Architecture Remarkably Similar in Their Research Paper

Total Length: 2005 words ( 7 double-spaced pages)

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The importance of the previous site to the locals is evidence in the fact that parts of that older building were "built into the terrace wall," ("Aegina, Temple of Aphaia (Building)"). The Temple of Portuna was built of different materials than the Greek temple, out of "tufa and travertine blocks which had been originally been coated with a fine layer of stucco," (Sullivan). What is significant from the context of construction is that the Temple of Portuna was built before marble was "widely accepted as a construction material in Rome," (the Architecture of Roman Temples: The Republic to the Middle Empire). Stucco was used, and so was travertine, materials that remained in use but less so after marble became fashionable in Rome.

The cultural context of these two buildings tells much about the role that architecture plays in the community and culture. In Rome, the Temple of Portunus was dedicated to the Roman god Portunus, who was the god of rivers and sea ports (Sullivan). There may have been previous gods serving similar functions, but this was the god that was ultimately chosen to be worshipped in this particular building. Likewise, on Aegina, the Temple of Aphaia was dedicated specifically to that goddess. Like Athena, Aphaia was a highly localized goddess but was simply not as renowned or famous as Athena. The cultural context shows that Greeks and Romans both built columned temples to the gods, and that priests or priestesses would hold the inner sanctum. Worshippers could come from the community to the temples, and would climb steps in the symbolic way of showing they are entering a sacred space.
The temple is a sacred space, sectioned off by the community, segregated into different rooms. The separation of place and space into sacred and mundane dimensions was an element of society that is nearly universal and global. All people who have a religious inclination have tended to build temples that are dedicated to either a god or a force of life. In these two cases, the temples also happen to be more than just alters. They are testimony to the greatness of their respective civilizations, especially the Greek one with its historical pediments. The aesthetics or visuals of the temples, their remarkable symmetry, and their placement on the planes in which they stand make the Temple of Portuna in Rome and the Temple of Aphaia in Aegina, Greece special.

References

"Aegina, Temple of Aphaia (Building)" Retrieved online: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/artifact?name=Aegina,+Temple+of+Aphaia&object=Building

Gill, David W.J., 1988, the Temple of Aphaia on Aegina: The Date of the Reconstruction. The Annual of the British School at Athens, Vol. 83, (1988), pp. 169-177

Kashdan, Harry, n.d. "Temple of Aphaia on Aegina." Retrieved online: http://proteus.brown.edu/greekpast/4775

Sear, Frank, Roman Architecture.

Snodgrass, Anthony. Archaic Greece: The Age of Experiment.

Sullivan, Mary Ann. Temple of Fortuna Virilis. Retrieved online: http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/romanvirilis/virilis.html

The Architecture of Roman Temples: The Republic to the Middle Empire. Cambridge University Press, 2005......

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