Temple of Augustus (Pula)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Temple of Augustus |
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| Location | Pula, Croatia |
| Built in | circa 2 BC-AD 14 |
| Built by/for | Augustus |
| Type of structure | Roman temple |
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 Pula |
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The Temple of Augustus (Croatian: Augustov hram) is a well-preserved Roman temple in the city of Pula, Croatia (known in Roman times as Pola). Dedicated to the first Roman emperor, Augustus, it was probably built during the emperor's lifetime at some point between 2 BC and his death in AD 14.[1] It was built on a podium with a tetrastyle prostyle porch of Corinthian columns and measures about 8 m (26 ft) by 17.3 m (57 ft). The richly decorated frieze is similar to that of a somewhat larger and older temple, the Maison Carrée in Nîmes, France.[2]
The temple's dedication originally consisted of bronze letters attached to the portico. Only the attachment holes now remain and much of the text has been destroyed over time. However, it consisted of a standard dedication also found on other Augustan temples, which read:
- ROMAE · ET · AUGUSTO · CAESARI · DIVI · F · PATRI · PATRIAE
- Roma and Augustus Caesar, son of the deity, father of the fatherland
This indicates that the temple was originally also co-dedicated to the goddess Roma, the personification of the city of Rome.[3] Unlike later temples, such as the Temple of Divus Augustus in Rome, the temple was not dedicated to divus (the deified) Augustus - a title only given to the emperor after his death. This, and the temple's architectural style, have allowed archaeologists to date the temple to the late Augustan period, prior to Augustus' death in AD 14.[4]
Under Byzantine rule, the temple was converted into a church, accounting for its survival to modern times, and was later used as a granary. It was struck by a bomb during an Allied air raid in 1944, almost totally destroying it, but was reconstructed in 1947. It is today used as a lapidarium to display items of Roman sculpture.[5][6]
[edit] References
- ^ Radovan Radovinovic (ed.), The Croatian Adriatic, pp. 48-49. Naklada Naprijed, 1999. ISBN 9531780978
- ^ Donald S. Robertson, Greek and Roman Architecture, p. 214. Cambridge University Press, 1969. ISBN 0521094526
- ^ Duncan Fishwick, The Imperial Cult in the Latin West, p. 437. BRILL, 1990. ISBN 9004071059
- ^ Ittai Gradel, Emperor Worship and Roman Religion, pp. 92-93. Oxford Classical Monographs, Clarendon Press, 2002. ISBN 0198152752
- ^ Jane Foster, Footprint Croatia, p. 106. Footprint Travel Guides, 2004. ISBN 1903471796
- ^ Jeanne Oliver, Croatia. Lonely Planet, 2005. ISBN 1740594878
