PORTICUS OCTAVIAE
* built ostensibly by Octavia, the sister of Augustus
(Fest. 178; Ov.
AA i. 69), but really by Augustus and dedicated in the
name of Octavia (Suet. Aug. 29; Cass.
Dio xlix. 43; Liv. Ep. 138) at
some time after 27 B.C. (cf. Vitr. iii 2. 5), in place of the
PORTICUS METELLI
(q.v.; Veil. i. I ) around the temples of Jupiter Stator and Juno (Plin.
NH xxxvi. 42). The statement of Cassius Dio that it was built after 33 B.C.
from the spoils of the war in Dalmatia, is due to confusion with the
porticus Octavia. It was burned in 80 A.D. (Cass.
Dio lxvi. 24) and
restored, probably by Domitian, and again after a second fire in 203 by
Severus and Caracalla (
CIL vi. 1034). It was adorned with foreign
marble (Ov.
AA i. 70), and contained many famous works of art (Plin.
NH
xxxiv. 31;
xxxv. 114, 139;
xxxvi. 15, 22, 24, 28, 34, 35; cf.
Neapolis
ii. 234 n.). Besides the TEMPLES (q.v.) there were within the enclosure
a
BIBLIOTHECA (q.v.) erected by Octavia in memory of the youthful
Marcellus (Suet. de gramm. 21; Plut. Marc. 30), a curia Octaviae (Plin.
NH xxxvi. 28), and a schola (ib. xxxv. 114) or scholae (ib. xxxvi. 22).
Whether these were different parts of one building, or entirely different
structures, is uncertain. It was probably in the curia that the senate
is recorded as meeting (Cass.
Dio lv. 8; Joseph. B.
Iud. vii. 5. 4). The
whole is referred to by Pliny as Octaviae opera (Plin.
NH xxxiv. 31;
xxxv. 139;
xxxvi. 15).
This porticus is represented on the Marble Plan (frg. 33). It enclosed
a rectangular area, 118 metres in width and somewhat more in length,
and consisted of a colonnade formed by a double row of granite columns,
twenty-eight in each row in front. The main axis ran from north-east
to south-west, and the principal entrance was in the middle of the south-
west side. This entrance, of which some ruins still exist (Bull. d.
Inst.
1878, 209-219;
BC 1887, 331;
1890, 66-67;
Mitt. 1889, 264-265;
NS
1912, 153), had the form of a double pronaos, projecting inward and
outward. Across each front of this pronaos, between the side walls,
were four Corinthian columns of white marble, supporting an entablature
and triangular pediment. The entablature and pediment and two
of the columns of the outer front still exist (the other two have been
replaced by a brick arch, perhaps after the earthquake of A.D. 442), and
of the inner front two columns and part of the third, with portions of
entablature and pediment. The height of the columns of the pronaos
is 8.60 metres. Some of the marble antefixae at the lower ends of the
ridge tiles also exist. Parts of some of the columns of the south colonnade
are also standing, and some of their capitals are built into the walls of
neighbouring houses (HJ 541-544; D'Esp.
Mon. ii. 131-133;
Fr. i. 65, 66;
ZA 225-231). For the entasis, see Mem. Am.
Acad. iv. 122, 142.
