Temple of Portunus
unknown (Ancient Roman)
Download1A3-R-R-TP-A3_cp.jpg (582.2Kb)
Alternative Titles
Temple of Fortuna Virilis
Temple of Portunus in the Forum Boarium
Date
-100Description
General close view of the front and east elevation; The Romans rapidly adapted the Greek style to their own requirements, so that a new type of temple soon appeared, with an Italic layout and Hellenistic influence confined to architectural details. Thus the Temple of Portunus in the Forum Boarium (late 2nd century BC), despite its elegant Ionic columns, has a traditional Italic plan, with a high podium broken at the front by stairs leading up to a deep porch of six columns. [Like the Maison Carrée in Nîmes, it has a pronaos portico of four Ionic columns across and two columns deep. The columns of the portico are free-standing, while the six columns on the long sides and the four columns at the rear are engaged along the walls of the cella. This form is sometimes called pseudoperipteral, as distinct from a true peripteral temple like the Parthenon entirely surrounded by free-standing columns. It is built of tuffa and travertine with a stucco surface.] Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.oxfordartonline.com/ (accessed 7/9/2008)
Type of Work
templeSubject
architectural exteriors, deities, mythology (Classical), Greco-Roman, Late Republican
Rights
Rights Statement
Licensed for educational and research use by the MIT community only