Identification: Theatrum Marcelli The semicircular structure depicted in this fragment is the cavea of the Theater of Marcellus (PM 1960, pp. 91-92; AG 1980, p. 114). Rome's second stone theater, this building was begun by Julius Caesar and finished by Augustus, who named it in honor of his sister Octavia's son, Marcellus. It was inaugurated in 13 or 11 BCE. (LTUR V, pp. 31-32). Part of the cavea of the theater is still standing, thanks to its conversion at an early stage into a fortress, then a castle, and finally a private residence for the Orsini family in 17th century. In the 1930's it was expropriated; shops were removed from its bottom arcade and abutting houses were torn down (LTUR V, p. 32). Excavations within the theater, Renaissance drawings, and the standing remains themselves demonstrate that the cavea consisted of three storeys; within each one, a complex system of radial corridors and staircases intersecting with annular walkways brought the spectators to and from their seats. Each storey was distinguished architecturally on the exterior of the cavea: the bottom arcade was open and had pilasters of the Doric order interspersed between the arches; the middle arcade was also open and it was decorated in the Ionic order; the top section probably consisted of blind arches, embellished with pilasters of the Corinthian order (LTUR V, p. 34; Richardson 1992, p. 383). In frs. 31eno and 31p the three outer arcs of the cavea, denoting the praecinctiones, are rendered with double lines. In this fragment we see that only the two outermost, double-lined arcs are carried through all the way to the flat edge of the semicircle. The third double-lined arc stops by the line that is parallel to the straight edge and it is continued as a single line at a slightly oblique angle. The trapezoidal spaces that thus flank the orchestra are the tribunals (PM 1960, pp. 91-92).

The architecture of the unusual stage building of the theater, of which a corner is visible at bottom right on this fragment, is mainly known from the Marble Plan. It consisted of a shallow, rectilinear scaenae frons with only a single colonnade as backdrop. The stage was flanked on each side by apsidal and probably crossvaulted rooms or aulae. These opened up to the passageway that divided the stage from the cavea. The sides of the aulae were open and consisted of double rows of pilasters and columns (LTUR V, pp. 34-35). Recent excavations have revealed the pavement and a few of the pilasters and corresponding columns from the E aula (LTUR V, fig. 19). The excavations also unearthed traces of the Temple of Pietas which Caesar destroyed to make room for the theater; this suggests that the aulae were constructed at the same time as the rest of the theater (LTUR V, p. 35). Reconstructions based on the Marble Plan show a wall connecting the back of the two aulae; on the sides it runs parallel to the scaenae frons, in the center it extends towards the Tiber in a great semicircle (see Richardson 1992, fig. 81). Excavations in 1999 revealed traces of this wall, which probably served as protection against flooding, and of the pavement within, thus confirming the unusual shape of the building as depicted on the Marble Plan (LTUR V, p. 35).

Identification: Aedes Iani The fragment depicts part of the northernmost temple of the row of three that stood in Rome's vegetable market, the Forum Holitorium (PM 1960, p. 91). According to ancient sources, it contained four temples--to Ianus, Spes, Iuno Sospita, and Pietas (LTUR II, p. 299; Richardson 1992, p. 165). With the construction of the Theater of Marcellus, the Temple of Pietas was demolished (LTUR II, p. 299). Parts of the three remaining temples are visible today, as they were incorporated into the church of S. Nicola in Carcere (see LTUR II, figs. 127-128). This fragment shows part of the N wall of the temple identified as that of Ianus, constructed in 260 BCE by C. Duilius (LTUR III, p. 90. Richardson 1992, pp. 217-218, identifies it as the Temple of Iuno Sospita). More of the temple is visible in fr. 31h. It was destroyed by fire and reconstructed several times. As partly confirmed by this fragment, the temple was peripteral sine postico, hexastyle, with nine columns on the flanks, and three in two rows in the pronaos (see also fr. 31h).

Significance Together with frs. 31qrs and the missing fr. 31mt, this fragment is key to our knowledge of the architecture of the stage building of the Theater of Marcellus. Together with fr. 31h, this fragment also confirms the ground plan of one of the partially preserved temples in the Forum Holitorium and its location in relation to the Theater of Marcellus. Also significant is the fact that the Theater of Marcellus is located 30 meters too far to the west and has been turned 13° clockwise from its correct orientation on the Plan -- this represents one of the deformations in the topography on the Marble Plan which happened when the engravers mosaicked together the surveys of different sections of the city (Rodríguez-Almeida 1993).

Text by Tina Najbjerg