Daily Updates
Week Four: 11 October
11 October. Thea Ulrich Reporting:
This morning had a mellow feel to it as everyone was able to get up in their own time. There was no official meeting for the students, but each student had a task that needed completing: each of us was assigned a different Roman portrait bust at either the Capitoline Museum or the Palazzo Massimo (National Museum in Rome). So we all headed out to our various destinations to study and observe our different busts, in order to prepare from an upcoming presentation and a paper. Afterwards the students got to enjoy a truly Italian experience by paying a visit to the Questura, or, the 'central' police station to get temporary residency permits to stay in Italy. The trip to the station takes an hour and all the FSPers met there with Elizabeth Sullivan, the Dartmouth Center administrator, at 2:45. After a long afternoon, we all made it back to meet at the Rome Center at 5 o'clock with Professor Ulrich. We then headed out to the Largo Argentina, called the Area Sacra by the archaeologists who excavated it in the late 1920s, and filled out a handout with some questions about the four temples (known only as temples A, B, C, and D) of the Largo Argentina. The oldest was first built in the early fourth century B.C., and there were repairs in evidence from a fire that burned many of the monuments in A.D. 80. After a productive hour, we proceeded to the Forum Holitorium, which in the ancient times served as a vegetable market as well as a temple precinct with a grouping of three temples. These temples were most likely dedicated to the Gods Janus, Spes and Juno, and were dated between the 3rd and early 2nd centuries B.C. We were kindly let into the church of S. Nicola in Carcere that had some of the ruins of the Temple of Juno (early second century) built into it, and were able to go to the roof and see the cornice of gray tufa, as well as descend down underground and explore about the crypts, where the foundations of the old temples were visible. Once finished at the Forum Holitorium, we continued onwards to see what archaeologists have identified as the Temple of Portunus. Portunus was the god who literally personified the port of the city of Rome, which makes sense as the temple in approximately 50m from the Tiber River. The Temple of Portunus is the only standing temple that dates to the Roman Republic, probably from the late 2nd century B.C. We then glanced quickly at the circular Temple of Heracles, and then dispersed (it was getting dark) to go find some good, well deserved, Italian food.
Plan of the Area Sacra of the Largo Argentina, showing the locations of Temples A, B, C, and D.
This detail of the paving shows the white travertine blocks put in place after the fire of A.D. 80 and beneath them traces of the older tufa pavement (ca. 100 B.C.).
Temple A was converted into a church in medieval times (S. Nicola dei Cesarini or Calcarari). This photo shows the apse and some surviving frescoes.
Temple B is the youngest of the four shrines, probably built in the early first century B.C. The form is circular. The freestanding Corinthian columns were eventually (ca. 50 B.C.?) enclosed with a wall. This may be the Temple of Fortuna Huiusce Diei (something like "Good Luck on this Day") vowed at the Battle of Vercellae by Q. Lutatius Catulus in 101 B.C.
Temple C is considered the oldest of the four temples, due to the very low level of the ground on which it stood in the early third century B.C. The shrine may have been dedicated to an old Italian deity of fertility and agriculture, Feronia.
Temple D is only partially visible. The south side of its podium is hidden by the modern street. It may have been dedicated to the "Lares Permarini," the deities who watched over seafarers, although others have suggested that Juno, Jupiter, or Nymphs were honored. Without inscriptions for any of the temples a secure attribution is difficult.