Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia

Heliog Chauvet

Palestrina, Lazio, Italy

former name Praeneste

Italy

ca. 110-82 BCE (creation)

2nd century BCE

1st century BCE

current elevation

current cross section, elevations

sections

Praeneste was chiefly famed for its great Temple of Fortuna Primigenia connected with the oracle known as the Praenestine lots (sortes praenestinae). The temple was redeveloped after 82 BC as a spectacular series of terraces, exedras and porticos on four levels down the hillside, linked by monumental stairs and ramps. The inspiration for this feat of unified urbanistic design lay, not in republican Rome, but in the Hellenistic monarchies of the eastern Mediterranean. Praeneste offered a foretaste of the grandiose Imperial style of the following generation. The oldest portion of the primitive sanctuary was situated on the terrace just above the lowest one, in a grotto in the natural rock where there was a spring that developed into a well.

drafting pen with monotone water color

Architectural Documentation

archaeological sites

sections

elevations

Late Republican

Roman

architectural exteriors

architectural interiors

deities

mythology (Classical)

topographical views

Seure, Georges. Monuments antiques, relevés et restaurés par les architectes pensionnaires de l’Académie de France à Rome

notices archéologiques par Georges Seure. Paris: C. Massin, 1910, 190.

Public Domain