Porticus Octaviae
Ancient Roman structure
title: "Porticus Octaviae" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["buildings-and-structures-completed-in-the-1st-century-bc", "porticos-of-ancient-rome", "sant'angelo-(rione-of-rome)", "jewish-roman-(city)-history", "octavia-the-younger", "burned-buildings-and-structures-in-italy"] description: "Ancient Roman structure" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porticus_Octaviae" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Ancient Roman structure ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox ancient site"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Porticus Octaviae |
| image | Portico Octavia Rome 2.jpg |
| caption | The Porticus Octaviae in modern times |
| location | Regio IX Circus Flaminius |
| built | Imperial periods |
| builder | Augustus |
| coordinates | |
| map_dot_label | Porticus Octaviae |
| map_label_position | bottom |
| map_type | Italy Rome Antiquity |
| map_overlay | Roma Plan.jpg |
| map_caption | Shown within Augustan Rome |
| map_size | 270 |
| image_size | 270 |
| mapframe-frame-width | 270 |
| mapframe | yes |
| mapframe-caption | Click on the map for a fullscreen view |
| mapframe-zoom | 12 |
| mapframe-marker | monument |
| mapframe-wikidata | yes |
| :: |
|name=Porticus Octaviae |image=Portico Octavia Rome 2.jpg |caption=The Porticus Octaviae in modern times |location=Regio IX Circus Flaminius |built=Imperial periods |builder=Augustus |coordinates= |map_dot_label=Porticus Octaviae |map_label_position=bottom |map_type=Italy Rome Antiquity |map_overlay=Roma Plan.jpg |map_caption=Shown within Augustan Rome |map_size=270 |image_size=270 |mapframe-frame-width=270 |mapframe=yes |mapframe-caption=Click on the map for a fullscreen view |mapframe-zoom=12 |mapframe-marker=monument |mapframe-wikidata=yes
The Porticus Octaviae (Latin for the 'Portico of Octavia'; ) is an ancient structure in Rome. The colonnaded walks of the portico enclosed the Temples of Juno Regina (north) and Jupiter Stator (south), as well as a library. The structure was used as a fish market from the medieval period up to the end of the 19th century.
History
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Porticusoctaviaeplan.jpg" caption="Main gate"] ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/SoutherCircusFlaminiusInRomeByGismondi.jpg" caption="model]], [[Museum of Roman Civilization"] ::
After celebrating his triumph for his 146 BC victory at Scarpheia during the Achaean War, Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus constructed a portico around M. Aemilius Lepidus's Temple of Juno Regina, near the Circus Flaminius in the southern Campus Martius and erected a new Temple of Jupiter Stator beside it. He decorated both with equestrian statues of Alexander the Great's generals brought back from Greece. This portico was known as the Portico of Metellus (Porticus Metelli) or Portico of Caecilius (Porticus Caecilii).
Augustus refurbished the portico and its temples and rededicated it to his sister Octavia the Younger sometime after 27 BC. Cassius Dio stated that this was done in 33 BC from the spoils of the war in Dalmatia out of confusion with the adjacent Portico of Octavius (Porticus Octavia), which was similarly refurbished and rededicated by Augustus and his stepbrother L. Marcius Philippus. Besides the temples, the portico included a Greek and Latin library erected by Octavia in memory of her son Marcus Claudius Marcellus, an assembly hall (Curia Octaviae), and lecture rooms (scholae). Whether these were different parts of one building or entirely different structures is uncertain. The Roman Senate met in the curia. The whole is referred to by Pliny the Elder as the works of Octavia (Octaviae opera).
The portico and its buildings burned in AD 80 and were restored, probably by Domitian. After a second fire in 203, they were restored by Septimius Severus and Caracalla. It was adorned with foreign marble and contained many famous works of art, enumerated in Pliny's Natural History. The structure was damaged by an earthquake in 442 when two of the destroyed columns were replaced with an archway that still stands. The church of Sant'Angelo in Pescheria was built on its ruins , the name commemorating the portico's medieval and early modern role as a fish market. The building, which lies in the Sant'Angelo rione, represented the center of the medieval Roman Ghetto.
References
References
- [[Cassius Dio]] LV.8; [[Josephus]], ''Jewish Wars''. VII.5.4
- "Gaius Plinius Secundus, Dubius Sermo 36.15.1".
- Pliny, xxxiv.31; xxxv.114, 139; xxxvi.15, 22, 24, 28, 29, 34, 35.
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::