The Temple of Venus and Roma, magnificently constructed with lavish materials, survives only in ground plan (see Figure 20.8). Begun after the Pantheon, in 121, and dedicated probably in 135, it was completed in the region of Antoninus Pius. To erect it, Hadrian had the colossal statue of Sol (the Sun, formerly Nero) transferred to the north-west of the Flavian amphitheater (the Colosseum). The large temple (136m x 66m) sits raised on a high stylobate of seven steps, standing free in the center of a large platform (145m x 100m) at the east end of the Forum Romanum. The platform is bordered by a colonnade of Egyptian gray granite columns on the long sides only; the formal entrance to the precinct lies on the south, through a propylon in the middle of the colonnade.
The temple itself looked Greek from the exterior, being a rectangle surrounded by a typical Greek peristyle, ten Corinthian columns on the short ends, twenty on the long. Inside, there were two cellas, the western, facing the Roman Forum, for the goddess Roma (Rome), the eastern for Venus. The temple was made of concrete faced with brick, then covered with marble imported from Greece. Technical details of the architectural decorations indicate that the workmen, too, came from the Aegean region. The use of foreign materials and workmen, a shift in the habits of the previous century, reflects the wide-ranging tastes of the well-traveled Hadrian, but also indicates the increasing prominence of cities and regions outside the capital and Italy. Apollodorus, Trajan’s chief architect, criticized the building as lying too low; if placed on a higher platform, its unusual width would have had greater visual impact. Such frank comments were not appreciated by Hadrian, especially since they followed earlier expressions of contempt. Eventually Hadrian had Apollodorus put to death.
World History
