Temple of Antoninus and Faustina

The temple of Antoninus and Faustina, one of the best preserved monuments in the Roman Forum, was built by decree of the Senate on the death of Faustina in 141, as the inscription on the architrave of the pronaos records (CIL VI 1005). In 144 a statue dedicated to Antoninus Pius was placed near the temple by the Bakers' Guild (CIL VI 1002). In connection with the ceremonies at the death of Antoninus Pius in 161, the Senate added the name of the newly deified emperor to the temple already dedicated to his wife: thus the words TO THE DEIFIED ANTONINUS AND were added to the architrave. Thereafter the existence of the temple is recorded by a series of events. In 176 the Senate dedicated a statue to T. Pomponius Proculus Vitrasius Pollio (see PIR1 P 558) "in the pronaos of the temple of the Deified Pius" (CIL VI 1540), and in the period 176-180 another was dedicated to M. Bassaeus Rufus (CILVI 1599; see PIRB 69). There are fragmentary records of the Antonine Confraternity for the period 213-236 (CIL VI 2001). Another statue, dedicated to Gallienus Saloninus the Younger, is mentioned in the years 253-268 near "the temple of Faustina" (Hist.Aug. Gall.19.4). In the 7th and 8th centuries the church later known as San Lorenzo in Miranda was built into the pronaos; it was associated with the monastery "of Saint Lawrence called de Mirandi" (1074 A.D.) In the 12th century the Ordo Romanus mentions an "arch de Miranda," and the Mirabilia speaks of a "temple of Janus...now however it is called the tower of the Cenci Frangipani. Connected to it is the temple of Minerva, which however is now called Saint Lawrence de Mirandi" (see Valentini-Zucchetti III, 56 n.3, 122, 213 n. 4, 226 n.2 ). From this we infer that the temple, mistakenly thought to be of Minerva, had an arch attached to it. The arch was built of ashlar masonry, as we know from drawings by the Anonymous Escurialensis in 1491 and M. Heemskerck in 1532; Pirro Ligorio tells us that it was dismantled in 1546. Ligorio is also responsible for the plan and elevation of a quadrifrontal arch, which, since it is comparable to other known types (see Tosi 1983 33-36), may refer to this one in the Forum, although some have proposed seeing in it the "fornix Fabianus" or Arch of Fabius (see Steinby 1987 156-166) and the Parthian arch of Augustus (see Coarelli 1985 269ff.). Palladio's proposed restoration of a precinct that encloses only the pronaos of the temple seems to be based on the peperino blocks of the arch, some of which are still visible, and perhaps on other fragments that survived the demolition of 1546. In 1429 the church of San Lorenzo was given by Martin V to the Università degli Speziali (College of Pharmacists) to found a hospital there. In 1536, on the occasion of the visit of Emperor Charles V, three chapels of the church were removed from the pronaos. A few years later Ligorio and Palladio make note of the disastrous excavations that uncovered, among other things, "the steps by which one climbed to the portico." In this period the temple lost the marble revetment that had covered its exterior walls, which Ligorio and Palladio were the last to have a chance to draw. In 1602, because of a rise in ground level, the church was rebuilt so its floor was six meters above the floor of the cella; it also absorbed one intercolumniation of the pronaos. There were excavations in the area of the temple in 1810, 1876, 1885, and 1889 on.

The temple of Antoninus and Faustina rises on a foundation of concrete with chunks of basalt above which is a course of travertine blocks. The podium is faced with blocks of peperino, and the same material is used for the walls of the cella. The building is hexastyle prostyle and has a high staircase leading down to the Via Sacra. The unfluted columns of the pronaos are made of cipollino marble; they are 17 meters high and have a base diameter of 1.45 meters, or 5 Roman feet. They have white marble Corinthian capitals. On them rests the entablature, with a running frieze of garlands, griffins, and sacrificial implements. The temple was drawn by Antonio da Sangallo the Elder, Fra Giocondo, Baldassare Peruzzi, Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, G.Battista da Sangallo, and G. Antonio Dossi, as well as the already cited Pirro Ligorio and Andrea Palladio. Bartoli was able to reconstruct the elevation and the external decoration with the help of their drawings, which also record architectural elements of the interior, as well as by a comparison with elements of the decoration that have been preserved (see figs.24-26 ).

The front wall of the cella, hidden by the facade of the church designed by Orazio Torriani, is aligned with the antae, which end in pilasters with Attic bases and Corinthian capitals. Only Peruzzi's drawings record the fact that the door to the cella was flanked by similar pilasters. The angle of the pediment, 28.2 %, was calculated on the basis of the angle of the channels leading into the gutter, preserved in five fragments of the cornice of the pediment. The long walls of the cella had a base molding that joined the moldings of the corner pilasters; a second molding, traces of which are preserved on the wall blocks, ran around the middle of the side walls. These were dressed with fifteen courses of marble blocks imitating ashlar masonry with drafted margins, the topmost one at the height of the capitals.The stair in front was flanked by two projections of the podium, of which the one on the right is preserved. On coins they are shown with statues resting on them (RIC III,69 ff. Nos. 343, 354, 388, 396, 406A, 1115, 1137. 1148, 1168, 1195). In the center of the stair a brick base held the altar, shown in coins of Antoninus and Faustina, of which Ligorio records several fragments "with figures in the Egyptian style."

--A. Cassatella, author

--Ann Scott, translator