Porticus Octavia
The Porticus Octavia (Octavian Portico) was a portico in ancient Rome, built by Gnaeus Octavius in 168 BC 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,[citation needed] 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]
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.