Temple of Claudius, Colchester

Coordinates: 51°53′26″N 0°54′11″E / 51.8906°N 0.9031°E / 51.8906; 0.9031
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Temple of Claudius
Floor plan
Map
General information
TypeRoman temple
Architectural styleClassical
LocationColchester, England
AddressCO1 1TJ
Completed49 AD
Demolishedc. 60 AD (original temple); 1070-1080 AD (second temple)

The Temple of Claudius (Lat. Templum Claudii) or Temple of the Deified Claudius (Lat. Templum Divi Claudii) was a large octastyle temple built in Camulodunum, the modern Colchester in Essex.[1][2] The main building was constructed between 49 and 60 AD, although additions were built throughout the Roman-era.[3] Today, it forms the base of the Norman Colchester Castle.[1][4] It is one of at least eight Roman-era pagan temples in Colchester,[5] and was the largest temple of its kind in Roman Britain;[1][4] its current remains potentially represent the earliest existing Roman stonework in the country.[4]

History

Main article: Camulodunum

After the

imperial cult in the province, as is mentioned in Seneca's 1st-century book the Apocolocyntosis, which mocks both the deceased Claudius and the Britons for their supposed piety[7] towards him.[8][9]

Construction

Main article: Roman temple

The podium of the temple was constructed by pouring a

De Architectura for a classical octastyle temple.[1][2][5]

The podium is rectangular, aligned north–south. The main chamber of the temple, the

Purbeck marble and rare giallo antico from Tunisia, and stone (including tufa from the Hampshire coast) would have faced the temple, large fragments of which have been found nearby.[1] Pieces of inscriptions on marble and large bronzed letters have been found around the site.[1] An altar stood in front of the podium of the temple.[1][3] The temple stood in the centre of a large precinct (temenos), parts of the wall of which are still visible beneath the later Norman castle bailey earthen bank.[4] In 2014 columns from the monumental façade of the precinct were discovered behind the High Street, with plans to make them visible to the public.[10] The entranceway to the precinct took the form of a tufa-faced 8-metre (26 ft) wide monumental arch flanked by a columned arcade screen.[1] Further excavations showed that the precinct was adorned with arcades and about 120 metres (390 ft) long.[11]

Boudican revolt and aftermath

Main article: Boudica
The head of an Equestrian statue of Nero found in Suffolk, believed to have been taken from the Temple of Claudius, Nero's predecessor, during Boudica's revolt.[1][12]

In 60/1 AD the Iceni rebelled against the Romans, joined by the Trinovantes who were native to the area around Camulodunum.[1] As the symbol of Roman rule in Britain, the colonia of Camulodunum was the first target of the rebels, with its Temple seen in British eyes as the "arx aeternae dominationis" ("stronghold of everlasting domination") according to Tacitus.[4] The town was destroyed, with survivors taking refuge in the cella of the Temple, whose large bronze doors and strong, windowless chamber provided a safe haven.[1] However, the rebels laid siege to the Temple, which was stormed after two days. Tacitus wrote:

In the attack everything was broken down and burnt. The temple where the soldiers had congregated was besieged for two days and then sacked.[4]

The decapitated bronze head of a statue was found in the River Alde in Suffolk, and has been interpreted as having been taken from the Temple of Claudius by the Iceni. It has come to be identified as a bust of the Emperor Nero, who ruled during Boudica's rebellion.[1][12] The town and temple were rebuilt in the years after the attack, with the colonia reaching a peak of population in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.[1][3][4] The temple was one of the main public buildings in the town, and its façade and precinct were added to and enlarged over time.[1][3]

The temple in the Late Roman town

In contrast to the scaling down of private buildings in the town during the 4th century, there was an increase in the size and grandeur of public buildings in the period 275-400 AD.

converted to Christian use, as several Christian sites have been identified in the town from the Late Roman period,[3][13] and a Roman potsherd inscribed with a Chi Rho symbol was found at the site.[1]

Saxon and Norman periods

Main article: Colchester Castle
Colchester Castle keep from the south showing main entrance
Plan of the first floor of Colchester Castle keep

Large amounts of the superstructure of the temple were standing throughout the Saxon period,[1][4] when the temple was known as King Coel's Palace.[1][5] The medieval Colchester Chronicle states that the Norman architects of Colchester Castle built the structure on the remains of this "palace" in the years 1070–1080, with archaeological evidence showing that the base of the temple was used as the foundations of the castle.[1] Evidence has been uncovered from excavations in 2014 shows that the columns of the temple precinct entrance may also have been demolished in the Norman period to allow the building of the castle's bailey.[10] The podium was rediscovered in the 17th century when the underside of the temple's base was grubbed out, creating "vaults" under the castle.[1] The underside of the castle was not identified as the podium of the temple until archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler examined it in the early 20th century and found that the Norman builders had clasped the castle's walls to the Roman concrete podium.[1] Today the 17th-century "vaults" are open to visitors, showing the underside of the temple.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 1 897719 04 3
    )
  2. ^ a b "Temple of Claudius at Camulodunon (Colchester)". retrieved 27/07/2014
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Faulkner, Neil. (1994) Late Roman Colchester, In Oxford Journal of Archaeology 13(1)
  4. ^
    ISBN 1-84119-318-6
    )
  5. ^ a b c d e f "Iron-Age and Roman Colchester | British History Online". www.british-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  6. ISBN 0-9503727-4-9
    )
  7. ^ According to Tacitus the expenses for the temple's upkeep were among the cause of the Boudican Revolt: "delectique sacerdotes specie religionis omnes fortunas effundebant." i.e. "and the chosen priests wasted whole fortunes for the cult's sake." Annales 14.31
  8. ISBN 0-14-044489-0
    )
  9. ^ Apocolocyntosis - 8. "He wants to become a god: it's not enough that he has a temple in Britain, that the barbarians worship him and pray to him like to a god to obtain the benevolence of the idiot." - Original Latin+Greek: Deus fieri vult: parum est quod templum in Britannia habet, quod hunc barbari colunt et ut deum orant μωροῦ εὐιλὰτου τυχεῖν
  10. ^ a b "The Trust's investigation of Roman arcade in local press". www.thecolchesterarchaeologist.co.uk. Colchester Archaeological Trust. 25 July 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  11. ^ Remains of 'extraordinary' Roman arcade found in Colchester
  12. ^ a b "Bronze head of a Roman Emperor". British Museum.
  13. ISBN 1-897719-01-9
    )

External links

51°53′26″N 0°54′11″E / 51.8906°N 0.9031°E / 51.8906; 0.9031

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