Roman Corinth: West Terrace Temples to AD 200 Phase Plans
Menu Pre-Augustan Era (44-31 BC) Augustan Era (31 BC-AD 14): Phase I Augustan Era (31 BC-AD 14): Phase II Augustan Era (31 BC-AD 14): Phase III Tiberian Era (AD 14-37): Phase I Tiberian Era (AD 14-37): Phase II Claudian-Neronian Era (AD 41-68) Antonine Era (AD 138-161), when Pausanias visited. Severan Era (AD 193-235) Route of Pausanias (Next Page)	Introduction This page derives from the visual aspect of my presentation for Dr. David Gilman Romano's City and Landscape: Roman Corinth seminar (see also The Corinth Computer Project: Reconstructing the City Plan and Landscape of Roman Corinth by Dr. Romano and co.). My assignment was to track the development of the small temples built on the Western Terrace of the Roman-era Forum in Corinth from the city's (re-)founding in 44 BC to the middle of the first century AD. The following groundplans are based on a revised chronology developed during my research on this area. For the sake of completeness, I have included plans that show how the terrace continued to develop in the second and early third centuries, at which point new construction seems to have ceased.
N.B.: The following nine plans are adaptations/modifications inspired by the three phase drawings in R.L.Scranton's Corinth Vol. I Part III: Monuments in the Lower Agora and North of the Archaic Temple. Princeton, 1951, p. 65.

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The actual physical development of the West Terrace sanctuaries began with the extension of the terrace itself and a new retaining wall in the first two decades of the colony's existence. The terrace was approximately 1.8m above the Forum floor at this time. Note the small tripartite temple (to Mercury/Hermes?) on the left (south end of the Terrace) which was built just about the time the Forum floor was raised 50 cm. in the 30s B.C.

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The first sacred building on the terrace was Temple F, dedicated to Caesar's patroness, Venus Victrix. Built early in the reign of Augustus, it was a small, ornate tetrastyle Ionic temple with a niche for a cult statue in the back of the cella. It also had a large flight of steps on which may have been an altar; its three-stepped crepidoma gave it added height, so that from the Forum floor, it gave the appearance of a typical Roman podium temple.

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Temple D came slightly later, following the extension of the Northwest Stoa into the north end of the West Terrace. It was of the Tuscan order, with a tetrastyle prostyle porch and a simple cella; it was not, however, a true Tuscan temple in that it lacked the tripartite cella of Italic temples.

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In the waning years of the Augustan principate, Cn. Babbius Philinus, a young man on his way up the local cursus honorum, donated a Fountain of Poseidon to the city during his tenure as Aedile; details are sketchy, but we know this was probably the third building erected on the terrace due to its central, nearly equidistant location between Temples F and D. Some marble dolphins and the dedicatory inscription are still extant, as well as newly attributed structural fragments which indicate the fountain was originally covered, at least until the earthquake of AD 77 required the demolition of the superstructure. Also note the square statue base set up between Temple F and the Fountain: it was on axis with the much larger Temple E just west of the terrace. It thus provided an ornamentation to the monumental approach to Temple E which was framed by Temple F and the Fountain of Poseidon.

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At the beginning of the reign of Tiberius, a new temple appeared which disturbed the harmonious balance previously established: Temple G. Larger than Temple F, Temple G was a tetrastyle prostyle psuedo-dipteral structure, possibly of the Corinthian order; it also was most likely reached from the Forum floor by a large flight of steps, although no evidence of them remains.

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Later in the reign of Tiberius, Cn. Babbius Philinus again graced the terrace with a new construction, a circular shrine--without cella--of the Corinthian order. Its high quality, proportions, and 'tab a in slot b' type markings lead to speculation that it was manufactured in Athens and shipped for assembly to Corinth; its architectural affinity to the recently built tholos of Roma et Augustus on the Athenian Acropolis, and its proportional affinity to the Erechtheion, also on the Athenian Acropolis, give weight to these speculations.

To create a more magnificent setting for his new donation, Babbius also raised the level of the terrace (to 2.3 - 2.4m above the forum floor) and enclosed it with a fairly ornate marble retaining wall and pavement. He inscribed his name and titles on both wall and aedicula.

At the same time, or soon after, the terrace level was raised, a large, circular statue base was installed just on the southwest corner of Temple D, presumably to hold the large statue of Parian marble mentioned by Pausanias.

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Originally constructed of poros, Temple G underwent a restoration/reconstruction either in the reign of Claudius, or more likely, late in the reign of Nero. It received a new veneer of marble, as well as a larger staircase with massive paratids. This temple's association with imperial cults of Roma and the Senate, the Emperor and his Providence, and perhaps The Public Well-being, seem fairly certain from numismatic and epigraphic evidence

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The last structure which may be attributed to the first half of the first century (but which may be, perhaps, quite a bit later) is Temple K. We can determine its chronological place in the development of the West Terrace by virtue of the fact that it does not face East onto the broad expanse of the forum, but sits behind the Babbius aedicula and faces south. Little is left that can be attributed to it, so any reconstruction would be pure speculation. We see it here in the "Antonine" period phase drawing, which also shows the tremendous changes which took place in this part of the West Terrace between ca. 77-125 CE.

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In the last major construction phase, thought to be during the reign of Commodus (AD 180-193), but perhaps as late as Septimius Severus (AD 193-211), the Poseidon Fountain was replaced by two temples (H and J), one to Herakles and one to Dionysos. These two gods had particular importance to Septimius Severus (appearing together on his coinage celebrating the Ludi Saeculares of AD 204), so it seems best to date this phase to his reign.

Pausanias saw all of the buildings as they existed in the Antonine Era, and briefly wrote about some of them, when he visited Corinth ca. 155. For a discussion of his itinerary and the identification of the buildings on this page, please click here for the next page.