As
one studies the Roman temples, of which the Pantheon is the
only worthy representative remaining, he is sadly disappointed
in finding how little absolutely satisfactory knowledge of
them can be gained. For example, in the case of the Temple of
the Capitoline Jupiter, we find that no connected and
intelligible account of this great national temple exists; and
no fragment of it remains, to our absolute certainty. From
many writers we gather interesting references to the temple
and its possessions, but these writers disagree. Not in the
main fact that here was a most important, magnificent, and
enormously wealthy shrine, dedicated to the great Jove, but in
their accounts of its details; as when Livy says that the
statue of Jupiter was the work of Turianus, an Etruscan
sculptor, and Pliny records that it was made by Volca of Veii.
These disagreements are not of vital importance; but one has a
sensation of being cheated when he spends his time to read one
authority only to be contradicted by another. As this temple
was more than once destroyed and rebuilt, both sculptors may
have made statues of its deity; but there is so much of legend
about it that no clear-cut idea of it can be formed.
This
temple, having been built on the Etruscan model, was doubtless
small, its greatest magnificence being in its substructure and
its enclosure, where, as already explained, the important
rites of worship took place.
Not
only have the most ancient temples disappeared, but little
remains of those of the Augustan Age,--a few columns, the
substructures in some cases, and scanty portions, known to
have been built into other edifices. Of the Temple of Minerva,
parts were used in S. Peter's, where a portion of its
architrave was converted into the high altar by Paul V. in
1606. The same Pope cut its columns to adorn his fountain on
the Janiculum. Other portions are in the Borghese chapel in S.
Maria Maggiore; but even the scanty remnants which have been
permitted to remain--the columns, a section of the entablature
with sculptured cornice and frieze--serve to indicate the
original beauty of this temple.
The
small Temple of Jupiter Tonans, built by Augustus, is
interesting from the traditions connected with it, one of
which relates that it was built by the great Emperor in
gratitude for his escape from death when a servant who was
carrying a torch before his litter was killed by lightning.
Suetonius
relates that Jupiter Capitolinus appeared to Augustus in a
dream and expressed jealousy of Jupiter Tonans on account of
the erection of a temple in his honour. Augustus then affixed
bells to the shrine of the new temple, and pacified the
complaining Jove by assuring him that the god of the small
temple was simply his doorkeeper.
Pliny
mentions that the Temple of Jupiter Tonans was constructed of
solid marble blocks, such buildings being rare in Rome. A
portion of the wall of the Regia, rebuilt in 36 B. C., and the
circular temple in the Forum Boarium, probably erected during
the reign of Augustus, are among the few examples of this kind
of structure remaining.
This
beautiful circular temple was once erroneously called the
Temple of Vesta. The present edifice, dating from its
rebuilding by Augustus, was known in the Middle Ages as the
church of S. Stefano delle Carozze. It is now known as S.
Maria del Sole, so named from a miraculous, shining picture of
the Madonna found floating on the river near by. The remaining
nineteen columns are graceful; and when the eight marble steps
which surrounded the entire edifice were perfect, the whole
effect of this circular peristyle must have been extremely
fine. In design it closely resembles the actual Temple of
Vesta, and is the finest example of this kind of structure
remaining in Rome.
The
Temple of Mars Ultor affords an example of a kind of
construction which combines the use of solid marble blocks and
of walls faced with thin marble linings. Spaces are left
between the courses of solid blocks, which are built up in
peperino and lined with Greek marble. Like the three remaining
columns, the entire fragments of this structure are of the
finest material and workmanship.
This
temple was erected by Augustus in fulfillment of his vow to the
god who, at Philippi, avenged the death of Julius Caesar, when
Brutus and Cassius, seeing that their cause was lost, deserted
it and their soldiers by committing suicide. In any case, it
seems most fitting that this battle should have been signally
commemorated by the Empire, since it may be said that the
Republic perished at Philippi. The two great Republican
leaders, flushed by their successes in Macedonia and Syria,
assumed that they should be triumphant here. Brutus had been
hailed as Imperator, and had even coined money stamped with
his own effigy, and, according to Dion, bearing an inscription
which declared that, together with Cassius, he had restored
liberty to Rome.
By
the union of their forces they led nineteen legions against
Octavius, who, weak from illness, was borne to the field in a
litter. The legend that the ghost of Caesar had summoned
Brutus to meet him at Philippi was taken by the ancients as
the cause of his final weakness. They believed that it was
remorse alone that led him to commit the same act for which he
had so blamed Cato. His body, wrapped in purple, was sent to
his mother, Servilia, for burial; and his wife, Porcia, being
determined upon self-destruction, and all weapons having been
taken from her, the historian Appian relates that she filled
her mouth with coals from a burning brazier, firmly closed her
lips, and died from suffocation. Plutarch, however, doubts if
Porcia died because Brutus was dead, and other writers suggest
that she inhaled the fumes of the burning coal.
Facing
the present Sacra Via, at the east end of the Forum, is the
Temple of Antoninus Pius and Faustina. The Emperor erected it
to the memory of Faustina in 141 A. D. After his death, by a
decree of the Senate, an upper line was added to the
inscription, including him in the dedication of the temple.
The largest portion of the interior has been converted into
the church of S. Lorenzo in Miranda.
The
front has been excavated to its original level, and is well
preserved. Noble monolithic columns of cipollino still remain;
also a frieze of white Athenian marble, sculptured with
reliefs of candelabra and griffins, it being an almost exact
reproduction of a frieze found at Delos.
The
masonry in the lower portions, recently uncovered, is of
excellent workmanship. This temple is represented on coins
struck in honor of Faustina; and two seated statues are seen,
as if through the open door of the cella--probably intended
for Antoninus and Faustina.
The
small size of the Roman temples is surprising to one who
regards them from the modern view of the uses of religious
edifices; but if the ancient view is taken into account, the
size becomes unimportant. The splendour and richness of the
structure and its decorations are significant of the honours
paid the god, whom the ancients preferred to worship without
the temple. It appears, indeed, that they had no conception of
an all-pervading spirit, or omnipresence, and temple walls
seemed to obscure their ideas of deity. Therefore the templum,
or the entire sacred precinct of the temple enclosures, as
before mentioned, was essentially the place for worship, these
enclosures being far larger than the temple itself.
The
ancient Latin religion was not inventive, its one peculiar
deity being the double-headed Janus, or Janus bifrons, the
"beginner," or "opener," whom they invoked
at the beginning of every undertaking. Gates, doors, and the
morning were sacred to Janus from the earliest period of his
worship; and gradually almost numberless matters were confided
to his care. The opening of the year, in the name of the first
month, still commemorates this pagan deity in many countries.
Later,
this god was represented with four faces, on account of his
presiding over the four seasons, and was then called Janus
quadrifrons. The enclosure dedicated to Janus was called a
temple, but the word "passage" would describe it
more accurately. The custom of leaving it open during a war
suggested that Janus had gone to aid the Roman army, and
closing it in times of peace was intended to prevent his
escape. New Year's Day was the festival day of Janus, and the
custom of making gifts on that day originated in prehistoric
Rome.
There
is a legend that the first Temple of Janus was erected by King
Numa; at all events, it was one of the very earliest erected
in Rome.
Pliny
speaks of two statues of this god, the first being in bronze
and the work of a very ancient Etruscan sculptor; he says that
this figure indicated with its fingers the number of days in
the Roman year, which was three hundred and fifty-five.
Augustus brought from Egypt a statue of Janus by Scopas or
Praxiteles. Pliny explains the uncertainty regarding the
sculptor by saying that the statue was very thickly gilded;
and the number of foreign statues brought to Rome was so large
that the people, more interested in other matters than in art,
failed to keep a record of the authors of these works.
There
were many statues of Janus, as well as arches dedicated to
him. Domitian seems to have especially devoted himself to
honouring this deity, and set up so many Jani with chariots
and other triumphal insignia that at length some wag inscribed
one of them with the word apkel--that's enough--in the spirit
of the modern slang, "give us a rest."
From
the present point of view the Roman temples were very
defective in want of height. If we imagine ourselves on some
elevation looking down upon ancient Rome, we shall see an
extent of almost level roofs. The lines of the temple roofs
were, indeed, somewhat broken by the statues placed on them;
but even when of colossal size these did not give an adequate
impression of height, certainly not of the soaring aspiration
which church towers symbolize. Nothing more clearly
illustrates the absolute absence of spiritual desire from the
pagan religion than does its utter content with the protection
afforded by the powers of Nature if they were but suitably
propitiated.
In
very early days a few watch towers arose from fortresses and
palaces, but their very purpose, the discovery of advancing
enemies, fixed the thoughts of the watchers earthward; and not
until bells were introduced was there a reason for attaching
towers to sacred edifices, or erecting them near churches as
belonging to them.
But
even when the roofs of Rome were nearly on a level, the hills
which surrounded the Forum were crowned by many pillared
temples, and looking up from the city these must have produced
a fine effect, and the dwellings of the gods appeared to be
the guardians of their worshippers.
Under
the Empire the columns of Trajan and Antonine served a good
purpose in breaking the sky-line of Rome, while some of the
grand tombs were more lofty than the temples, and the towers
on the Wall of Aurelian added a picturesque and artistic
element to the general view.
Not until
the time of Pope Adrian I.--772 A. D.--were church bells used,
and the erection of church spires or belfries generally
adopted, and these belonged to the Gothic rather than to any
earlier order of architecture.
The
Romans cared more for the courts of justice and for civil
government than for the courts of the temples and religious
affairs. Consequently, while their temples were small, some of
their basilicas were grand in size and proportion. The ruins
of the Ulpian Basilica, and those of the Basilica of Maxentius,--more
frequently called the Temple of Peace,--are sufficient to
enable archaeologists to restore their plans with reasonable
confidence. These were the two most splendid basilicas in
Rome, and that begun by Maxentius was finished by Constantine.
The
origin of the basilica is unknown; but as the name is Greek,
and so many other architectural plans were copied from the
Greeks by the Romans, it is not unreasonable to suppose that
these were either copied from Greek edifices, or were
suggested by the celloe of the temples, and were enlarged and
adapted to secular rather than religious purposes.
There
was every reason why the Christians should adopt the basilican
form of edifice, since pillars suited to this use were to be
found all over Rome, while wooden roofs were inexpensive, and
the whole effect of the structures was dignified and
impressive.
The
earliest Roman basilicas corresponded essentially to bazaars.
Cato, in 184 B.C., built the Porcian Basilica, or
Silversmiths' Hall, beside the Senate-house, and gradually
numbers of basilicas surrounded the Forum, and small private
shops disappeared before the advance of fine columnar halls,
in the more dignified of which the courts were held.
The
Romans were slow to consider public wants and conveniences;
and not until Cato's time were the basins into which the
aqueduct water flowed properly lined with stone, and other
improvements made which looked to the comfort of the people,
whose bare necessities had hitherto been the only
consideration. A certain incipient luxury had been introduced
in private dwellings, and the same spirit which had prompted
this now extended to public edifices; colonnades were built,
and the basilicas or Attic courts erected.