Materials Involved in Construction
East Side of the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, 141 A.D. (Showing the modern brick steps, cipollino column shafts, and marble Corinthian capitals).
The foundation of the temple is made of limestone blocks covered by a platform that includes a single layer of travertine blocks. The podium and the walls above are built of peperino blocks, laid in a pattern of headers and stretchers. In antiquity, white marble slabs would have covered these surfaces, making them appear smooth and polished. [1] The front steps, reconstructed today in modern brick, were originally marble and ran the full width of the temple’s façade, with an altar in the middle. [2] The attic bases and Corinthian capitals are made of white marble, while the column shafts are made of monolithic, green cipollino, a marble that was brought from the Greek island of Euboea. [3]
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1. Gilbert J. Gorski and James E. Packer, The Roman Forum: A Reconstruction and Architectural Guide (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015): 70.
2. Amanda Claridge, Rome: An Oxford Archaeological Guide (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998): 112.
3. Gilbert and Packer, The Roman Forum, 70.