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| Altar with Vespasian (on the left with head covered) |
Right on the forum next to the Building of Eumachia is
another building dedicated to the imperial cult; the Temple of Vespasian. Has a
magnificent white marble altar with bas reliefs showing the emperor as priest
offering sacrifices to the gods.
The brickwork walls were covered with decorative plaster. This is long gone however the bricks were built up in such a way as to provide a basic form. The alternating triangular and curved pediments might be most familiar to Americans as being devices used on the White House.
The temple was built sometime after the earthquake of 62 AD
and must have been dedicated before the emperors death as Vespasian died only a
few short months before the eruption.
His son Titus became emperor upon his death, being (I believe) the first natural, not adopted, son of an emperor to inherit the empire.
Titus however, did not wear the purple for long, just a few years. His younger brother Domitian was just a little too devious and had Titus packed into a chest of ice to cool his fever. It did all too well, very soon he was cold dead. Domitian would go on to build a massive palace on the Palatine Hill (which incidentally is where we get the word "palace") and then would be murdered in said palace by court officials.
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| Temple of Vespasian - Court, Alter and Cella |
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