The Velia — or Velian Hill or Velian Ridge — is a saddle or spur stretching out from the middle of the north side of the Palatine Hill towards the Oppian Hill (itself a spur of the Esquiline Hill ) in Rome .
20-700: In later times, the Velia was called Summa Sacra Via ("Summit of the Sacra Via ") — since that road began there at its highest point — and was marked by the Arch of Titus and Temple of Venus and Roma . (An alternate theory is that the Velia was actually the eastern half of the Palatine). The Velian was reckoned as one of the seven hills on which the Septimontium was celebrated. The name appears more frequently in
40-571: A god— Venus , the goddess of love, and Roma , the goddess of Rome , both figures seated on a throne. The cellae were arranged symmetrically back-to-back. Roma's cella faced west, looking out over the Forum Romanum, and Venus' cella faced east, looking out over the Colosseum. A row of four columns ( tetrastyle ) lined the entrance to each cella, and the temple was bordered by colonnaded entrances ending in staircases that led down to
60-414: A lime kiln in close proximity to the temple in his work The Destruction of Ancient Rome”. It was set on a platform measuring 145 metres (476 ft) x 100 metres (330 ft). The peripteral temple itself measured 110 metres (360 ft) x 53 metres (174 ft) and 31 metres (102 ft) high (counting the statues) and consisted of two main chambers ( cellae ), each housing a cult statue of
80-533: A public address platform. This may be seen in the photograph at right where a red canopy has been erected to shelter the Pope as well as an illuminated cross, on the occasion of the Good Friday ceremony. The Pope, either personally or through a representative, leads the faithful through meditations on the stations of the cross while a cross is carried from there to the Colosseum. The Temple has now been reopened to
100-792: Is thought to have been the largest temple in Ancient Rome . Located on the Velian Hill , between the eastern edge of the Forum Romanum and the Colosseum , it was dedicated to the goddesses Venus Felix ("Venus the Bringer of Good Fortune") and Roma Aeterna ("Eternal Rome"). The building was the creation of the emperor Hadrian and construction began in 121. It was officially inaugurated by Hadrian in 135, and finished in 141 under Antoninus Pius . Damaged by fire in 307, it
120-711: The Velian Hill , now occupied largely by the Basilica of Maxentius and the modern Via dei Fori Imperiali . As part of his rebuilding program following the fire, Nero essentially straightened the road by redirecting it between the Velian and Palatine Hills , creating grand colonnades on either side for shop stalls and commerce. At the east side was built under Hadrian and Antoninus Pius the temple of Venus and Roma . [REDACTED] Media related to Via Sacra at Wikimedia Commons Temple of Venus and Roma The Temple of Venus and Roma ( Latin : Templum Veneris et Romae )
140-589: The Colosseum. As an additional clever subtlety by Hadrian, Venus also represented love ( Amor in Latin), and "AMOR" is "ROMA" spelled backwards. Thus, placing the two divinities of Venus and Rome back-to-back in a single temple created a further symmetry with the back-to-back symmetry of their names. Within Venus' cella was another altar where newly wed couples could make sacrifices. Directly adjacent to this altar stood gigantic silver statues of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina
160-475: The Emperor Constantius II on his visit to the city in 357. The sanctuary was closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire . Restoration was performed under the short-lived usurper Eugenius (392–394), a Christian sympathetic to pagan worship. However, as with many of Rome's majestic ancient buildings, the temple was later targeted for its rich materials. In 630, with
180-755: The Via Sacra played a role in the Apotheosis ceremony by which deceased Roman Emperors were formally deified . The body of the Emperor, concealed under a wax death mask , was carried on a pall from the Palatine hill down the Via Sacra into the Forum, where funeral orations were held before the procession of Knights and Senators resumed its course to the Campus Martius . While the western stretch of
200-677: The Via Sacra which runs through the Forum follows the original ancient route of the road, the eastern stretch between the end of the forum and the Colosseum , which passes underneath the Arch of Titus , is a redirection of the road built after the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64. In the Republic and Early Empire, the route forked to the north near the House of the Vestals and passed through a saddle in
220-489: The Younger . The west and east sides of the temple (the short sides) had ten white marble columns ( decastyle ) while the south and north sides featured twenty columns. All of these columns measured 1.8 metres (5 ft 11 in) in width, making the temple very imposing. Most of the remains are incorporated in the church of S.Francesca Romana . Due to the rebuilding by Maxentius, a coffered vaulted ceiling replaced
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#1732773008511240-477: The consent of the Emperor Heraclius , Pope Honorius I removed the gilt-bronze tiles from the roof of the temple for the adornment of St. Peter's . A severe earthquake at the beginning of the 9th century is believed to have destroyed the temple. Around 850 Pope Leo IV ordered the building of a new church, Santa Maria Nova , on the ruins of the temple. After a major rebuilding in 1612, this church
260-424: The original wooden roof and the walls were doubled in thickness to take the increased load. The walls were inset with niches with small statues between small red porphyry columns standing above the floor on a plinth, all fronted by a colonnade in red porphyry. Since the papacy of John Paul II , the heights of the temple and its position opposite the main entrance to the Colosseum have been used to good effect as
280-845: The ridge may have been somewhat diminished by the construction of the Domus Aurea . The meaning and derivation of the Velia is as uncertain now as it was in antiquity. It is regularly mentioned in extant literature in connection with the Aedes Deorum Penatium (Temple of the Penates ) and the Domus Valeriorum (House of the Valerii). 41°53′28″N 12°29′21″E / 41.89111°N 12.48917°E / 41.89111; 12.48917 Sacra Via The Via Sacra ( Latin : Sacra Via , " Sacred Street ")
300-612: The singular, but also in the plural. The hill is described by Dionysius of Halicarnassus as ὑψηλὸν ἐπιεικῶς καὶ περίτομον (high and steep). A primitive grave found in 1908 near the Arch of Titus lay at about 28 metres above sea-level, whereas virgin soil was found in the lowest part of the valley occupied by the Roman Forum at 3.6m, and in connection with the excavation of the Sepulcretum , at 10.63 metres. The original height of
320-412: The temple, his most brilliant architect, Apollodorus , made a scornful remark on the size of the seated statues within the cellae, saying that they would surely hurt their heads if they tried to stand up from their thrones. Apollodorus was banished and executed not long after this. According to the ancient historian Ammianus Marcellinus , the temple was among the great buildings of Rome which astonished
340-458: Was lined with colonnades . The road provided the setting for many deeds and misdeeds of Rome's history, the solemn religious festivals, the magnificent triumphs of victorious generals, and the daily throng assembling in the Basilicas to chat, throw dice, engage in business, or secure justice. Many prostitutes lined the street as well, looking for potential customers. From the reign of Augustus,
360-490: Was renamed Santa Francesca Romana, incorporating Roma's cella as the belltower . A somewhat fanciful veduta engraving by Giovanni Battista Mercati depicts the site in 1629. The vast quantity of marble that once adorned the temple has all but disappeared due to its use as a raw material for building projects from the Middle Ages onwards. The Italian archaeologist Rodolfo Amedeo Lanciani makes reference to his discovery of
380-555: Was restored with alterations by the emperor Maxentius . The temple was erected on the remains of the Domus Transitoria and Domus Aurea , two mansions commissioned by the disgraced Emperor Nero . Buried intact beneath the temple is an elaborate domed rotunda from the Domus Transitoria, with marble-lined pools and paving in multicoloured opus sectile . Unimpressed by Hadrian 's architectural design for
400-587: Was the main street of ancient Rome , leading from the top of the Capitoline Hill , through some of the most important religious sites of the Forum (where it is the widest street), to the Colosseum . The road was part of the traditional route of the Roman Triumph that began on the outskirts of the city and proceeded through the Roman Forum . Later it was paved. During the reign of Nero , it
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