160 BC
Sources
Plan: Nielen and Poulsen, Fig.61 p.83
Facade: see Tuscan temple rule documentation
44 BC
Sources
Plan: SaraNistri
Timeline
- 499/496 BCE: Temple is vowed
- 484 BCE: Temple is dedicated
- Between 200 and 117 BCE: Pronaos is reconstructed
- First half of 2nd century BCE: A tribunal is added
- 117 BCE: Temple is restored with the floor raised about 3 meters, but the size kept roughly the same. Tribunal is enlarged, connected to pronaos by stairs.
- 74 BCE: Temple is restored again
- 14/9 BCE: Temple is possibly burned by fire, but sources do not mention this.
- 6 CE: Temple is completely rebuilt by Tiberius. Raised 1 more meter in height. New dimensions of 32.1m x 49.5m. Smaller tribunal, replaced by a wide frontal staircase in Severan times.
- 4th century CE: Temple is ruined by this point.
Physical details
- Slightly sloping ground, 10 m. east of the Cloaca Maxima, roads on 3 sides.
- Visible remains mostly from the Augustan period
- Original temple’s podium partly preserved (27.5m x 37-40m)
- Etruscan style
- 3 rows of 4 columns for its pronaos.
- High podium, 5m up from west, 3.6m up from east.
- Temple oriented N-NE.
- Columns not of marble, since they were later stuccoed.
Literary sources
- Livy book 2 says that Postumius’ son vowed the temple after the Dioscuri appeared there.
- Cicero’s Verrine Orations refer to how Verres was charged with restoring the temple in 74 BCE.
- Cass. Dio 55.27.4
- Cic. nat. deor. 3.13; Scaur. 46; Verr. II 1.129-134, II 3.41, II 5.186
- Dion. Hal. ant. rom. 6.13
- Liv. 2.20.12, 2.42.5
- Mart. 1.70.3-6
- Plut. Cor. 3.4
- Suet. Tib. 20