And here is my saga of updating older posts in these time of ours. Anyway, it has been a wonderful excuse to see again these wonderful memories of old that will never go away. By family vote, they asked to come to Rome, Italy and we did. I had been on business but this time was memorable with stories to last our lifetime. Let me tell you about two temples that I was on economy time and took two in one picture lol! These are the Temple of Victorious Hercules and the Temple of Portunus of Rome!! Hope you enjoy it as I.
In our wandering walks we stumbled sometimes into interesting places some not really research but nevertheless very nice architecture which we love much, thank you… While in Rome, do as the Romans do is an old cliché I have known since birth, and this we did while in Rome with the family. Doing this we came across the Temple of Victorious Hercules and the Temple of Portunus!
The Temple of Ercole Vincittore ( victorious Hercules) , rises in the square of the Bocca della Verità (mouth of truth) in Rome, not far from the temple of Portuno inside the forum Boario. Due to a mistaken attribution, born during the Renaissance, the temple is sometimes still popularly referred to as the Temple of Vesta; The error is due to its circular shape that makes it similar to the true temple of Vesta located in the Roman Forum. Dating back to 120 B.C., it is the oldest building of preserved marble currently in Rome.
The Temple of Ercole Vincittore was later restored under the emperor Tiberius , and owes its preservation, like many other Roman monuments, to the fact that it was transformed into a church in the Middle Ages; it was in fact consecrated in 1132 and dedicated to Saint Stephen of the Carriages, then to be transformed in the 17C in the Church of Santa Maria del Sole (St Mary of the Sun Dedication: Blessed Virgin Mary), because not far from the church, on the edge of the Tiber, was found an image of the Madonna from where a ray of sunshine departed.
The temple is circular in shape, and is made of marble. Its plant has a diameter of about 15 meters. The original marble used for the opera was Greek. It rises on a foundation with rings of capillaceous blocks in turn on a platform in blocks of tuffa of dark cave, which incorporate the outlet of the deposit of filth. The base has a stepped base, thus lacking the Italian podium. The cylindrical cell, open to the east, is decorated with a high plinth, outer layers and the upper part in imitation of the isonomic masonry. In the floor of the cell opens a Favissa, a deep well in the shape of tholos (round Greek style). The central part is surrounded by twenty 11 meters high flared columns with a base of its own and Corinthian capitals; Eleven columns and nine capitals date back to the restoration of the Tiberian period and are recognizable because in Apanus marble from Luni. Some capitals have lost the upper part.
The Rome tourist office on the Hercules temple: https://www.turismoroma.it/en/node/1121
The Temple of Mainly Fortune or Portunus (Tempio di Portuno) is a Roman temple , one of the best preserved of all Roman temples. Its dedication remains unclear, as ancient sources mention several temples in this area of Rome, without saying enough to make it clear which this is. It was called the Temple of Fortuna Virilis from the Renaissance, and remains better known by this name. If dedicated to Portunus, the god of keys, doors and livestock, and so granaries, it is the main temple dedicated to the god in the city. It is in the Ionic order and located by the ancient Forum Boarium by the Tiber river.
The temple was originally built in the 3-4C BC, but was rebuilt between 120–80 BC. The rectangular building consists of a tetrastyle portico and cella, raised on a high podium reached by a flight of steps, which it retains. It has a pronaos portico of four Ionic columns across and two columns deep. The columns of the portico are free-standing, while the remaining five columns on the long sides and the four columns at the rear are half-columns engaged along the walls of the cella. If still in use by the 4C BC, the temple would have been closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire. The temple owes its state of preservation to its being converted for use as a Church of Santa Maria in Gradellis in 872, and Santa Maria Egiziaca in the 15C (Saint Mary of Egypt). Its Ionic order has been much admired, drawn and engraved and copied since the 16C.
The Rome tourist office on Portunus Temple: https://www.turismoroma.it/en/node/1030
I hope reading this post will give you the curiosity to see these off the beaten path monuments of eternal Rome! The Temple of Victorious Hercules and the Temple of Portunus are another way to see Rome up close and personal!
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 
Leave a Reply