Portico of Octavia

This porch was built by Augustus in the years between 33 and 23 BC already on the site previously occupied by the Portico of Metellus. The new structure, which was dedicated to the emperor's sister Octavia, was located near the Circus Flaminius and near the Theatre of Marcellus.

The porch was made up of a double colonnade enclosing two temples, already included in the portico of Metellus, the temple of Jupiter Stator and the Temple of Juno Regina. The Portico of Octavia was also characterized by the presence of works of art, including those inherited from the oldest structure. It had to be a real open-air museum was housed here as the group with 34 statues of bronze by Lysippos, depicting Alexander and his officers at the Battle of Granicus.

Was exposed here also the first statue dedicated (around 100 BC) to a woman in Rome, which was, in bronze, Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi. We also know that on the bottom side of the porch opened a large exedra, the Curia Octavia, and inside the porch had to be also the library Latin and Greek. Part of this porch is represented in the fragments of the Severan marble plan and had to have a rectangular 119 x 132 m.

The entrance of the portico of Octavia was located on the south side, and consisted of a propylaeum, preserved, with two identical facades parallel protruding outside and inside the porch. Each side had four fluted Corinthian columns between two doors surmounted by lintel and tympanum. The facades were linked together at the sides by brick arches with marble coating that opened onto the porch and formed a large room with a wooden ceiling.
Are witnessed restoration work in Domitian, after the fire of 80 AD and an almost complete reconstruction by Septimius Severus after a fire in 191 AD
Today you can see the structure of propylaeum entrance porch which houses the two left columns of the exterior facade (the others were replaced by a brick arch probably during the Middle Ages at the church of S. Angelo in Pescheria) the lintel (with inscription that testifies to the restoration of Septimius Severus in 203 AD) and the eardrum. You can also still see three columns with lintel and tympanum of the inner facade, parts of the roof with tiles and marble antefixes with depictions of eagles, arches side shelves and marble remains of the marble facing. Next to propylaeum, on the left, you also retain some columns porticoed southern wing, are granite and cipollino alternate, while on the right side of the excavations have brought to light the base on which rested the colonnade, the floor and remains of oldest portico of Metellus.