Mau, August: Pompeii: its life and art (New York , London: The MacMillan Company, 1899)

CHAPTER XVIII

THE TEMPLE OF FORTUNA AUGUSTA

Passing out from the Forum under the arch at the northeast

corner, we enter the broadest street in Pompeii. On the right

a colonnade over the sidewalk runs along

_ : —\—i—i—i—.—i—i
0 123456789 10


Fig. 52.— Plan of the temple of Fortuna Augusta.
A. Altar. C. Celia.
B. Portico. D. Shrine for the statue of the divinity.
1-4. Niches for statues.

the front of the
first block, at the
further corner of
which, where Fo-
rum Street opens
into Nola Street,
stands the small
temple of Fortu-
na Augusta. The
front of the tem-
ple is in a line with
the colonnade,
which seems to

have been designed as a continuation of the colonnade about
the Forum ; the builders apparently wished to have it appear
that the temple was located on an extension of the Forum rather
than on a street. The colonnade is certainly not older than the
earlier years of the Empire, and the temple dates from the time
of Augustus.
The divinity of the temple and the name of its builder are
both known to us from an inscription on the architrave of the
shrine at the rear of the cella: M. Tullius M.f., d. v. i. d. ter.,
quiuq\uenualis^, augur, tr[ibunus~\ mil[itum~\ a pop\_ulo~\, aedem
Fortunae August\ae~\ solo et f>eq\_unia\ sua,— ‘Marcus Tullius
the son of Marcus, duumvir with judiciary authority for the third
time, quinquennial duumvir, augur, and military tribune by the
choice of the people, (erected this) temple to Fortuna Augusta
on his own ground and at his own expense.’
124