Portico of Pompey

Coordinates: 41°53′42″N 12°28′26″E / 41.895°N 12.474°E / 41.895; 12.474
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Portico of Pompey
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus
Founded62 BC

The Portico of Pompey (

Tiber River
, much of the original architectural elements were re-used by shop owners to adorn their structures at higher levels. Today, many of these shops still exist and fragments of the old theatre and porticus can be seen embedded in the ancient walls of many of the buildings.

History

The ancient city of Rome was designed with covered walkways, public gardens as well as large pools and fountains that were common by the 1st century AD.[2] Citizens would stroll throughout the city under these colonnades, shaded from the sun and rain. The first[4] and most popular of these gardens was located in the quadriporticus that Pompey built to adjoin the theatre that also bore his name.

Pompey, impressed or inspired by what he saw during his years of travel and campaigning for Rome, returned with a desire to build a monument to himself larger than any other before. A theatre, porticus and curia were built in a huge complex that became a symbol of Roman culture for centuries and was emulated across the Republic and empire.

Architecture

The entrance to the theatre complex was tightly controlled at either side of the Curia of Pompey. This was to guide the visitor's sight directly along the inner garden area to the main doorway (regia) to the stage of the theatre and up to the temple of Venus Victrix. This sightline was permanently disrupted in 32 BC when Augustus had a stone scaena built.[5]

References

  1. ISBN 978-1174262586
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  2. ^ a b Gleason, Kathryn L. (1990). "The Garden Portico of Pompey the Great". Expedition. 32 (2): 4–13.
  3. ISBN 978-1444334135.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  4. ISBN 978-0521194938
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  5. ISBN 9780415438230
    .
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