Augusta Platea and Temple
Augusta Platea
To the east of Tiberia Platea, there is an open space of about 6000 m2 called Augusta Platea. This rectangular space covered 83 x 66 m. It ended in a semi-circular portico 4 m high and 6 m deep resting on the rock carved into the hill. This portico had various functions including the reception of pilgrims. One finds in these places vestiges of statues of Roman emperors and their families: thus, in 1991 was exhumed a head of Marc Aurelius, which shows that the sanctuary was the subject of development in the 2nd century A.D.
Imperial temple
In the center is a temple consecrated in all likelihood to Augustus and the imperial cult, Corinthian style, prostyle with 4 columns in front, with a high podium and a monumental staircase (24.10 m long x 15.24 m wide x 3.5m high). The sculptural remains show a decor celebrating the Pax Augusta: a double frieze of acanthus and poppy flowers are reminiscent of the plant imagery of the Ara Pacis in Rome. On the roof, 6 marble acroteria. The 2 central acroteria (1.80 m high) represent a divinity on acanthus leaves and scrolls having on the head a disc symbolizing the sun or the moon. The identity of the goddess is controversial, but one can think of Artemis, sister of Apollo (Apollinian ideology of Augustus) and in connection with the founders of Pisidian Antioch since, according to Strabo (XII, 8, 14), they came from Magnesia of the Meander where the cult of Artemis Leukophryene was located. Everyone agrees that the temple was dedicated to Augustus before his death in 14 A.D.. But to Augustus alone? To the goddess Rome? To Rome, to Augustus, to the Senate and to the People? Benjamin Rubin, in 2011, made the hypothesis of linking this temple to an inscription dedicated to Jupiter Optimus Maximus, to Augustus and to the Genius of the colony, but his publication does not indicate precisely its place of discovery: it would come from a altar located at the base of the temple.
© 2021 by CMI ENPAJ. Created with Wix.com