Forme dello spazio pubblico e lessico monumentale augusteo: il Rione Terra di Pozzuoli

ENZO DI CARLO

DOI: 
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23478416

Abstract

This paper offers a systematic examination of the architectural decoration of the Rione Terra at Pozzuoli, taking the replication of the ornamental vocabulary of the Forum of Augustus as the primary key to understanding the monumental layout of the Puteolan complex. The morphological, metrical, and technical analysis of the surviving fragments makes it possible to establish the original placement of the great majority of the pieces within a coherent decorative system, directly dependent on Roman models and attributable to the attic storey of the porticus that framed the temple terrace. Within this largely settled framework, the paper focuses on two shield fragments (inv. 320543 and inv. 320544) whose proportions, articulation of the figured field, and relationship between frame and central medallion are incompatible with the serial arrangement proposed for the remaining pieces. Their distinctiveness is therefore interpreted as evidence of a different architectural destination.
Through close comparison with Roman prototypes and an integrated assessment of analogous contexts — the Basilica Aemilia, the Temple of Rome and Augustus at Pola, and the Temple of Minerva at Aquae Sulis — two alternative hypotheses are advanced: attribution of the fragments to the temple façade as decorative elements pertaining to the tympanum field, or their association with building c. The result is a reading in which the shield-panels of the Rione Terra cease to function as mere stylistic markers and become interpretive tools capable of bearing directly on the reconstruction of the elevations and the functional definition of the buildings delimiting the square.

Keywords

Forum of Augustus; Pozzuoli (Rione Terra); Imitatio Urbis; shield-panels and caryatids; Augustan monumental lexicon

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