TEMPIO DI BELLONA
Via
del Teatro Marcello
296 BC for
the censor Appius Claudius Cieco (the Blind) (350/271 BC) after whom were named
the Aqua Appia and the Appian Way
In front of
the temple was to be the Columna Bellica,
used in the ceremonies of the declarations of war
According
to the traditional rite, dating back to the ancient times of Roman history, war
should be declared hurling a spear from Roman territory to enemy territory
At the time
of the war against Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, (280/275 BC) since the two states
were not bordering, the rite seemed impossible to be executed
To solve
the issue a prisoner of war was forced to buy a small piece of land in this
area, where a column was erected, perhaps made of wood, which could
symbolically represent the enemy territory: the ceremony could therefore take
place hurling the spear against the column
Later
on the ritual continued to be repeated with these new methods and the last
recorded time it took place was on the year 179 AD under Marcus Aurelius. The
ritual was therefore repeated for at least 460 years!
TEMPIO DI APOLLO SOSIANO
Via
del Teatro Marcello
Since the
year 449 BC there was an altar dedicated to Apollinar
After a
plague the temple was built in 431 BC for Apollo
Medicus
Restorations
in the years 353 and 179 BC
It was
rebuilt in full on the year 34 BC by Gaius Sosio after whom the temple was
named
Current
podium 21.32 x 40 m (67 x 131 feet)
Three columns remain, 14 m (46 feet) high.
Originally there were six on the front and three on the sides
Here took
place often meetings of the Senate as in the nearby Temple of Bellona
The cella
was a museum with paintings and statues
Parts of
the original Greek statues of the pediment and other interior elements are now
in the museum of the Centrale Montemartini
TEATRO MARCELLO
Via del Teatro Marcello
Begun by
Julius Caesar and finished by Augustus (27 BC/14)
Probably
completed in 17 BC when it was used for the so called secular games, but the dedication took place only in 13 or in 11
BC, when it was named after Marcellus (42/23 BC), nephew and son-in-law of
Augustus who died at age 19
Marcellus
was the son of Augustus' sister, Octavia, and the husband of the daughter of
Augustus, Giulia
The theater
was built on the site where the provisional theater used to be erected in the
Republican period
In order to
build the theater two temples were destroyed, maybe the TEMPLE OF PIETAS and
the TEMPLE OF DIANA later reconstructed at the center of a large exedra behind
the stage
In 23 BC
Vespasian (69/79) restored the stage
Capacity of
about 15,000/20,000 spectators
Originally
the height was about 32.60 m (107 feet), the current height is about 20 m (65
feet)
Orsini Savelli Palace
Structure
built above the Theater of Marcellus since the Middle Ages for the Pierleoni
family, Jews converted to Christianity, one of whom became antipope with the
name of Anacleto II (1131/38) in opposition to Innocent II Papareschi
(1130/1143)
This
happened during the period of the turf war between the Pierleoni and the
Frangipane families, the most powerful ones in Rome at the time
The
presence here of the Pierleonis was perhaps the reason why many Jews were
forced to move from the Trastevere neighborhood to this area, which later
became the Jewish Ghetto
Current
building 1523/27 by Baldassare Peruzzi (1481/1536)
for the Savelli family. The line of the family ended in the eighteenth century
The
palace was sold to the Orsini family in 1716 and it was finally divided into
luxury apartments
