Largo di Torre Argentina

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The Temple B , the Fortuna Huiusce Diei consecrated

The Largo di Torre Argentina (condensed Largo Argentina ) is a place in the quarter Pigna in Rome on the ancient Campus Martius . The square was created from 1909 as part of the urban reorganization of the old town. Residential buildings and the church of San Nicola dei Cesarini were demolished. Only the Torre del Papito remained of the medieval buildings . In 1926–1928 the systematic excavation of temples from the time of the Roman Republic began .

Excavations

Sketch of the location of the Area Sacra in front of the Theater of Pompey
Temple A

The so-called Area Sacra (Holy District) is below today's street level and can be seen from all sides. The site is not open to the public. The excavation area includes the remains of four temples and adjoining secular buildings. Since the temples cannot unequivocally be assigned to individual deities, they are generally designated with the letters A to D from north to south. The temples were from the 1st century BC. Surrounded by larger public buildings. In the north, the Hecatostylum (Hall of the Hundred Columns) and the Agrippa's thermal baths were connected . To the west stood the portico and the theater of Pompey . In the south lay the Circus Flaminius and the Theater des Balbus and in the east the Porticus Minucia Frumentaria , which was probably built under Claudius and served the imperial distribution of grain in Rome.

The four sanctuaries of the Area Sacra were already surrounded by a large hall complex in the Republican times, the Porticus Minucia vetus in campo , a second portico that refers to the Minucier family . According to information from Velleius Paterculus it was 106 BC. Built by Marcus Minucius Rufus after his triumph over the Celtic Skordisker and the Thracian Triballer . Even though fragments of the Forma Urbis (FUR No. 35dd-ff), a monumental city ​​plan of Rome created under Emperor Septimius Severus , provide information about the Porticus Minucia , it has not yet been clarified which of the two porticos it is.

Temple A

Temple A is based on the forms of its oldest building phase in the 3rd century BC. Dated. Together with Temple C, it is generally considered to be one of the oldest sacred buildings on the Field of Mars . After several ancient reconstructions and new buildings, it was built over in the Middle Ages by the church of San Nicola dei Cesarini , of which the crypt and the remains of two apses still stand.

Podiums and altar places in front of several construction phases have been archaeologically proven. The oldest, around 9.50 × 16.00 meters in size and 4 meters in height, relatively high tuff stone podium could be accessed via a flight of steps on the east side . It carried an easted, presumably tetrastyle prostylos made of grotta-oscura-tuff, which in plan and elevation was probably indebted to the common image of Italian temples of that time.

In the 2nd century BC The podium and temple in Monteverde-Tuff were renewed and expanded at the same time. An altar made of Peperino was erected in the middle of the old podium stairs. A new redesign in the first than in the second half of the 1st century BC. Chr. Enlarged the podium to 15.00 × 27.50 meters. The level of the walking horizon corresponded to that of the neighboring temple B, whose first construction phase around 100 BC. Is to be set. The new temple A was redesigned to a hexastyle peripteros - a type of building that is characterized by a surrounding "column wreath" and that was rarely used in Roman architecture. Filippo Coarelli reconstructs a hexastyle peripteros with 9 columns each on the long sides, which, like its predecessor, was oriented and opened to the east. Possibly it was of the Corinthian order , a corresponding chapter shell made of travertine was assigned to the temple by Coarelli. The new, ten-step outside staircase ran as an integrated element of the podium towards a newly created altar space. Like other buildings in the Area Sacra at Largo Argentina , Temple A fell victim to one of the historic fires on the Field of Mars in AD 80 . The travertine column shafts that can be seen on the podium today come from the subsequent restoration under Domitian , together with the corresponding Corinthian capitals. The enlarged system of the 1st century BC Was recorded in Severan times on the Forma Urbis Romae (FUR No. 37.a).

The identification of the cult associated with the temple is disputed. Originally interpreted as the temple of Juno Quiritis , the focus today is more on the interpretation of a passage in Ovid's Fasti , because he mentions the proximity of the temple of Iuturna to the Aqua Virgo (“Te quoque lux eadem, Turni soror, aede recepit, hic ubi Virginea Campus obitur aqua “) - the water pipe that fed the Agrippathermen not far from Largo Argentina . Coarelli therefore believes that he can identify the temple of Iuturna in the building. Assuming this, an almost exact dating of the first building phase would be around 242/241 BC. Secured because Gaius Lutatius Catulus , victorious general of the First Punic War , had praised and donated the sanctuary ("[...] cui (Iuturnae) Lutatius Catulus primus templum in Campo Martium fecit"). Lawrence Richardson Jr. interprets the course of the Aqua Virgo to be inferred from Ovid differently. Based on his translation of the hic ubi Virginea Campus obitur aqua as “here, where the Aqua Virgo enters the Martian field”, he concludes that a location near the Saepta Julia is meant. He therefore objects that the temple at Largo Argentina cannot be that of the Iuturna, as it is to be found north of the Iulia Saepta. Adam Ziolkowski, in turn, interprets the building as the 225 BC. Chr. By Lucius Aemilius Papus praised temple of Feronia .

As a result, Temple A cannot be identified with certainty at the moment, especially since it competes with Temple C for the interpretation of a temple of Iuturna.

Temple B

Temple B
Colossal head of Fortuna (?)

Temple B is built in the late 2nd / early 1st century BC. Dated to 90 BC. Is named as the likely year of construction. The temple was built by Quintus Lutatius Catulus after his victory over the Cimbri at Vercelli in 101 BC. And was, according to the general consensus of researchers, consecrated to Fortuna Huiusce Diei , the goddess of luck of today. Around the middle of the 1st century it was redesigned under Pompey , but at the latest under Octavian . Under Domitian it was rebuilt again after a fire disaster. Ancient written documents on this go back to Plutarch and Varro .

This sanctuary is the youngest and at the same time the only one in the Area Sacra at Largo Argentina that can be clearly identified. There is evidence of a round podium with an outside staircase on the side bases as well as parts of the rising cella masonry and several columns. Originally, this type of building was a tholos with a wide cella, around which a total of 18 tuff columns with Corinthian bases and capitals were built. Six columns are still preserved. The cella wall consisted of opus caementicium , which was clad with opus incertum made of travertine . During a later renovation, the cella was expanded and the cella wall moved into the intercolumns of the column ring, which optically reduced the columns to half-columns . The converted temple is also shown in the Forma Urbis of Rome (FUR No. 37.a). The podium of the temple is on a significantly higher level than that of the other temples.

It is possible that bronze statues stolen from Greece, including three works by the sculptor Phidias , were placed in the intercolumns and on the two flanking bases. The remains of a female, marble colossal statue can be assigned to the temple with great certainty. It was found on the south side of the building in Bauwich to Temple C and represented the former cult image, especially since a massive foundation and remains of the basis for such an assignment are proven. The remains of the statue are now in the museum of the Centrale Montemartini .

Temple C

Temple C

Temple C dates to the end of the 4th or the beginning of the 3rd century BC. BC and thus in the early Republican time. The sanctuary seems to have been one of the oldest in the Field of Mars, although there is some debate as to whether it is actually the oldest. Stamper assumes that the temple was originally of the Tuscan order . Research remains uncertain about who donated the temple and to whom it was dedicated. It has not been established whether the temple was dedicated to the non-Roman earth goddess Feronia , as traditionally assumed . This interpretation is made plausible by the proximity of the temple to the water and is supported by an inscription in which the two Sabine heroes Hercules and Sabus are mentioned. In this case, the building dates back to between 293 and 217 BC. When according to Livy for Feronia in the year 217 BC A prodigium by released women took place in this place. The tradition serves as a terminus post quem , because it is thus certain that it is an older building. According to the fasti fratrum Arvalium , files of the Fratres Arvales , the building is noted as Feroniae in [ca] mp (o) , which indicated the Martian field, but without clarifying the exact location. The builder could then have been Manius Curius Dentatus , dedicated to the conqueror of the Sabines . Alternatively, the sanctuary is assigned to the spring nymph Iuturna , for whom it is not difficult to relate to the proximity of the water. In this case the temple would be in the years after 241 BC. BC and was built by Gaius Lutatius Catulus in the wake of his victory in the First Punic War, possibly even at the same time as Temple A. None of the interpretations can be proven beyond doubt, which is why the final identification of the temple remains open.

A tuff stone podium made of Opus quadratum with a flight of stairs and a front altar space has been preserved. Partly the bases of the columns and parts of the rising cella walls are still present. The findings make it possible to reconstruct the complex as a tetrastylene Peripteros sine postico with five columns on the long sides and is reflected on a fragment of the Forma Urbis (FUR No. 37.d), because the back of the temple can be seen on this. According to its layout, Temple C is the smallest temple in the area. In Domitian times the temple, which had meanwhile been destroyed by fire in the Marsfeld, was rebuilt. Coarelli suspects the reconstruction in AD 80 and Schollmeyer assumes that the brick walls of the cella, the Corinthian capitals and the floor mosaic did not exist before this time.

Temple D

Parts of Temple D can be seen in the south of the area, while the rest of the temple ruins are hidden under the road.

Temple D is the southernmost and largest cult building in the Sacra area on Largo Argentina. Its emergence is known in the early 2nd century BC at the earliest. Since Opus caementitium has already been used as a building material . Only later, in a second phase, did a new / reconstruction take place, which is dated to the late 2nd / early 1st century, before a post-Christian, Domitian reconstruction completed the building history. Remains of the podium from a previous phase as well as the podium from a second phase made of rectangular tuff blocks with travertine cladding with an outside staircase and cellar walls made of brick have been archaeologically found . Only the brickwork of the Domitian renovation has survived from the cella. In contrast to the other temples, no pillars are proven. The rear area of ​​the podium appears to have housed an oikos-like room. Like all temples, temple D seems to have been affected by the flames during the city fire in 80 AD and was then completely renewed.

Richardson assumed the complex to be close to the Hypäthral Temple , as it had an unusually large prostylos in the reconstruction with an extremely backward cella. He interpreted the building type in such a way that the temple could have been dedicated to Iupiter Fulgur . The temple is now commonly referred to as the Temple of Lares Permarini ( aedes Lares Permarini ), assigned to the Lares who, as the guardian spirits of seafarers, wore friendly features and could be satisfied with simple offerings. It was also discussed whether it could have been the aedes nymphae . The ritual context of the temple remains uncertain.

The temple was praised in 190 BC. By Lucius Aemilius Regillus , who was in command of the naval forces of Rome during the Roman-Syrian War and defeated the Seleucid fleet in the decisive naval battle of Myonessos. It was completed and inaugurated in 179 BC. By Marcus Aemilius Lepidus . According to Livy , the inauguration of the temple reads: “ He also consecrated a temple of the Lars of the seafarers on the Field of Mars; L. Aemilius Regillus had praised this 11 years ago in the sea battle against the commanders of the navy of King Antiochus. "

More buildings

Location map
Cats on the excavation area

The remains of a building were excavated between temples A and B, which presumably housed the administration of the aqueducts (6).

Immediately to the west of the temple, Pompey Magnus had a portico built, which connected to the theater named after him. Integrated into it was a curia suitable for Senate assemblies ( Curia Pompeia ). In this curia Gaius Julius Caesar was born in 44 BC. Murdered BC. On the western edge of the excavation area, behind the two middle temples B and C, parts of this structure are visible (3).

Columns of the Hecatostylum are still visible on the north side (2).

The excavation area is known for the numerous cats that populate it. In order to get hold of the large population, there has been a care station on the edge of the area since 1994, where volunteers take care of the feeding, sterilization and vaccinations of street cats.

The modern place

Largo Argentina is now one of the most important traffic junctions in the Roman old town. Numerous city buses stop here. From 1998 to 2013 the square was the end point of the new tram line 8, which connects the old town with the districts of Trastevere and Monteverde. In 2013 this tram line was extended to Piazza Venezia. On the west side of the square is the traditional Teatro Argentina , on the north-east corner the church Santissime Stimmate di San Francesco . Corso Vittorio Emanuele II runs west to the Tiber .

The square is named after the Torre Argentina ("Strasbourg Tower"), the tower built in 1503 by the papal master of ceremonies Johannes Burckard of Strasbourg (Latin: Argentoratum ). The tower is integrated into the Palazzetto del Burcardo in the nearby Via del Sudario and is no longer visible from the outside today. The collecting society, Società Italiana degli Autori ed Editori , is now housed in the “small box”. The Torre del Papito , which is often confused with the Torre Argentina, has nothing to do with Johannes Burckard.

Web links

Commons : Largo di Torre Argentina  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Daniele Manacorda: Porticus Minucia Frumentaria In: Eva Margareta Steinby (Ed.): Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae , Volume 4, Quasar, Rome 1999, pp. 132-136
  2. ^ Velleius Paterculus : Historia Romana, 2.8.3
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Filippo Coarelli : Iuturna, Templum. In: Eva Margareta Steinby (Ed.): Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae , Volume 3, Quasar, Rom 1996, p. 163
  4. ^ Anton Henze, Art Guide Rome and Latium , Philipp Reclam GmbH, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-15-010402-5 , p. 40.
  5. ^ John W. Stamper: The Architecture of Roman Temples. The Republic to the Middle Empire , Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp. 44 ff.
  6. ↑ Filippo Coarelli - I. Kajanto - U. Nyberg - M. Steinby , L ́Area Sacra di Largo Argentina , Rome 1981, p. 14 ff. 43 plate 6.3 (illustration of the upper part of the chapter).
  7. ↑ a b FOR Stanford # 37.a (Temple A / B); (online) ; Emilio Rodríguez Almeida: Forma Urbis Marmorea. Aggiornamento Generale 1980. Rome 1981, plate 28.
  8. ^ Ferdinando Castagnoli: Il Campo Marzio nell'antichità. MemLinc VIII 1.4, 1946-1948, pp. 276-291 (161).
  9. ↑ Ovid , Fasti 1.463-465; Translation: “The same day received you, sister of the Turnus, in the temple, here where the Martian field is surrounded by the Aqua Virgo.” Cf. James George Frazer : Ovid's Fasti. Text and English translation. Heinemann, London 1931; Reprinted 1959 ( archive.org ).
  10. ↑ Translation: "Lutatius Catulus her [the Iuturna] was the first to build the temple on the Field of Mars"
  11. ↑ Maurus Servius Honoratus : Servianorum in Vergili Carmina Commentariorum Editio Harvardiana. Ed .: Edward Kennard Rand , A. Fr. Stocker, Oxford 1946–1965, 12.139.
  12. ^ A b c Lawrence Richardson Jr .: A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1992, p. 228 sv Iuturna, Templum; to Temple C: p. 33
  13. ^ Adam Ziolkowski: Les temples A et C du Largo Argentina: quelques considérations. In: Mélanges de l'École française de Rome - Antiquité. 98.2, 1986, pp. 623-641.
  14. ^ Jon Albers: Campus Martius. The urban development of the Field of Mars from the Republic to the Middle Imperial Period. Reichert, Wiesbaden 2013, ISBN 978-3-89500-921-1 , pp. 54–58, 60 ( Temple A ).
  15. ^ A b c John W. Stamper: The Architecture of Roman Temples. The Republic to the Middle Empire , Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp. 75 ff.
  16. ^ A b c Jon Albers: Campus Martius. The urban development of the Field of Mars from the Republic to the Middle Imperial Period . Reichert, Wiesbaden 2013, ISBN 978-3-89500-921-1 , pp. 56, 58-60 ( Temple B ).
  17. ↑ Varro : De de rustica 3.1.2 and 3.2.1-4; online ; Plutarch , Marius: 26.2 (online)
  18. ↑ Pliny , Naturalis historia 34,54.
  19. ↑ Pierre Gros: Fortuna Huiusce Diei. In: Eva Margareta Steinby (Ed.): Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae. Volume 2, Quasar, Rome 1995, p. 269 f.
  20. ↑ A detailed description of the marble statue can be found in: Giuseppe Marchetti-Longhi: Il colossale acrolito rinvenuto nell '"area sacra" di Largo Argentina. In: Memorie della Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia. Volume 3, 1933, pp. 133-203.
  21. ↑ Homepage of the Centrale Montemartini ( Memento of the original from June 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on May 3, 2016 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.centralemontemartini.org
  22. ^ A b c Adam Ziolkowski: The Temples of Mid-republican Rome an their Historical and Topographical Context , Rom 1992, pp. 27 and 92 ff.
  23. ↑ Varro, Vol. 1: De lingua Latina 5.74, Ed .: Francesco Semi, Venezia 1965 ( online )
  24. ↑ CIL 12, 2675b
  25. ↑ Titus Livius: January 22, 2018
  26. ^ A b c Jon Albers: Campus Martius. The urban development of the Field of Mars from the Republic to the Middle Imperial Period . Reichert, Wiesbaden 2013, ISBN 978-3-89500-921-1 , pp. 54-59, 61 ( Temple C ).
  27. ↑ Ferdinando Castagnoli: Peripteros sine Postico , RM 62, 1955, pp. 139-143 (140 ff.)
  28. ^ Patrick Schollmeyer : Roman temples. Cult and architecture in the Roman Empire . von Zabern, Mainz 2008, ISBN 978-3-8053-3839-4 (also as a licensed edition from the Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft), p. 90
  29. ↑ For a date 1./2. Century BC Chr. Pleads because of the surrounding paving, Amanda Claridge: Rome (Oxford Archaeological Guides) , Oxford 2010, p. 244; Anders Arnhold, 2008, p. 52.
  30. ^ A b c Jon Albers: Campus Martius. The urban development of the Field of Mars from the Republic to the Middle Imperial Period . Reichert, Wiesbaden 2013, ISBN 978-3-89500-921-1 , pp. 54 ff, 57 ff, 60 ( Tempel D ).
  31. ^ Filippo Coarelli: Lares Permarini, Aedes. In: Eva Margareta Steinby (Ed.): Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae, Volume 3, Quasar, Rom 1997, p. 174 ff.
  32. ↑ Titus Livius 37, 30, 10.
  33. ↑ Titus Livius 40, 52, 4: “ Idem dedicavit aedem Larum permarinum in Campo. Voverat eam annis undecim ante L. Aemilius Regillus navali proelio adversus praefectos regis Antiochi "
  34. ^ Filippo Coarelli , Guide Archeologiche Roma, Mondadori Editore SpA, Milan 2006 (5th edition), ISBN 88-04-48002-5

literature

  • Jon Albers: Campus Martius. The urban development of the Field of Mars from the Republic to the Middle Imperial Period. Reichert, Wiesbaden 2013, ISBN 978-3-89500-921-1 , pp. 54–58, 60.
  • Emilio Rodríguez Almeida: Forma Urbis Marmorea. Aggiornamento Generale 1980. Rome 1981, plate 28.
  • Ferdinando Castagnoli: Il Campo Marzio nell'antichità. MemLinc VIII 1.4, 1946-1948, pp. 276-291 (161).
  • Ferdinando Castagnoli: Peripteros sine Postico. RM 62, 1955, pp. 139-143 (140 ff.)
  • Filippo Coarelli : Iuturna, Templum. In: Eva Margareta Steinby (Ed.): Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae . Volume 3, Quasar, Rome 1996, p. 163.
  • Pierre Gros : Fortuna Huiusce Diei. In: Eva Margareta Steinby (Ed.): Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae. Volume 2, Quasar, Rome 1995, p. 269 f.
  • Maurus Servius Honoratius : Servianorum in Vergili Carmina Commentariorum Editio Harvardiana. Ed .: Edward Kennard Rand, A. Fr. Stocker, Oxford 1946–1965, 12.139.
  • Giuseppe Marchetti-Longhi: Il colosal acrolito rinvenuto nell "area sacra" di Largo Argentina. MemPontAcc 3, 1933, pp. 133-203
  • Lawrence Richardson Jr .: A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1992, p. 228 sv Iuturna, Templum.
  • Patrick Schollmeyer : Roman temples. Cult and architecture in the Roman Empire. von Zabern, Mainz 2008, ISBN 978-3-8053-3839-4 (also as a licensed edition from the Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft), p. 90.
  • John W. Stamper: The Architecture of Roman Temples. The Republic to the Middle Empire. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 45.
  • Adam Ziolkowski: The Temples of Mid-republican Rome an their Historical and Topographical Context. Rome 1992, p. 27.


Coordinates: 41 ° 53 ′ 43 "  N , 12 ° 28 ′ 37"  E