Porticus Octaviae
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- Not to be confused with the Porticus Octavia.
The Porticus Octaviae (portico of Octavia; Italian: Portico di Ottavia) is an ancient structure in Rome.
Built by Augustus in the name of his sister, Octavia Minor, at some time after 27 BC,[1] in place of the Porticus Metelli, the porticus enclosed within its colonnaded walks the temples of Jupiter Stator and Juno Regina, next to the Theater of Marcellus. It was burned in 80 and restored, probably by Domitian, and again after a second fire in 203 by Septimius Severus and Caracalla. It was adorned with foreign marble, and contained many famous works of art, ennumerated in Pliny's Natural History.[2]
Besides the pre-existing temples, the enclosure included a library erected by Octavia in memory of her son M. Claudius Marcellus, the curia Octaviae, and a schola. Whether these were different parts of one building, or entirely different structures, is uncertain. It was probably in the curia that the senate is recorded as meeting.[3] The whole is referred to by Pliny the Elder as Octaviae opera.
In the medieval era, it was used as a fish market, which lasted up to the end of 19th century. this role is remembered by the name of the annexed church of Sant'Angelo in Pescheria (Italian: "St. Angelus in the Fish Market").
The portico, which lies in rione Sant'Angelo, represents the center of the Roman Ghetto.
[edit] Notes
- ^ The statement of Cassius Dio that it was built after 33 BC from the spoils of the war in Dalmatia, is due to confusion with the Porticus Octavia.
- ^ Pliny, xxxiv.31; xxxv.114, 139; xxxvi.15, 22, 24, 28, 34, 35.
- ^ Cassius Dio LV.8; Josephus, Jewish Wars. VII.5.4
[edit] External links
- LacusCurtius.com: Samuel Ball Platner, revised by Thomas Ashby, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome: Porticus Octaviae
- The Portico of Octavia (etching by Giovanni Battista Piranesi) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)
