Temple of Honor and Virtue

The Temple of Honor and Virtue (Latin: Aedes Honor et Virtutis) was a temple in Regio I of ancient Rome dedicated to Virtus and Honos.[1] No remains survive. It is the first entry for Regio I in the regional catalogues and was sited just outside the porta Capena,[2] probably on the northern side of the via Appia.[1] In front of it was the Ara Fortuna Redux.[3]

History

It was first dedicated solely to Honor on 17 July 234 BC by Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus after his victory over the Liguri.[1][4] After the battle of Clastidium in 222 BC, Marcus Claudius Marcellus vowed to dedicate a temple to Honor and Virtue, a vow he renewed after the capture of Syracuse. In 208 BC he tried to fulfil the vow by rededicating the existing temple to Honor, but the pontifical college forbade it, since one cella could not be dedicated to both gods as - if a prodigy occurred in it - they would not know which god to sacrifice to in thanks.[5] Marcellus instead restored the temple of Honor and built a new cella opposite it to Virtue, turning the existing temple into a double temple.[1]

This new double temple was dedicated by Marcellus' son in 205 BC.[1][6] It housed several art treasures looted from Syracuse by Marcellus,[7] though these had largely vanished by the time of Livy.[1][8] It also housed the aedicula Camenarum, the ancient bronze shrine thought to date back to the time of Numa Pompilius, which was later transferred to the temple of Hercules Musarum.[1][9] The temple was later restored by Vespasian and decorated by the artists Cornelius Pinus and Attius Priscus.[1][10] It is last mentioned in the 4th century, in the regional catalogues.[1] If still in use by the 4th-century, it would have been closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire.

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See also

References
  1. Samuel Ball Platner & Thomas Ashby, Honor et Virtus, in «A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome», London, Oxford University Press, 1929.
  2. Livy, XXV.40.3; XXIX.11.13; XXVI.32.4: Hiero [...] cum ingrediens Romam in vestibulo urbis prope in porta spolia patriae suae visurus.
  3. Res Gestae, 11: Aram Fortunae Reducis ante aedes Honoris et Virtutis ad Portam Capenam pro reditu meo senatus consacravit, in qua pontifices et virgines Vestales anniversarium sacrificium facere iussit eo die quo, consulibus Q. Lucretio et M. Vinicio, in urbe ex Syria redieram.
  4. Cicero, De natura deorum, II.61
  5. Temple of Honor and Virtue - on: Imperium Romanum.
  6. Livy, XXV.40.1‑3; XXVII.25.7‑9; XXIX.11.13; Valerius Maximus, I.1.8; Plutarch, Marcell., 28
  7. Cicero, De re publica, I.21; Verrine, IV.121; Livy, XXVI.32.4
  8. Livy, XXV.40.3: quorum perexigua pars comparet
  9. Servius, Commentarii in Vergilii Aeneidos libros, I.8
  10. Pliny, Naturalis Historia, XXXV.120

Bibliography
  • Samuel Ball Platner, Honos et Virtus, in: Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, Oxford University Press, London, 1929 (completd and revised by Thomas Ashby), on: Bill Thayer's LacusCurtius.
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