Friday, September 20, 2013

SACRED AREA OF St. HOMOBONUS

AREA SACRA DI S. OMOBONO
Sacrificial altars of the seventh or sixth century BC. Area where in the sixth century BC a temple was built for two divinities:
On the right
Under the present church of S. Omobono, the TEMPLE OF MATER MATUTA goddess of the morning light and child birth, connected to the nearby port frequented by foreign merchants and sailors
On the left
TEMPLE OF FORTUNA patron deity for the development of the port according to Servius Tullius
In the deeper levels ceramic materials dating back to the fourteenth or thirteenth century BC (Bronze Age) were found, as well as materials of Greek import dating back to the mid-eighth century BC
The original unified single temple for the two deities was transformed into two separate ones with four reconstructions:
1) Camillus after the capture of Veii of 396 BC
2) Marco Fulvio Flacco after taking Volsinii in 264 BC. He brought back to Rome 2000 bronze statues, according to the sources
3) 212 BC after the fire of 213 in the Forum Boario
4) At the time of Domitian (81/96) with restorations at the time of Trajan (98/117)
At the center of the area there are traces of a double arch with four façades, perhaps the PORTA TRIUMPHALIS through which the triumphal procession entered the city on the Vicus Iugarius right after the Carmentalis Gate
On the other side of the Vicus Iugarius a few arches still exists belonging to a LATE-REPUBLICAN SMALL PORTICO, maybe the Triumphalis Porticus leading from the Circus Flaminius to the Triumphalis Gate
PIERLEONI TOWER saved from demolition at the beginning of 1300 with the 1936 rebuilt façade on Via del Teatro Marcello
The PIERLEONI HOUSE used to stand near the tower: it was completely dismantled in 1938 and rebuilt in Via S. Giovanni Decollato

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