miscalled the Temple of Venus and Rome. The platform upon which it
stands is partly the Velia ridge and partly artificial.
When a building was inaugurated after consecration it was called a
_templum_. A _delubrum_ was an isolated building, surrounded with an
area, dedicated to religious purposes. This--because it was double,
having two aspects, two distinct apses or tribunals--we call, in the
plural number, _delubra_, or the double basilica.
The remains consist of two large tribunals, back to back, with a
portion of the lateral walls and vaults. The wall in the monastery
gardens is apsidal, the other is rectangular.
The name of this building is entirely lost. All we know about it is,
that it is of the time of Maxentius and Constantine, A.D. 306-337, the
construction showing it to be of that time; besides, Nibby found in
the walls bricks stamped with the name of Maxentius.
Nearly all late authorities have called this ruin the Temple of Venus
and Rome. Now, it could not possibly be that temple, for we are told
distinctly, as we have related, by Apollodorus, that the Temple of
Rome was NOT built on a platform. Again, the Temple of Rome was built
by Hadrian, A.D. 118-138, and these remains are of the time of
Maxentius and Constantine, A.D. 306-337; besides, Roman temples had no
tribunals or apses.
These basilicas were surrounded by a colonnade of gray granite,
numerous fragments of which still lie about, and there was probably
originally a forum or market-place for the sale of fruit and toys.
Varro (L. L. 532, R. R. i. 2), Ovid (A. A. ii. 265), Propertius (iii.
xvii. 11), Terence, Eunuchus, contemporary writers, all speak of a
macellum and forum of Cupid upon the Via Sacra.
Festus, who lived in the fourth century, speaks of them under the same
name; so we may conclude that the ruins before us are the basilicas of
the Forum of Cupid, restored by Maxentius, and dedicated by
Constantine.
The front of this platform, towards the Colosseum, was discovered in
1828 to have been used during the middle ages as a cemetery, several
coffins of terra cotta being exhumed.
At the corners are the remains of steps which led from below up to the
delubra. Near the left-hand steps, in descending, are the remains of
the