Passing out from the Forum under the arch at the northeast corner, we enter the broadest street in Pompeii. On the right a colonnade over the sidewalk runs along the front of the first block, at the further corner of which, where Forum Street opens into Nola Street, stands the small temple of Fortuna Augusta. The front of the temple is in a line with the colonnade, which seems to have been designed as a continuation of the colonnade about the Forum; the builders apparently wished to have it appear that the temple was located on an extension of the Forum rather than on a street. The colonnade is certainly not older than the earlier years of the Empire, and the temple dates from the time of Augustus.

Fig. 57.—Plan of the temple of Fortuna Augusta.
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The divinity of the temple and the name of its builder are both known to us from an inscription on the architrave of the shrine at the rear of the cella: M. Tullius M. f., d. v. i. d. ter., quinq[uennalis], augur, tr[ibunus] mil[itum] a pop[ulo], aedem Fortunae August[ae] solo et peq[unia] sua,—'Marcus Tullius the son of Marcus, duumvir with judiciary authority for the third time, quinquennial duumvir, augur, and military tribune by the choice of the people, (erected this) temple to Fortuna Augusta on his own ground and at his own expense.'

Such inscriptions were ordinarily placed on the entablature of the portico. The portico of this temple, however, had been thrown down by the earthquake of 63, and had not yet been rebuilt. The cella may have been damaged also, but in order that the worship might not be interrupted the shrine was restored; the inscription was temporarily placed over it.

Fig. 58.—Temple of Fortuna Augusta, restored.