Old Rome: A Handbook to the Ruins of the City and the CampagnaBurn, Robert
History
Old Rome: A Handbook to the Ruins of the City and the Campagna
Burn, Robert
Rome (Italy) -- Antiquities; Rome (Italy) -- Description and travel
We now turn from the portico of the Dii Consentes to the three Corinthian
columns which stand under the large building called the Tabularium. These
three columns have now been proved to belong to the ruin of a temple
dedicated to Vespasian by his son Domitian. This position of Vespasian’s
temple agrees with the statements of the Notitia and Curiosum and of
Statius. The inscription, of which only the letters ESTITUER now remain,
was seen and the whole of it transcribed by a writer of the ninth
century, whose MS. is preserved at Einsiedlen.[56] It recorded the
restoration of this temple by Severus and Caracalla. The letters ESTITUER
stand at the lower edge of the frieze, showing that there was another line
above. This upper line was DIVO. VESP. AUG. S.P.Q.R., and referred to the
original building of the temple, while the lower line recorded its
restoration. The temple was approached by a flight of steps from the road
between it and the Temple of Saturn, the uppermost of which were placed
between the columns and have been partially restored. The three columns
which now remain are the three corner columns of the portico. They have
fluted shafts and Corinthian capitals. The letters of the inscription were
of metal, and the holes of the rivets which fastened them are still
visible. The architrave and cornice are ornamented very richly with the
usual mouldings, and there are some most interesting reliefs upon the
frieze representing sacrificial implements and the skulls of oxen. A
horsetail for sprinkling, and a sacrificial knife with a vase, a patera,
an axe, and a high priest’s mitre are plainly distinguishable. Another
portion of the entablature was pieced together by Canina and is still kept
in the rooms of the Tabularium. The walls of the cella were built of
travertine faced with marble. Against the back wall stands a large
pedestal which supported the statue of the deified Emperor.
[Sidenote: Temple of Concord.]
Next to the temple of Vespasian, we are told by Statius, stood the Temple
of Concord. The site is also determined by passages in Plutarch and in
Dion Cassius, and by the plan given in the Capitoline map. Excavations
were carried out here in 1817, 1830, and 1835 which resulted in disclosing
the foundations of the temple, and in finding some inscriptions which
attest the dedication of this spot to the goddess Concord. The temple of
Concord was founded according to Livy, Ovid, and Plutarch by Camillus in
B.C. 367, on the memorable occasion when the senate after a long and
anxious debate, wisely determined to make peace with the Commons by
throwing open the office of Consul to the plebeian order.[57]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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