The Temple of Rome and Augustus was a monopteral circular Ionic temple built on the

Acropolis of Athens The Acropolis of Athens is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens and contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, the most famous being the Parthenon. Th ...

, likely coincident with

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...

' second visit to Athens. The structure was axially aligned with the eastern entrance of the

Parthenon The Parthenon (; grc, Παρθενών, , ; ell, Παρθενώνας, , ) is a former temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, that was dedicated to the goddess Athena during the fifth century BC. Its decorative sculptures are considere ...

, placed eastward. The temple, which asserted the divinity of Rome and the

Imperial cult An imperial cult is a form of state religion in which an emperor or a dynasty of emperors (or rulers of another title) are worshipped as demigods or deities. "Cult" here is used to mean "worship", not in the modern pejorative sense. The cult may ...

in the context of the religious centre of the Acropolis, was a propaganda monument erected at a time of tension between Rome and Athens. Its ruins remain on the Acropolis. __NOTOC__

Description

The

Pentelic marble Mount Pentelicus or Pentelikon (, or ) is a mountain in Attica, Greece, situated northeast of Athens and southwest of Marathon. Its highest point is the peak ''Pyrgari'', with an elevation of 1,109 m. The mountain is covered in large part wi ...

temple was at its greatest diameter , and likely measured in height. The building had one step and a

stylobate In classical Greek architecture, a stylobate ( el, στυλοβάτης) is the top step of the crepidoma, the stepped platform upon which colonnades of temple columns are placed (it is the floor of the temple). The platform was built on a level ...

on which its nine columns stood. It had no interior wall and might have been the framework for a statue or other cult object. In style it recalls the columns of the

Erechtheion The Erechtheion (latinized as Erechtheum /ɪˈrɛkθiəm, ˌɛrɪkˈθiːəm/; Ancient Greek: Ἐρέχθειον, Greek: Ερέχθειο) or Temple of Athena Polias is an ancient Greek Ionic temple-telesterion on the north side of the Acropoli ...

with elaborately carved floral motifs at the top of the shaft, making it an early example of the Roman classicizing

Neo-Attic Neo-Attic or Atticizing is a sculptural style, beginning in Hellenistic sculpture and vase-painting of the 2nd century BC and climaxing in Roman art of the 2nd century AD, copying, adapting or closely following the style shown in reliefs and stat ...

style. The inscribed

epistyle In classical architecture, an architrave (; from it, architrave "chief beam", also called an epistyle; from Greek ἐπίστυλον ''epistylon'' "door frame") is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can ...

was over the central

intercolumniation In architecture, intercolumniation is the proportional spacing between columns in a colonnade, often expressed as a multiple of the column diameter as measured at the bottom of the shaft. In Classical, Renaissance, and Baroque architecture, in ...

which was slightly wider than the others and evidently faced east. The building had a sloping conical marble roof. A large square foundation, with sides of , has been preserved and it was investigated by Kavadias and Kawerau in the course of the excavations of 1885–1890. From then on it has been the consensus view that this was the foundation for the temple. The foundation consists of two courses of large

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock cont ...

blocks deriving from another, older building. The construction apparently coincided with the repair of the west side of the Erechtheion, since a

geison {{other Geison ( grc, γεῖσον – often interchangeable with somewhat broader term cornice) is an architectural term of relevance particularly to ancient Greek and Roman buildings, as well as archaeological publications of the same. The ge ...

block from there was found built into the foundations of the circular temple. An inscription in an archaizing pseudo- stoichedon style on the

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; from it, architrave "chief beam", also called an epistyle; from Greek ἐπίστυλον ''epistylon'' "door frame") is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can ...

reads:

Dio Cassius Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...

states that in the winter of 22–21 BCE, Augustus visited Athens, at which time the statue of Athena in the Parthenon, which usually faced eastward, turned west, and spat blood in Rome's direction. While clearly fanciful, this nevertheless implies an evident hostility on the part of Athens toward Augustus, when the city had previously sided with Antony in the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. It was not until Augustus’ second visit, after his diplomatic victory over

Parthia Parthia ( peo, 𐎱𐎼𐎰𐎺 ''Parθava''; xpr, 𐭐𐭓𐭕𐭅 ''Parθaw''; pal, 𐭯𐭫𐭮𐭥𐭡𐭥 ''Pahlaw'') is a historical region located in northeastern Greater Iran. It was conquered and subjugated by the empire of the Med ...

, when he participated in the Eleusinian rites, that relations must have sufficiently thawed for the exchange of honours. Placing the monument on the Acropolis, then, signalled Athenian willingness to embrace the

and the Augustan regime. The meaning of the location of the temple may have further significance, however. Either its placement in the "field of victory" could signify the Athenian attempt to contextualise Roman power in the long span of Greek martial achievement, and thereby subtly subordinate it. Or its creation along with a programme of contemporary public works represented evidence of the enthusiastic romanisation of the city.Spawforth, 2012, p.106-117

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{Acropolis of Athens, state=collapsed Acropolis of Athens Ancient Greek buildings and structures in Athens Temples in ancient Athens Rome and Augustus