The Porticus Octavia (Octavian Portico) was a portico in ancient Rome, built by Gnaeus Octavius in 168BC to commemorate a naval victory over Perseus of Macedonia.[1] It stood between the Theatre of Pompey and the Circus Flaminius. Pliny describes it as a double portico with bronze Corinthian capitals, for which it was also called the Porticus Corinthia.[2] It may have been the earliest use of this architectural order in Rome, and is possibly to be identified with remains in the Via S. Nicola ai Cesarini, represented in the Severan Marble Plan (frg. 140).[3] Velleius Paterculus called it multo amoenissima, or "by far the loveliest" of the porticoes,[4] but has left no traces.[5]
In 33 BC, Octavian (the future Augustus) recovered the military standards lost by Gabinius to the Illyrians, and displayed them at the Porticus Octavia, which he rebuilt to commemorate the conquest of Dalmatia.[6]
See also
References
- ^ Festus 178; Velleius Paterculus II.1
- ^ Pliny, Natural History XXXIV.13
- ^ BC 1918, 151‑155.
- ^ Velleius II.1.
- ^ HJ 488‑489; AR 1909, 77
- ^ Appian Illyrian Wars 28. Cassius Dio (XLIX.43) creates confusion between this and the Porticus Octaviae. See Lawrence Richardson, A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992), p. 317.
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