THE GRAND TEMPLE OF HERCULES.
There were other temples to Hercules in the Forum Boarium, of which we have some travertine remains behind the Church of S. Maria in Cosmedin opposite. "The Romans afterwards built a magnificent temple near the river Tiber, in honour of Hercules, and instituted sacrifices to him out of the tenths" (Diodorus, iv. 1). "In A.U.C. 534 a supplication was ordered to be performed by individuals at the Temple of Hercules" (Livy, xxi. 62). This was destroyed by Pope Adrian I., A.D. 772–795. "By the infinite labour of the people, employed during a whole year, Adrian threw down an immense structure of Tiburtine stone to enlarge the Church of S. Maria in Cosmedin" (Anastasias).
THE CHURCH OF S. MARIA IN COSMEDIN
is on the site of a temple to Ceres and Proserpine. "Spurius Cassius consecrated the Temple of Ceres, Bacchus, and Proserpine, which stands at the end of the great circus, and is built over the starting-places, and which Aulus Postumius, the dictator, had vowed when upon the point of engaging the Latins," A.U.C. 258 (Dionysius, vi. 94). "It was restored by Augustus, and consecrated by Tiberius" (Tacitus, "Annals," ii. 49). The temple fronted north, and in the left-hand aisle of the church are three of the columns of the portico in situ; three of the side columns are in the portico of the church, and three others in the sacristy, where there is part of a mosaic from old S. Peter's, A.D. 705.
In the portico is a large mask of stone called the Bocca della Verità (Mouth of Truth). A suspected person, on making an affirmation, was required to put his hand in the mouth of this mask, in the belief that if he told an untruth the mouth would close upon his hand. Several columns of the old temple are immured in the walls, and the aisles are formed by twenty ancient marble columns; the pavement is of beautiful opus Alexandrinum. Behind the altar is a fine bishop's chair, and a Greek picture of the Virgin and Child, also some old frescoing behind a panel on the left. Opposite the church is a beautiful fountain of Tritons supporting a basin.
Resuming our ramble down the Via Marmorata, turn left coming out of the church, passing under an archway, the remains of the Porta Trigemina in the Servian Wall. The road runs for a short distance by the Tiber, on the opposite side of which is the Ripa Grande, or quay. Taking the road to the right, past a stone-yard, Marmorata, by the river, brings us to
THE EMPORIUM,
another important building of the time of the Republic, of which we have considerable remains. The exact date of its foundation is not recorded, but a porticus, or arcade, was made to it, and it was paved about the year 560 of Rome, or 193 B.C. It was the great warehouse for the port of Rome for merchandise brought by vessels coming from the sea. There was another port at the Ripetta for provisions brought down the river in boats.
The Emporium was to ancient Rome what the docks are to London and Liverpool. This great building formed three sides of a quadrangle, the fourth being open to the quay on the bank of the Tiber, with a zigzag path down the face of the cliff and surface of the quay. This was excavated by the Pontifical Government, under the direction of Baron Visconti. It was remarkably perfect; the walls against the cliff were faced with opus reticulatum of the time of Hadrian, and a large number of blocks of valuable marbles were found here. A little further up the river an amphora is cut in the wall of the quay, to indicate the place for landing wine and oil. The portion of the Emporium now remaining belongs to the portico or arcade. There are said to be extensive cellars under the other remains, forming a lower story of the buildings. A new quarter is in course of erection here.
The Emporium, and the quay by the side of it, called the Marmorata, or Marble Wharf, are situated at the lower end of the great Port of Rome for sea-going vessels, which port extended about half a mile up the river, with the Salaria, or Salt Wharf, near the middle of it. Above this, and nearly opposite the point where the Almo falls into the Tiber, a little below the Temple of Hercules, are several large stone corbels with holes through them, through which a pole was passed for the purpose of fastening a chain across the river for holding vessels against the force of the stream. There are similar corbels in the wall of the Marmorata for the same purpose, only these corbels are left plain; those at the upper end of the port are carved in the form of lions' heads of the early character called Etruscan. These corbels at the two ends mark the extent of the Port of Rome, made originally in the year 577 of Rome, and were discovered by Mr. J. H. Parker, C.B.