Temple of Claudius

The templum divi Claudii, which stood on the western slope of the Caelian Hill, was begun at the behest of his wife Agrippina immediately after the death of the Emperor Claudius in 54 AD. The temple - prostyle, hexastyle and with the front facing north - was built on a monumental rectangular base measuring 180x200 meters of which notable remains of the massive walls remain, in particular those on the eastern side along the entire length of today's via Claudia.

Agrippina's work was interrupted and partially destroyed by her son Nero, who built a monumental nymphaeum on the eastern side of the artificial platform. It consisted of a high brick wall punctuated by a series of semicircular and rectangular niches on the sides of a larger central space, connecting it to the Aqua Claudia via the arcus Neroniani and thus including it in the Domus Aurea. Upon Nero's death (68 AD), Emperor Vespasian rebuilt the temple of Divus Claudius, partly exploiting the previous interventions of Agrippina and Nero. Finally, in the early Middle Ages, the convent annexed to the church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo was built on the temple's foundations. Of the older foundations, dating back to Agrippina's period, some structures made of ashlar travertine blocks are still visible today, upon which the bell tower of the church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, in the small square of the same name, rests.

Currently there are no remains of the temple building, which we know only through a fragment of the large marble plan from the Severan age (3rd century AD) called "Forma Urbis".

Photo credits: Capitoline Superintendency