Plate XVIII - Cell of the temple of Augustus
|
Plate XVIII represents the front of the Temple of
Augustus, which formed the great ornament of the court
of the College of Augustales, commonly called the
Pantheon. There is a sort of pronaos, in which
there is a flight of five marble steps ascending to the
platform of the tell. How this was covered, except by
long timbers, does not appear. |
On the right, on a black ground, is a sedent figure which
might have been taken for a personification of the majesty of
Rome ; but it has a dish of fruit in one hand, and a sort of
Bacchic rod in the other. Near it is a Mars, with his spear
and shield.
The interior of the cell has probably been covered with a
thin coating of marble, which had disappeared before the
modern excavations were made. That sort of fineering with
rare marbles must have always excited the avidity of the
survivors after the fatal catastrophe. The slabs also would
be easily detached and transported ; and, accordingly, there
are few instances of their remaining, except in sufficient
quantity to prove their former existence.
Possibly the niche at the end might have contained a statue
of Augustus, with the globe in his hand, as fragments of such
a statue have been found. In a niche on the left is said to
have been a statue of Livia, and, on the right, one of
Tiberius, both of which have been preserved.
On the left is an area, which may have been, in some measure,
applied to culinary purposes.