440 ft. by 370 ft. or about 3 1/2 acres, lias outer walls and exedrse similar to the forecourt but is in a more ruined condition. At the far side of the Great Court you find the massive foundations
of the Great Altar of Burnt Offerings. Excavations here show several layers of slab pavement presuming many alterations around this old altar, which probably antedates the existing temple structures by many centuries of worship.
Surrounding the Great Altar lie the foundation stones of a later Basilica built of blocks torn from the great Pagan temple by the order of the Christian Emperor Theodosius. This “Philistine” structure clutters up the great stairway that rises from immediately behind the altar to the platform of the Great Temple of Jupiter. There you trace
the rectangular plan measuring 160. ft. by 290 ft. and count the column bases, nineteen on each side and ten across each end. Only six of the enormous Corinthian columns remain but with their aid you can mentally reconstruct the temple
in all its original glory. The columns are unfluted and graceful, 65 ft. high and 71/2 ft. in diameter. The shafts consist of only three drums originally clamped together by inset bronze straps long since dug out by vandals. The capitals are of heavy, unrefined Corinthian and the entablature, 13 ft. high is similarly of a decadent craftsmanship, but the great height hides the defects of detail very successfully, leaving only its majesty to impress you.
History gives us the meager facts that Antoninus Pius began the Great Temple in 140 A. D.; that Septimius Severus later dedicated it with a great feast and procession; and that the mad Caracalla finished it about 215 A. D. Constantine started its destruction in the third century and he was ably seconded by the vandal armies of history and great earthquakes of the twelfth and eighteenth centuries. We owe much of our
knowledge of details and accurate measurements to the efforts of Professor O. Puchstein who excavated the site in 1900 for the Imperial Museum of Berlin.
To the South of the Great Temple and on a much lower platform, stands the . Temple of Bacchus in a remarkable state of preservation considering its vicissitudes. One can’t help but wonder if it is not the great God Bacchus rather than Mars who is the patron deity of conquering armies. As was usual, the Temple stands on a low basement with a flight of steps rising to the portico. The roofless oella walls, measuring 87 ft. by 74 ft., are mainly intact and are surrounded by a colonnade of Corinthian columns, octostyle, with fifteen on each side. They are 47 1/2 ft. high and support an entablature 7 ft. in height. The North row stands intact but only a few of the rest are in position.
The aisle, ten feet wide, is covered by an arched ceiling coffered in rhomboids, triangles and hexagons out of which peer the richly sculp
Mask formed of Acanthus in frieze of Temple of
Bacchus
Architrave of the Colonnades in the Court
Detail of Cornice, Temple of Jupiter
of the Great Altar of Burnt Offerings. Excavations here show several layers of slab pavement presuming many alterations around this old altar, which probably antedates the existing temple structures by many centuries of worship.
Surrounding the Great Altar lie the foundation stones of a later Basilica built of blocks torn from the great Pagan temple by the order of the Christian Emperor Theodosius. This “Philistine” structure clutters up the great stairway that rises from immediately behind the altar to the platform of the Great Temple of Jupiter. There you trace
the rectangular plan measuring 160. ft. by 290 ft. and count the column bases, nineteen on each side and ten across each end. Only six of the enormous Corinthian columns remain but with their aid you can mentally reconstruct the temple
in all its original glory. The columns are unfluted and graceful, 65 ft. high and 71/2 ft. in diameter. The shafts consist of only three drums originally clamped together by inset bronze straps long since dug out by vandals. The capitals are of heavy, unrefined Corinthian and the entablature, 13 ft. high is similarly of a decadent craftsmanship, but the great height hides the defects of detail very successfully, leaving only its majesty to impress you.
History gives us the meager facts that Antoninus Pius began the Great Temple in 140 A. D.; that Septimius Severus later dedicated it with a great feast and procession; and that the mad Caracalla finished it about 215 A. D. Constantine started its destruction in the third century and he was ably seconded by the vandal armies of history and great earthquakes of the twelfth and eighteenth centuries. We owe much of our
knowledge of details and accurate measurements to the efforts of Professor O. Puchstein who excavated the site in 1900 for the Imperial Museum of Berlin.
To the South of the Great Temple and on a much lower platform, stands the . Temple of Bacchus in a remarkable state of preservation considering its vicissitudes. One can’t help but wonder if it is not the great God Bacchus rather than Mars who is the patron deity of conquering armies. As was usual, the Temple stands on a low basement with a flight of steps rising to the portico. The roofless oella walls, measuring 87 ft. by 74 ft., are mainly intact and are surrounded by a colonnade of Corinthian columns, octostyle, with fifteen on each side. They are 47 1/2 ft. high and support an entablature 7 ft. in height. The North row stands intact but only a few of the rest are in position.
The aisle, ten feet wide, is covered by an arched ceiling coffered in rhomboids, triangles and hexagons out of which peer the richly sculp
Mask formed of Acanthus in frieze of Temple of
Bacchus
Architrave of the Colonnades in the Court
Detail of Cornice, Temple of Jupiter