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Encyclopedia Ichnographica

Aedes Fauni

Catalogo:
Tempio di Fauno, nell'Isola Tiberina.. «Liv. nel lib. 33 Ovid. nel lib. 1 e 2 Fasti. Vitruv. nel lib. 3, al cap.I.» Se ne parla nel cap. III. art. I.

In the year 292 B.C., in consequence of a pestilence in Rome, an embassy was sent to Epidaurus to bring back the statue of the god Aesculapius. The embassy returned the next year, bringing, not the statue, but a serpent from Epidaurus, which abandoned the ship and swam to the island. A temple to Aesculapius was at once erected and the whole island consecrated as its temenos. It became therefore sacra, and did not pass into private possession. The island was also known as insula Aesculapii, insula serpentis Epidauri, and inter duos pontes. The temple was restored, probably about the time when the pons Fabricius was built, and its site is now occupied by the church of S. Bartolomeo. Some of the columns of the nave belonged probably to the temple or to the neighboring porticus.
Two other temples were afterward erected within the original temenos of Aesculapius. The temple of Faunas, which was vowed in 196 and dedicated in 194 B.C. It was built with money received in fines, and is described as prostyle in form. The temple of Jupiter, which was vowed by L. Furius Purpureo in 200 B.C. and dedicated January 1, 194. It is probable that the cult here celebrated was that of Jupiter Veiovis, and that this temple stood in some relation to that of Jupiter Veiovis on the Capitoline.
(Platner)

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