Of the Augustan age we have nothing but the remains of three temples, each consisting of only three columns; and the excavations that have been made around them have not sufficed to make even their plans tolerably clear.
The most remarkable was that of Jupiter Stator in the Forum, the beautiful details of which have been already alluded to and described. This temple was octastyle in front. It was raised on a stylobate 22 ft. in height, the extreme width of which was 98 ft., and this corresponds as closely as possible with 100 Roman ft. The angular columns were 85 ft. from centre to centre. The height of the pillars was 48 ft., and that of the entablature 12 ft. 6 in.[[165]] It is probable that the whole height to the apex of the pediment was nearly equal to the extreme width, and that it was designed to be so.
The pillars certainly extended on both flanks, and the temple is generally restored as peristylar, but apparently without any authority. From the analogy of the other temples it seems more probable that there were not more than eight or ten pillars on each side, and that the apse of the cella formed the termination opposite the portico.
The temple nearest to this in situation and style is that of Jupiter Tonans.[[166]] The order in this instance is of slightly inferior dimensions to that of the temple just described, and of very inferior execution. The temple, too, was very much smaller, having only six columns in front, and from its situation it could not well have had more than that number on the flanks, so that its extreme dimensions were probably about 70 ft. by 85.
The third is the Temple of Mars Ultor, of which a plan is annexed; for though now as completely decayed as the other two, in the time of Ant. Sabacco and Palladio there seem to have been sufficient remains to justify an attempt at restoration. As will be seen, it is nearly square in plan (112 ft. by 120). The cella is here a much more important part than is usual in Greek temples, and terminates in an apse, which afterwards became characteristic of all places of worship. Behind the cella, and on each side, was a lofty screen of walls and arches, part of which still remain, and form quite a new adjunct, unlike anything hitherto met with attached to any temple now known.
186. Temple of Mars Ultor. (From Cresy’s ‘Rome.’) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.
The next class of temples, called pseudo-peripteral (or those in which the cella occupies the whole of the after part), are generally more modern, certainly more completely Roman, than these last. One of the best specimens at Rome is the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, a small building measuring 72 ft. by 120. There is also a very elegant little Ionic temple of this class called that of Fortuna Virilis; while the Ionic Temple of Concord, built by Vespasian, and above alluded to, appears also to have been of this class. So was the temple in the forum at Pompeii; but the finest specimen now remaining to us is the so-called Maison Carrée at Nîmes, which is indeed one of the most elegant temples of the Roman world, owing probably a great deal of its beauty to the taste of the Grecian colonists long settled in its neighbourhood. It is hexastyle, with 11 columns in the flanks, 3 of which stand free, and belong to the portico; the remaining 8 are attached to the walls of the cella. The temple is small, only 45 ft. by 85; but such is the beauty of its proportions and the elegance of its details that it strikes every beholder with admiration.
187. Plan of Maison Carrée at Nîmes. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.