The Temple of Portunus (Tempio di Portuno) is an ancient Roman temple in Rome, Italy. It was built beside the Forum Boarium, the Roman cattle market associated with Hercules, which was adjacent to Rome's oldest river port (Portus Tiberinus) and the oldest stone bridge across the Tiber River, the Pons Aemilius. the Temple of Portunus is known to be one of the best-preserved of all Roman temples.
It was probably dedicated to the gateway god Portunus although the precise dedication remains unclear as there were several other temples in the area besides his. It was misidentified as the Temple of Fortuna Virilis (Latin for "Manly Luck") from the Renaissance and remains better known by this name. The circular Temple of Hercules Victor is southeast of the temple in the Forum Boarium.
circa 350/250 BCE
The temple was originally built in the 3rd or 4th century BCE and was rebuilt between 120 and 80 BCE. During Antiquity, the site overlooked the Tiberine port at a sharp bend in the river; from here, Portunus watched over cattle barges as they entered the city from Ostia. If still in use by the 4th century, the temple would have been closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire.
During the Medieval period, the temple was converted to a Christian church dedicated to Santa Maria Egiziaca ("Saint Mary of Egypt"). It remained a church until the early 20th century when it was deconsecrated, stripped of all later additions, and returned to its classical appearance as an archaeological monument. This restoration included the demolition of surrounding medieval and Renaissance-era buildings. The 18th-century Temple of Harmony in Somerset, England, is a folly based on the Temple of Portunus.
circa 350/250 BCE
The temple is in the Ionic order and is located by the ancient Forum Boarium near the Tiber. The rectangular building consists of a tetrastyle portico and cella, raised on a high podium reached by a flight of steps. Like the Maison Carrée in Nîmes, it has a pronaos portico of four Ionic columns across and two columns deep. The columns of the portico are free-standing, while the remaining five columns on the long sides and the four columns at the rear are half-columns engaged along the walls of the cella.
This form is sometimes called pseudoperipteral, as distinct from a true peripteral temple like the Parthenon entirely surrounded by free-standing columns. The Ionic capitals are of the original form, different in the frontal and side views, except in the volutes at the corners, which project at 45°, a common Roman detail. It is built of tuff and travertine with a stucco surface. Its Ionic order has been much admired, drawn, engraved, and copied since the 16th century. The original coating of stucco over its tufa and travertine construction has been lost.
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The Madain Project is an online archive of Abrahamic History and Archaeology.
Abrahamic History & Archaeology is the study of history and archaeology with respect to the three Abrahamic Faiths without considering the religious and theological aspects. The goal of Abrahamic History is to understand how and why the religious doctrines and behaviours have evlovled and changed over time. Searching for patterns in the evolution of significant cultural events such as the development of farming, the emergence of cities, or the collapse of major civilizations for clues of why and how these have influenced the three major Abrahamic religions.
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