CLAUDIUS, DIVUS, TEMPLUM
a temple of the deified Claudius on the
Caelian, begun by Agrippina, almost entirely destroyed by Nero, and
rebuilt by Vespasian (Suet. Vesp. 9:
fecit et nova opera... templum
divi Claudi in Caelio monte, coeptum quidem ab Agrippina sed a Nerone
prope funditus destructum). This destruction was probably due, in part
at least, to the construction of the distributing station of the aqua Claudia,
which Nero extended to the Caelian (Frontin. de aquis i. 20;
ii. 76).
1
Part of it may have been sacrificed to the domus Aurea, which extended
to the north-west corner of the Caelian opposite the Colosseum, where
this temple stood, the site now occupied by the gardens of the Passionist
Fathers. It is mentioned in one inscription (
CIL vi. 10251a), and Aurelius
Victor (Caes. 9, cf. Epit. 9) speaks of Claudii monumenta. There was also
a porticus Claudia (Mart. de spect. 2. 9-10:
Claudia diffusas ubi porticus
explicat umbras/Ultima pars aulae deficientis erat), which was clearly
just inside the limits of the domus Aurea, and would most naturally be
located on the Caelian in connection with the temple of Claudius (FUR
p. 33; cf. however, Mnemosyne, 1906, 83-84).
2 Three fragments of the
Marble Plan (45, 77, 96) probably belong together and represent parts of
this temple and the buildings of the aqueduct, but they contain no indication of a porticus (
Mitt. 1903, 20). Nevertheless, it is probable that the
porticus Claudia surrounded the temple.
The last mention of the temple is in the fourth century (Not. Reg. II),
though a bull of Honorius III of 1217 speaks of the
formae et alia aedificia
positae intra clausuram Clodei. Nothing is known of the history of its
destruction. It was (if the combination suggested above of the fragments of the forma Urbis is correct) prostyle hexastyle, fronting towards
the north, and stood on a lofty and extensive podium, some of the substructures of which have been excavated and are now visible (
LS i. 71;
iii. 76; Ann. d.
Inst. 1882, 205;
NS 1880, 463;
1909, 427). These
substructures are different on the different sides of the podium, those on
the west consisting of double rows of travertine arches with engaged
columns and entablature; those on the north containing what seem to
be reservoirs for water; and those on the east consisting of alternately
square and semicircular recesses which are separated from the podium
by narrow passages. These passages are, probably, simply air spaces.
The recesses are divided from one another by narrow semicircular niches
in groups of three. This difference in style and construction is probably
due to the combination of temple and nymphaeum which was the result
of Vespasian's restoration (HJ 232-234;
Gilb. iii. 124; LA 371; ZA
144 sqq.; Rivoira, RA 68, 73, who assigns the brick facing of the concrete
substructures on the east to Nero-they are not represented on the
Marble Plan, where the rectangular spaces round the temple are garden
beds-and the travertine arches on the west to the original construction).