Roman Temples

In light of recent excavations in Ostia, where the Late Antique phases of the monumental centre have been uncovered, this research focuses on reused coppi (cover tiles) found in Late Antique pavements and in deposits around the Forum. A typology of these cover tiles is presented based on their architectural layouts and overlapping techniques resulting in six different types. Furthermore, original contexts of at least two types are defined, based on architecture, location and obvious candidates. Comparisons with Greek architecture and Augustea are made in the process of defining possible candidates for the cover tiles.

While the Romans did not have museums, practices of collecting and display were fully developed in Rome. Romans used collections of objects to substantiate, reinforce, and broadcast particular views of the world. This chapter shows how current work in museum studies opens new avenues of research into Roman art. It draws on recent scholarship on collecting that explores debates over cultural property, questions of viewing, and the role of collections in the construction of personal and imperial identities. It is herewith the appropriation of patrimony, with the creation of art, and with ideas of a universal artistic heritage-that we find ancient analogs of modern museums.

The issue of the end of cults and temples is dealt with from a local perspective, using the case of Ostia, the harbour of Rome. Recent research and renewed historiography allow us to take a fresh look at this theme, which does not only concern late Antiquity. Its complexity is illustrated on the basis of examples relating both to the public cults of the city and to the 'sacra privata' practiced in the town's associations.

Les temples étaient omniprésents dans la ville de Rome pendant l’Antiquité et ils dominaient leurs espaces environnants tant par leur statut d’édifices sacrés que par leur architecture imposante et richement décorée. Ce livre nous plonge dans le décor sculpté des temples de Rome et en particulier dans le monde des images de leurs tympans, qui dominaient leurs façades et qui, par le biais de représentations liées à la sphère divine, véhiculaient des messages politiques importants.
Bien que très exceptionnellement conservés en original, les décors tympanaux des temples de la capitale romaine se laissent également étudier grâce à leurs reproductions fidèles sur les reliefs historiques et sur quelques rares monnaies impériales ; des mentions chez les auteurs antiques complètent le tableau.
Le sujet est abordé à travers une analyse iconographique de chaque fronton figuré connu de l’Urbs, afin d’insérer ces images dans leurs contexte architectural, artistique et historique. Mais tout d’abord il est question de l’architecture et du décor des temples grecs et étrusques de façon qu’au cours de l’étude on puisse observer les transferts culturels et artistiques qui ont eu lieu dans le cadre de l’architecture sacrée antique.

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Temples were omnipresent in the City of Rome during Antiquity, and they dominated the surrounding spaces by virtue of both their status as sacred buildings and their imposing, richly decorated architecture. This book leads us through the sculptural decoration of Rome’s temples and, especially, the tympana’s imagery that dominated their facades and conveyed important political messages through representations related to the divine sphere.
Although hardly ever preserved in original form, the tympana decorations of temples in the Roman capital can be studied thanks to their faithful reproductions on historical reliefs and some rare imperial coins ; descriptions by ancient authors complete the picture.
This study is based on iconographic analysis of each known figurative pediment of the Urbs, thereby inscribing the images in their proper architectural, artistic and historical context. The opening chapter is however focused on the architecture and ornamentation of Greek and Etruscan temples which helps us identify, further in the book, the cultural and artistic transfers within the realm of ancient sacred architecture.

O objectivo que nos propomos atingir: dar miúda conta dos aspectos fundamentais que a bibliografia já forneceu para melhor compreensão da epígrafe e do seu significado histórico-cultural; e, por outro lado, traçar a panorâmica do que se sabe acerca dos vestígios desse templo que a tradição vem situando sob os alicerces da actual sé catedral, numa manifestação clara de como um local, sagrado outrora, sagrado continua a ser na actualidade.