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- This archeological area was discovered in 1926-1930
during the works for construction of a new building. The name Torre
Argenitna (Tower Argentina) derives from a nearby house of a 16th century
bishop Hans Burckhardt from Strasburg (in Latin Argentorum), who called his
residence Torre Argentina.
- Largo Argentina was a kind of ancient Roman square
with four temples facing a courtyard to the east paved with travertine, that
is why it is also named Area Sacra (Holy area). Its origins come from the
Republican epoch starting from the 4th century b.C.. There are four temples
marked with the letters A, B, C, D because it is not known to whom they were
dedicated.
- Temple A
is peripteral
and hexastyle, and conserved the biggest part of its columns; in the
Middle Ages it was incorporated into destroyed now Chiesa di S.Nicola dei
Cesarini.
- Temple B
is round and
is a very rare example in Rome; here the colossal statue of female divinity
was venerated, its 1,46m head is preserved in Capitol Museums; it still has
six columns, original flight of steps and the altar.
- Temple C
is the most
ancient here; in the Imperial era the cella was rebuilt and the columns and
podium covered with stucco.
- Temple D
is the largest
and the most recent one.
- In the Imperial epoch Area Sacra was placed in the
middle of exceptional concentration of monuments: porticoes of Teatro di
Pompeo, Curia di Pompeo (where Caesar was murdered), Baths of Agrippa,
Pantheon and etc.
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