The Temple of Venus and Roma (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

: ''Templum Veneris et Romae'') is thought to have been the largest

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

Ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

. Located on the

Velian Hill The Velia — or Velian Hill or Velian Ridge — is a saddle or spur stretching out from the middle of the north side of the Palatine Hill towards the Oppian Hill (itself a spur of the Esquiline Hill) in Rome. In later times, the Velia was cal ...

, between the eastern edge of the Forum Romanum and the

Colosseum The Colosseum ( ; it, Colosseo ) is an oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheatre in the world t ...

, in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, it was dedicated to the goddesses ''

Venus Felix Venus (), , is a Roman goddess, whose functions encompass love, beauty, desire, sex, fertility, prosperity, and victory. In Roman mythology, she was the ancestor of the Roman people through her son, Aeneas, who survived the fall of Troy and fle ...

'' ("Venus the Bringer of Good Fortune") and '' Roma Aeterna'' ("Eternal Rome"). The building was the creation of the

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

Hadrian and construction began in 121. It was officially inaugurated by Hadrian in 135, and finished in 141 under

Antoninus Pius Antoninus Pius ( Latin: ''Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius''; 19 September 86 – 7 March 161) was Roman emperor from 138 to 161. He was the fourth of the Five Good Emperors from the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. Born into a senatori ...

. Damaged by fire in 307, it was restored with alterations by the emperor Maxentius.

History

The temple was erected on the remains of

Emperor Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 unt ...

's Domus Transitoria, and subsequent

Domus Aurea The Domus Aurea (Latin, "Golden House") was a vast landscaped complex built by the Emperor Nero largely on the Oppian Hill in the heart of ancient Rome after the great fire in 64 AD had destroyed a large part of the city.Roth (1993) It replac ...

, and first the

Colossus of Nero The Colossus of Nero (''Colossus Neronis'') was a bronze statue that the Emperor Nero (37–68 AD) created in the vestibule of his Domus Aurea, the imperial villa complex which spanned a large area from the north side of the Palatine Hill, acro ...

was moved and placed near the

amphitheatre An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...

, which shortly afterwards became known as the

. An elaborate domed rotunda from the Domus Transitoria is still intact beneath the temple, an extravagant architectural design which included marble-lined pools and paving in multicoloured ''

opus sectile ''Opus sectile'' is a form of pietra dura popularized in the ancient and medieval Roman world where materials were cut and inlaid into walls and floors to make a picture or pattern. Common materials were marble, mother of pearl, and glass. T ...

''. Unimpressed by Hadrian's architectural design for the temple, his most brilliant architect, Apollodorus, made a scornful remark on the size of the seated statues within the cellae, saying that they would surely hurt their heads if they tried to stand up from their thrones. Apollodorus was banished and executed not long after this. According to the ancient historian Ammianus Marcellinus the temple was among the great buildings of Rome which astonished the Emperor

Constantius II Constantius II (Latin: ''Flavius Julius Constantius''; grc-gre, Κωνστάντιος; 7 August 317 – 3 November 361) was Roman emperor from 337 to 361. His reign saw constant warfare on the borders against the Sasanian Empire and Germanic ...

on his visit to the city in 357. The sanctuary was closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire. Further restoration was performed under Eugenius, a short-lived

usurper A usurper is an illegitimate or controversial claimant to power, often but not always in a monarchy. In other words, one who takes the power of a country, city, or established region for oneself, without any formal or legal right to claim it as ...

(392–394) against

Theodosius I Theodosius I ( grc-gre, Θεοδόσιος ; 11 January 347 – 17 January 395), also called Theodosius the Great, was Roman emperor from 379 to 395. During his reign, he succeeded in a crucial war against the Goths, as well as in two ...

, whose policy was the restoration of Pagan cults and temples. However, as with many of Rome's majestic ancient buildings the temple was later targeted for its rich materials. In 630 Pope Honorius I with the consent of the Emperor Heraclius, removed the gilt-bronze tiles from the roof of the temple for the adornment of St. Peter's. A severe earthquake at the beginning of the 9th century is believed to have destroyed the temple. Around 850 Pope Leo IV ordered the building of a new church,

Santa Maria Nova Santa Francesca Romana ( it, Basilica di Santa Francesca Romana), previously known as Santa Maria Nova, is a Roman Catholic church situated next to the Roman Forum in the rione Campitelli in Rome, Italy. History An oratory (worship), oratory ...

, on the ruins of the temple. After a major rebuilding in 1612, this church was renamed Santa Francesca Romana, incorporating Roma's cella as the

belltower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...

. A somewhat fanciful

veduta A ''veduta'' ( Italian for "view"; plural ''vedute'') is a highly detailed, usually large-scale painting or, more often, print of a cityscape or some other vista. The painters of ''vedute'' are referred to as ''vedutisti''. Origins This genre ...

engraving by Giovanni Battista Mercati depicts the site in 1629. The vast quantity of marble that once adorned the temple has all but disappeared due to its use as a raw material for building projects from the Middle Ages onwards. The Italian archaeologist Rodolfo Amedeo Lanciani makes reference to his discovery of a lime kiln in close proximity to the temple in his work ''The Destruction of Ancient Rome”.

Architecture

It was set on a ''

platform Platform may refer to: Technology * Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run * Platform game, a genre of video games * Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models * Weapons platform, a system or ...

'' measuring x . The ''

peripteral A peripteros (a peripteral building, grc-gre, περίπτερος) is a type of ancient Greek or Roman temple surrounded by a portico with columns. It is surrounded by a colonnade ('' pteron'') on all four sides of the ''cella'' (''naos''), crea ...

'' temple itself measured x and high (counting the statues) and consisted of two main chambers (''

cella A cella (from Latin for small chamber) or naos (from the Greek ναός, "temple") is the inner chamber of an ancient Greek or Roman temple in classical antiquity. Its enclosure within walls has given rise to extended meanings, of a hermit's or ...

e''), each housing a cult statue of a god—

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

, the goddess of love, and Roma, the goddess of

, both figures seated on a throne. The cellae were arranged symmetrically back-to-back. Roma's cella faced west, looking out over the Forum Romanum, and Venus' cella faced east, looking out over the Colosseum. A row of four columns (''

tetrastyle A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

'') lined the entrance to each cella, and the temple was bordered by

colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or cur ...

d entrances ending in staircases that led down to the Colosseum. As an additional clever subtlety by Hadrian, Venus also represented love (''Amor'' in Latin), and "AMOR" is "ROMA" spelled backwards. Thus, placing the two divinities of Venus and Rome back-to-back in a single temple created a further symmetry with the back-to-back symmetry of their names. Within Venus' cella was another altar where newly wed couples could make sacrifices. Directly adjacent to this altar stood gigantic silver statues of

Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: áːɾkus̠ auɾέːli.us̠ antɔ́ːni.us̠ English: ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good ...

and

Faustina the Younger Annia Galeria Faustina the Younger (born probably 21 September AD, – 175/176 AD) was Roman empress from 161 to her death as the wife of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, her maternal cousin. Faustina was the youngest child of Emperor Antoninus Pius a ...

The west and east sides of the temple (the short sides) had ten white marble columns ('' decastyle'') while the south and north sides featured twenty columns. All of these columns measured in width, making the temple very imposing. Most of the remains are incorporated in the church of S.Francesca Romana and due to the rebuilding by Maxentius. A

coffer A coffer (or coffering) in architecture is a series of sunken panels in the shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault. A series of these sunken panels was often used as decoration for a ceiling or a vault, also ...

vaulted In architecture, a vault (French ''voûte'', from Italian ''volta'') is a self-supporting arched form, usually of stone or brick, serving to cover a space with a ceiling or roof. As in building an arch, a temporary support is needed while ring ...

ceiling replaced the original wooden roof and the walls were doubled in thickness to take the increased load. The walls were inset with niches with small statues between small red porphyry columns standing above the floor on a plinth, all fronted by a colonnade in red porphyry.

Today

Canopy erected at the Temple of Venus and Rome during Good Friday ceremonies

Since the papacy of

John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

, the heights of the temple and its position opposite the main entrance to the Colosseum have been used to good effect as a public address platform. This may be seen in the photograph at right where a red canopy has been erected to shelter the Pope as well as an illuminated cross, on the occasion of the Good Friday ceremony. The Pope, either personally or through a representative, leads the faithful through meditations on the stations of the cross while a cross is carried from there to the Colosseum. The Temple has now been reopened to the public after an extensive restoration programme that lasted 26 years. Access to the temple is included in tickets for the Colosseum, the Forum and the Palatine Hill.

Notes

References

* Boatwright, Mary Taliaferro. 1987. ''Hadrian and the City of Rome.'' Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. *Brown, Frank Edward. 1964. “Hadrianic Architecture.” In ''Essays in Memory of Karl Lehmann'', Edited by Lucy F. Sandler. Marsyas, Stud. in the Hist. of Art Suppl.; I, 55–58. New York: Inst. of Fine Arts New York Univ. *Henderson, L. E. 1936. “The Temple of Venus and Roma.” ''The Classical Bulletin'' CII: 1–62. * *Jacobson, David M. 1986. “Hadrianic Architecture and Geometry.” ''American Journal of Archaeology'' XC: 69–85. *Ng, Diana Y. and Molly Swetnam-Burland eds. 2018. ''Reuse and Renovation in Roman Material Culture: Functions, Aesthetics, Interpretations''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. *Stamper, John. 2005. ''The Architecture of Roman Temples: The Republic to the Middle Empire''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press *Ziemssen, Hauke. 2006. “Maxentius and the City of Rome: Imperial Building Policy in an Urban Context.” In ''Common Ground: Archaeology, Art, Science, and Humanities: Proceedings of the XVIth International Congress of Classical Archaeology, Boston, August 23–26, 2003'', Edited by Carol C. Mattusch, Alice A. Donohue, and Amy Brauer, 400–404. Oxford: Oxbow Books.

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Temple Of Venus And Roma 135 2nd-century religious buildings and structures