GENS FLAVIA, TEMPLUM
(templa Hist. Aug. Trig. Tyr. 33. 6; Claud. Goth. 3. 6):
a temple erected by Domitian on the site of his father's, Vespasian's,
house, in which he himself was born (Suet. Dom. I, 5; Chron. 146). This
was on the Quirinal just south of the Alta Semita, the present Via Venti
Settembre, ad Malum Punicum, the modern Via delle Quattro Fontane
(Suet. loc. cit. ;
Mart. ix. 20. I;
BC 1889, 383;
RhM 1894, 399-400;
Mitt. 1891, 120). It was struck by lightning in 96 A.D. (Suet. Dom. 15);
probably enlarged by Claudius Gothicus in 268-270 A.D. (Hist. Aug. cit.:
PBS iii. 242-243, though the theory here advanced in regard to the
Flavian date of the round reliefs of the ARCH OF CONSTANTINE (q.v.) is
not now generally accepted), and was standing in the fourth century
(Not. Reg. VI). It was probably round in shape (
Mart. ix. 3. 12, 34. 2;
Stat.
Silv. iv. 3. 19; Altm. 88), and was intended to serve as the
mausoleum of the Flavian dynasty. Domitian's ashes were placed there
(Suet. Dom. 17), and it is probable that he had, before his death, removed
thither the ashes of his father and brother (
Mart. ix. 34. 7; Stat. Silv.
v. I. 240-241; Hirschfeld, Berl. Sitz.-
Ber. 1886, 1158-1159=Kleine
Schriften 463-464). It was a magnificent structure, and evidently regarded
as a symbol of the eternity of Rome (Mart. ix. I. 8, 3. 12; Stat.
Silv.
iv. 3. 18-19). Nothing is known of the building after the fourth century,
and no certain traces of it have been found (HJ 426; cf., however,
Altmann, loc. cit., for possible evidence from Vacca).
