Start with our video overview:
The temple remains visible on the Via delle Botteghe Oscure were discovered during the 1930s urban renewal project. The two columns were re-erected in the 1950s on the temple podium. The column drums are travertine, faced with stucco to imitate marble column drums. A fragment from the marble Forma Urbis plan indicates that the temple was 40 X 27 meters. The temple was located in a porticoed piazza that has been identified with the Porticus Minucia (110 BC), rebuilt after the fire of AD 80, which was used for grain distribution. The temple may have been the Temple of the Nymphs; another candidate is the Temple of the Lares Permarini.
In the medieval period, the southern portico wall was dismantled and eventually replaced by a road, that still exists today on the modern street level. Further south, the outer portico wall of the Crypta Balbi theater complex still stands, and a visit to the Crypta Balbi Museo Nazionale, across from the temple remains, allows visitors to explore the history of the temple and Porticus Minucia and its relationship with the shops and life that revolved around Crypta Balbi.
A temple in the campus Martius, containing many documents relating to the census, which was burned by Clodius (Cic. pro Mil. 73 ; Parad. iv. 31; cf. de har. resp. 57). Its day of dedication was 23rd August (Fast. Arv. ad x Kal. Sept., CIL i². p. 215, 326). There is no indication of its location in the campus Martius, unless its identification with the aedes Iuturnae (Mommsen, CIL i². p. 326) be accepted. For this, however, there is no convincing evidence (HJ 481-482; Gilb. iii. 162-163; Rosch. iii. 540-541, 544; WR 223).
This content is brought to you by The American Institute for Roman Culture, a 501(C)3 US Non-Profit Organization.
Please support our mission to aid learning and understanding of ancient Rome through free-to-access content by donating today.
Ara Pacis Augustae Hardcover – 1968
The Ara Pacis Augustae and the Imagery of Abundance in Later Greek and Early Roman Imperial Art Hardcover – May 26, 1995
The Ara Pacis of Augustus and Mussolini Paperback – April 1, 2003
Cite This Page
Cite this page as: Darius Arya, The American Institute for Roman Culture, “Temple of the Nymphs” Ancient Rome Live. Last modified 07/10/2020. https://ancientromelive.org/temple-of-the-nymphs/
License
Created by The American Institute of Roman Culture, published on 11/11/2019 under the following license: Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.
