ROMAN URBAN TOPOGRAPHY in Britain and the western Empire

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Fig 52 Narbo: the Capitolium have been of the double precinct type (Jones, this volume, P 89). Few Capitolia have yet been identified with certainty in Gaul, though there is scope for much more work on the subject. The most notable instance is a temple, almost certainly a Capitolium, on the hill of Moulinasses at Narbonne situated at one end of the forum (Fig 52). It stood on a raised podium measuring 48 by 36m, and was fronted by a pronaos. The entire structure was surrounded by a peribolos. The vaulted substructure, all that survives, suggests the existence of three cellae. The site has produced a remarkable series of 2nd- and 3rd-century monuments, but dating evidence is otherwise slender. Grenier (1957) argued for the reign of Antoninus Pius for its construction, relying on an inscription of that date which refers to a templum novum (CIL, 12, 4393). More recently Gayraud (198 1, 265-6) has suggested the reign of Hadrian, referring to another inscription (CIL, 12, 6024) found in a nearby church and probably originally set up in Narbonne. None of this is firm evidence, but the presumptive early 2nd-century date is at least supported by the architectural details, so far as these are known. What does seem certain is that the known temple was not founded in the early years of Narbo, and there is no evidence, as yet, for the existence of a Capitolium in the 1st century AD. 65 Todd: Forum and Capitolium in the early Empire Elsewhere in Narbonensis and the Three Gauls undoubted Capitolia have not yet been revealed, though the epigraphic evidence indicates that they did exist. There are two outstanding candidates in the Lower German coloniae. At Cologne the church of St Maria im Kapitol in the south-eastern corner of the city lies over a three-celled temple dating from the 1st century AD (Bracker 1966; Hellenkemper 1975). At Xanten, where there is epigraphic evidence for the Capitoline cult in the 3rd century, a large temple immediately adjacent to the forum insula may have been dedicated to the Triad, though there is no conclusive evidence (Hinz 1975, 846). Britain as yet requires little comment for no certain traces of an urban Capitolium have been recorded. The most likely sites are the fora of the four colonise and of London, but in no case has examination revealed any evidence. Neither of the late Antonine or Severan temples at the south end of the Verulamium forum (Frere 1983, 63) has any particular claim to be regarded as a Capitolium, even though we might expect such a building in this town. The famous building of which the vaulted substructure remains beneath Colchester castle is usually identified as the temple of the deified Claudius (Tacitus, Annales, xiv, 32), but it is perhaps worth remembering that the premier colonia in Britain might have boasted a Capitolium as well as a temple of the imperial cult, and that there is still no absolute proof that the known building actually was the templum divo Claudio constitutum. The most remarkable series of Capitolia, as is well known, is that found in the North African provinces. At least nineteen Capitoline temples can be identified with reasonable certainty, while a further eighteen are directly attested by inscriptions. The African evidence has recently been reviewed in some detail (Barton 1981) and I therefore confine my comments to general matters. Firstly, there is abundant evidence for the building of Capitolia in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. Indeed, of the nineteen known temples epigraphy reveals that no fewer than eleven date from this period, as do twelve of the eighteen attested by inscriptions alone. Not a single example can be dated to the 1st century. The Capitoline deities were far from being overshadowed by the cult of emperors. Secondly, not only colonise and municipia possessed Capitolia. Although the suspicion subsists that the construction of a Capitolium often accompanied the elevation of a community to the higher municipal ranks, it is certain that some non-citizen civitates (for example, Mactaris and Urusi) erected temples to the Triad. Thirdly, in all parts of the Empire except Africa, dedications to Jupiter alone far outnumber those to any other deity; possibly the popularity of the Capitoline cult in the African provinces was one reason why the supreme god on his own received so much less attention here. This brief paper touches on many matters which require much more profound treatment. The main aim has been to outline a major field of study and to point out the many areas of uncertainty or downright ignorance in what is often regarded as a thoroughly researched subject. At the very least, I hope this highly selective account has underlined the manifold functions of the fora of Roman cities, political, religious, and commercial. It was not by
Todd: Forum and Capitolium in the early Empire chance that Vitruvius put special emphasis upon the religious aspects of public buildings. In antiquity the world of gods and men was one world and in the Capitoline cult the religious elements of Romanitas were aptly summarized (Bianchi 1950; Radke 1975). References 66
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No 59 ROMAN URBAN TOPOGRAPHY in Bri
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Copyright © 1985 Authors and Counc
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Illustrations Fig 1 Miletus Fig 2 C
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Introduction: the study of Classica
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Introduction and the land divided i
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Introduction Fig 3 Timgad: the colo
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Introduction Fig 6 Lepcis Magna: th
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Introduction xvi
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Cunliffe: Aspects of urbanization i
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Cunliffe: Aspects of urbanization i
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PART II THE PLANNING AND BUILDING O
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Dilke: Ground survey and measuremen
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Page 29 and 30:
The mechanics of the building trade
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Ling: The mechanics of the building
Page 33 and 34: Ling: The mechanics of the building
Page 43 and 44: Who paid for public buildings in Ro
Page 45 and 46: Duncan--ones: Who paid for public b
Page 47 and 48: Duncan-Jones: Who paid for public b
Page 49 and 50: Civic Pride: a factor in Roman town
Page 51 and 52: Frere: Civic Pride: a factor in Rom
Page 53 and 54: Reece: Roman towns and their plans
Page 55 and 56: Reece: Roman towns and their plans
Page 57 and 58: Wacher: The functions of urban buil
Page 59 and 60: Casey: The Roman housing market leg
Page 61 and 62: Casey: The Roman housing market Evi
Page 63 and 64: Casey: The Roman housing market Rom
Page 65 and 66: Drinkwater: Urbanization in the thr
Page 71 and 72: Forum and Capitolium in the early E
Page 73 and 74: Todd: Forum and Capitolium in the e
Page 75 and 76: The quick and the dead: suburbs, ce
Page 77 and 78: Esmonde Cleary: The quick and the d
Page 83: Todd: Forum and Capitolium in the e
Page 87 and 88: Salway: Geography and the growth of
Page 89 and 90: Colchester: the mechanics of laying
Page 91 and 92: Crummy: Colchester: the mechanics o
Page 101 and 102: New streets for old : the topograph
Page 103 and 104: Jones: New streets for old: the top
Page 109 and 110: London in the 1st and early 2nd cen
Page 111 and 112: Perring: London in the 1st and earl
Page 113 and 114: Perring: London in the 1st and earl
Page 115 and 116: Marsden: London in the 3rd and 4th
Page 125 and 126: Barker: Aspects of the topography o
Page 131 and 132: Fig 81 Wroxeter: the area of excava
Page 133 and 134: probably from Viroconium, the robbi
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Forum Iuhi (Cividale) (Italy) 61a f
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ROMAN URBAN TOPOGRAPHY in Britain and the western Empire

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