinia Sextia opened this office to the plebeians.
The Bellum Batonianum was a military conflict fought in the Roman province of Illyricum in the 1st century AD, in which an alliance of native peoples of the two regions of Illyricum, Dalmatia and Pannonia, revolted against the Romans. The rebellion began among native peoples who had been recruited as auxiliary troops for the Roman army. They were led by Bato the Daesitiate, a chieftain of the Daesitiatae in the central part of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina, and were later joined by the Breuci, a tribe in Pannonia led by Bato the Breucian. Many other tribes in Illyria also joined the revolt.
The Temple of Jupiter Stator, also known to the ancient Romans as the Temple of Jove Metellina and Metellus's Temple, was a temple dedicated to the Roman god Jupiter Stator. It was located beside the Temple of Juno Regina in the Porticus Octaviae in the southern Campus Martius before its destruction in the AD 64 Great Fire of Rome.
The gens Octavia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome, which was raised to patrician status by Caesar during the first century BC. The first member of the gens to achieve prominence was Gnaeus Octavius Rufus, quaestor circa 230 BC. Over the following two centuries, the Octavii held many of the highest offices of the state; but the most celebrated of the family was Gaius Octavius, the grandnephew and adopted son of Caesar, who was proclaimed Augustus by the senate in 27 BC.
Dalmatia was a Roman province. Its name is derived from the name of an Illyrian tribe called the Dalmatae, which lived in the central area of the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It encompassed the northern part of present-day Albania, much of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo and Serbia, thus covering an area significantly larger than the current Croatian region of Dalmatia. Originally this region was called Illyria or Illyricum.
The early life of Augustus, the first Roman Emperor, began at his birth in Rome on September 23, 63 BC, and is considered to have ended around the assassination of Dictator Julius Caesar, Augustus' great-uncle and adoptive father, on 15 March 44 BC.
The House of Augustus, or the Domus Augusti, is situated on the Palatine Hill in Rome, Italy. This house has been identified as the primary place of residence for the emperor Augustus.
The gens Cestia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome during the later Republic, and in imperial times. The first member of the gens to obtain the consulship was Gaius Cestius Gallus in AD 35. The family's name is commemorated on two monuments, the Pons Cestius and the Pyramid of Cestius which survive into modern times.
The Porticus Catuli was a portico on the Palatine Hill in ancient Rome. It was a local landmark. It was built by Quintus Lutatius Catulus to commemorate his joint victory with Gaius Marius over the Cimbri at Vercellae.
Lucius Marcius Philippus was a Roman politician who was elected suffect consul in 38 BC. He was step-brother to the future emperor Augustus, as well as his uncle
The Temple of Hercules Musarum was a Roman temple dedicated to Hercules Musarum located near the Circus Flaminius in the southern Campus Martius in ancient Rome.
Gnaeus Octavius was a Roman politician and general who served as consul in 165 BC and was the builder of the Porticus Octavia.
Illyrology or Illyrian studies is interdisciplinary academic field which focuses on scientific study of Illyria and Illyrians as a regional and thematic branch of the larger disciplines of ancient history and archaeology. A practitioner of the discipline is called Illyrologist. His duty is to investigate the range of ancient Illyrian history, culture, art, language, heraldry, numizmatic, mythology, economics, ethics, etc. from c. 1000 BC up to the end of Roman rule around the 5th century.