44°52′13″N13°50′30″E / 44.8702°N 13.8418°E | |
Location | Pula, Istria, Croatia |
---|---|
Type | Roman temple |
Length | 17.85 metres (58.6 ft) [1] |
Width | 8.05 metres (26.4 ft) [1] |
Height | 14 metres (46 ft) [2] |
Beginning date | c. 2 BC |
Completion date | c. 14 AD |
Dedicated to | Augustus |
The Temple of Augustus (Croatian : Augustov hram; Italian : Tempio di Augusto) [lower-alpha 1] is a well-preserved [4] Roman temple in the city of Pula, Croatia (known in Roman times as Pietas Iulia). Dedicated to the first Roman emperor, Augustus, it was probably built during the emperor's lifetime at some point between 27 BC and his death in AD 14. [5] It was built on a podium with a tetrastyle prostyle porch of Corinthian columns and measures about 8 by 17.3 m (26 by 57 ft), and 14 m (46 ft) high. [6] The richly decorated frieze is similar to that of a somewhat larger and more recent temple, the Maison Carrée in Nîmes, France. [7] These two temples are considered the two best complete Roman monuments outside Italy. [8]
The temple was part of a triad consisting of three temples. The Temple of Augustus stood at the left side of the central temple, and the similar temple of the goddess Diana stood on the other side of the main temple. Although the larger central temple has not survived, the whole back side of the Temple of Diana is still clearly visible due to its incorporation into the Communal Palace, built in 1296.
If still in use by the 4th-century, the temple would have been closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire. Under Byzantine rule, the temple was converted into a church, accounting for its survival to modern times, and was later used as a granary.
In the 16th century, Andrea Palladio included the description of the temple in his I quattro libri dell'architettura , a highly influential book on the principles of Classical architecture.
By the late 19th century, the temple stood at the corner of the marketplace of Pula and was partly concealed by houses, "so that the visitor cannot obtain a view till he is close to it." [2]
It was struck by a bomb during an Allied air raid in 1944, almost totally destroying it, but was reconstructed in 1947. [8] It is today used as a lapidarium to display items of Roman sculpture. [9] [10]
The temple's dedication originally consisted of bronze letters affixed by nails to the stones of the architrave. [11] Only the attachment holes now remain and much of the text has been destroyed over time. However, it consisted of a standard dedication also found on other Augustan temples, which read:
This indicates that the temple was originally also co-dedicated to the goddess Roma, the personification of the city of Rome. [13] Unlike later temples, such as the Temple of Divus Augustus in Rome, the temple was not dedicated to divus (the deified) Augustus - a title only given to the emperor after his death. This, the title Pater Patriae that was voted to Augustus in 2 BC., and the temple's architectural style, have allowed archaeologists to date the temple to the late Augustan period, prior to Augustus' death in AD 14. [14]
In ancient Roman religion, Roma was a female deity who personified the city of Rome and, more broadly, the Roman state. She was created and promoted to represent and propagate certain of Rome's ideas about itself, and to justify its rule. She was portrayed on coins, sculptures, architectural designs, and at official games and festivals. Images of Roma had elements in common with other goddesses, such as Rome's Minerva, her Greek equivalent Athena and various manifestations of Greek Tyche, who protected Greek city-states; among these, Roma stands dominant, over piled weapons that represent her conquests, and promising protection to the obedient. Her "Amazonian" iconography shows her "manly virtue" (virtus) as fierce mother of a warrior race, augmenting rather than replacing local goddesses. On some coinage of the Roman Imperial era, she is shown as a serene advisor, partner and protector of ruling emperors. In Rome, the Emperor Hadrian built and dedicated a gigantic temple to her as Roma Aeterna, and to Venus Felix, emphasising the sacred, universal and eternal nature of the empire.
The Campus Martius was a publicly owned area of ancient Rome about 2 square kilometres in extent. In the Middle Ages, it was the most populous area of Rome. The IV rione of Rome, Campo Marzio, which covers a smaller section of the original area, bears the same name.
Pula, also known as Pola, is the largest city in Istria County, Croatia, and the seventh-largest city in the country, situated at the southern tip of the Istrian peninsula in northwestern Croatia, with a population of 52,220 in 2021. It is known for its multitude of ancient Roman buildings, the most famous of which is the Pula Arena, one of the best preserved Roman amphitheaters. The city has a long tradition of wine making, fishing, shipbuilding, and tourism. It was the administrative centre of Istria from ancient Roman times until superseded by Pazin in 1991.
The Temple of Caesar or Temple of Divus Iulius, also known as Temple of the Deified Julius Caesar, delubrum, heroon or Temple of the Comet Star, is an ancient structure in the Roman Forum of Rome, Italy, located near the Regia and the Temple of Vesta.
The Imperial Fora are a series of monumental fora, constructed in Rome over a period of one and a half centuries, between 46 BC and 113 AD. The fora were the center of the Roman Republic and of the Roman Empire.
Trajan's Forum was the last of the Imperial fora to be constructed in ancient Rome. The architect Apollodorus of Damascus oversaw its construction.
The Porta Maggiore, or Porta Prenestina, is one of the eastern gates in the ancient but well-preserved 3rd-century Aurelian Walls of Rome. Through the gate ran two ancient roads: the Via Praenestina and the Via Labicana. The Via Prenestina was the eastern road to the ancient town of Praeneste. The Via Labicana heads southeast from the city.
The Roman imperial cult identified emperors and some members of their families with the divinely sanctioned authority (auctoritas) of the Roman State. Its framework was based on Roman and Greek precedents, and was formulated during the early Principate of Augustus. It was rapidly established throughout the Empire and its provinces, with marked local variations in its reception and expression.
The Forum of Caesar, also known by the Latin Forum Iulium or Forum Julium, Forum Caesaris, was a forum built by Julius Caesar near the Forum Romanum in Rome in 46 BC.
The Temple of Mars Ultor was a sanctuary erected in Ancient Rome by the Roman Emperor Augustus in 2 BCE and dedicated to the god Mars in his guise as avenger. The centerpiece of the Forum of Augustus, it was a peripteral style temple, on the front and sides, but not the rear, raised on a platform and lined with eight columns in the Corinthian order style.
The Temple of Vespasian and Titus is located in Rome at the western end of the Roman Forum between the Temple of Concordia and the Temple of Saturn. It is dedicated to the deified Vespasian and his son, the deified Titus. It was begun by Titus in 79 after Vespasian's death and Titus's succession. Titus’ brother, Domitian, completed and dedicated the temple to Titus and Vespasian in approximately 87.
The Temple of Apollo Palatinus, sometimes called the Temple of Actian Apollo, was a temple of the god Apollo in Rome, constructed on the Palatine Hill on the initiative of Augustus between 36 and 28 BCE. It was the first temple to Apollo within the city's ceremonial boundaries, and the second of four temples constructed by Augustus. According to tradition, the site for the temple was chosen when it was struck by lightning, which was interpreted as a divine portent. Augustan writers situated the temple next to Augustus's personal residence, which has been controversially identified as the structure known as the domus Augusti.
The Temple of Hadrian is an ancient Roman structure on the Campus Martius in Rome, Italy, dedicated to the deified emperor Hadrian by his adoptive son and successor Antoninus Pius in 145 CE This temple was previously known as the Basilica of Neptune but has since been properly attributed as the Temple of Hadrian completed under Antoninus Pius. With one cella wall and eleven columns from the external colonnade surviving, the remains of the temple have been incorporated into a later building in the Piazza di Pietra, whereby its facade, alongside the architrave which was reconstructed later on, was incorporated into a 17th-century papal palace by Carlo Fontana, now occupied by Rome's Chamber of commerce. While only part of the structure remains, excavations and scholarship have provided us with information regarding its construction techniques and stylistic influences, helping us recreate the building dynamics and significance of the Temple of Hadrian in Imperial Rome.
The Temple of Divus Augustus was a major temple originally built to commemorate the deified first Roman emperor, Augustus. It was built between the Palatine and Capitoline Hills, behind the Basilica Julia, on the site of the house that Augustus had inhabited before he entered public life in the mid-1st century BC. It is known from Roman coinage that the temple was originally built to an Ionic hexastyle design. However, its size, physical proportions and exact site are unknown. Provincial temples of Augustus, such as the much smaller Temple of Augustus in Pula, now in Croatia, had already been constructed during his lifetime. Probably because of popular resistance to the notion, he was not officially deified in Rome until after his death, when a temple at Nola in Campania, where he died, seems to have been begun. Subsequently, temples were dedicated to him all over the Roman Empire.
The Obelisk of Montecitorio, also known as Solare, is an ancient Egyptian, red granite obelisk of Psamtik II from Heliopolis. Brought to Rome with the Flaminio Obelisk in 10 BC by the Roman Emperor Augustus to be used as the gnomon of the Solarium Augusti, it is now in the Piazza Montecitorio. It is 21.79 metres (71 ft) high, and 33.97 metres (111 ft) including the base and the globe.
In Roman Imperial cult, the flamen Divi Julii or flamen Divi Iulii, was the priest of the divinised Julius Caesar, and the fourth of the so-called flamines maiores to be created. The new flaminate was established by the Roman Senate in 42 BC, as part of Caesar's consecration as a divus two years after his assassination. Caesar had, in his lifetime, been the recipient of an unofficial divine cult from his supporters, and had designated Mark Antony to serve as his priest. Caesar's cult continued after his death, and in 40 BC, the senate confirmed Antony as the first flamen Divi Iulii.
Caesar's Comet was a seven-day cometary outburst seen in July 44 BC. It was interpreted by Romans as a sign of the deification of recently assassinated dictator, Julius Caesar. It was perhaps the most famous comet of antiquity.
The Temple of Augustus in Barcelona was a Roman temple built during the Imperial period in the colony of Barcino. The temple was the central building on Tàber Hill, currently in Carrer del Paradís number 10, in the city's so-called Gothic Quarter. The dedication to Augustus is traditional, but unproven.
Roman Emperor Augustus employed various forms of propaganda as he ascended to power.
The Temple of Roma and Augustus was a monopteral circular Ionic temple built on the Acropolis of Athens c. 19 BCE, likely coincident with Augustus' second visit to Athens. The structure was axially aligned with the eastern entrance of the Parthenon, placed 23 m (75 ft) eastward. The temple, which asserted the divinity of Rome and the Imperial cult in the context of the religious centre of the Acropolis, was a propaganda monument erected at a time of tension between Rome and Athens. Its ruins remain on the Acropolis.
...including several temples (one of which, the first-century Temple of Augustus, is magnificently preserved)...
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link){{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)Media related to Temple of Roma and Augustus (Pula) at Wikimedia Commons