The Temple of Minerva was a temple on the summit of the
Aventine Hill in Rome, next to the
Temple of Diana. It is now completely disappeared, but the
Forma Urbis Romae
The ''Forma Urbis Romae'' or Severan Marble Plan is a massive marble map of ancient Rome, created under the emperor Septimius Severus between 203 and 211. Matteo Cadario gives specific years of 205–208, noting that the map was based on pro ...
confirms its appearance as a
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 ...
hexastyle
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 ...
on a different orientation to the Temple of Diana.
The date and founder of the temple is unknown, but it is known to have existed in the 3rd century BC. It was the centre of the craft guilds in general and, by the end of the 3rd century BC, the writers' and actors' guilds in particular. In 123 BC
Gaius Gracchus
Gaius Sempronius Gracchus ( – 121 BC) was a reformist Roman politician in the 2nd century BC. He is most famous for his tribunate for the years 123 and 122 BC, in which he proposed a wide set of laws, including laws to establish ...
and his supporters tried in vain to seek refuge in the temple during their flight from Rome. The sanctuary was repaired by Emperor Augustus. The building still existed in the 4th-century, when it is mentioned in the ''
Forma Urbis Romae
The ''Forma Urbis Romae'' or Severan Marble Plan is a massive marble map of ancient Rome, created under the emperor Septimius Severus between 203 and 211. Matteo Cadario gives specific years of 205–208, noting that the map was based on pro ...
''. If still in use by the 4th-century, it would have been closed during the
persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire.
See also
*
List of Ancient Roman temples
This is a list of ancient Roman temples, built during antiquity by the people of ancient Rome or peoples belonging to the Roman Empire. Roman temples were dedicated to divinities from the Roman pantheon.
Substantial remains
Most of the b ...
Bibliography
*Filippo Coarelli, ''Guida archeologica di Roma'', Verona, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1984.
Minerva
Minerva (; ett, Menrva) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the Rom ...
Temples of Minerva
Destroyed temples
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