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Temple of Portunus
Unless otherwise indicated, pictures on this page © Marco Prins and Jona Lendering. Photos can be downloaded and used for non-commercial purposes, but you have to acknowledge Livius.
The Temple of Portunus, the god of the port, is one of the two temples on the Forum Boarium ("cattle market") that have survived to the present day. Here, it is seen from the east, from the forum itself. Behind it you can see the cars on the Lungotevere, the street along the Tiber. Behind the cars, invisible, is the ruin of the ancient Pons Aemilius, the Aemilian bridge.
The street that once connected the Forum Boarium with the bridge and passed in front of this temple, was called Vicus Lucceius (today Via di Ponte Rotto). Nowadays, the close connection between the temple and the water is hard to imagine, because after the flood of 1870, dikes were constructed to regulate the river. In the centuries BCE, in front of this temple was the river port, which silted up during the early empire. When the present building of the Anagrafe was constructed, the remains of buildings from the age of the emperor Trajan were found, which had been built on the site of the ancient port. The temple once faced the incoming ships.
Until the discovery of the old river port, the function of the square temple on the Forum Boarium was unknown, and it was sometimes -but incorrectly- called "Temple of Fortuna Virilis". The present shape of the temple dates back to the early second century, but there were later restorations. It is erected from tuff from the valley of the river Anio. The terrace was exceptionally high (a part is now hidden under the ground) because it was so close to the river. The sanctuary was built on the site of an older temple, which seems to date back to the fourth or third century.
The temple, seen from the dike along the Tiber. Behind the temple was the Forum Boarium and the Porta Flumentana ("river gate"). A satellite photo can be found here.
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