Temple of Fortuna at Praeneste

By Anna Deily

                 The city of Praeneste (now Palestrina) lies about 36 kilometers from Rome and boasts the Temple of Fortuna, thought by many to be the greatest architectural feat of Lucius Cornelius Sulla (138-78 BC), though others maintain that it was built a century earlier from the spoils of overseas conquests.

                Be that as it may, the architects of this massive sanctuary space built this temple on a grand scale. It rises almost 300 feet above the city below.  It is more than just a temple to Fortune. There is a lower sanctuary with three cellas, a basilica, and a curia.  Behind this lower temple are two caves with the famous Nile mosaic. Some believe that these caves were the sites where the oracle would give her readings.  Many terraces then lead to the upper sanctuary made of concrete faced with tufa, which was most likely faced with a marble veneer.

                Movement is a highly thought-out process in sanctuaries, and the Temple of Fortuna is no exception. Since the temple was constructed on a hill, the devotee had to climb quite a distance to reach the actual temple to Fortuna. First, he would ascend steep stairs leading to ramps covered with roofs supported by Doric columns with unusually slanted capitals. These ramps would then lead to more stairs, which lead to a shallow terrace with shops or offices and two hemicycles supported by Ionic columns and topped with coffered barrel vaults. Next, he could ascend more stairs to a third terrace with vaulted niches with either a post-and-lintel façade or an arched opening. Once again, the devotee would ascend more stairs to the final terrace, a deep rectangular space with Corinthian porticoes on the east and west sides. Finally, after climbing the last set of stairs, he would reach a theater-like area with a Corinthian portico capped with a double barrel vault. The circular temple of Fortuna is just past this area.  In this way the devotee progresses from a dark place (the covered ramps leading up to the temple) to the light, open terrace on the top level.