The Tetrastyle Temple (so called because it has a four-columned portico or pronaos) is in the north-east part of the Sacred Area of the Republican Temples. It was built at the end of the second or in the early first century BC. In front of the temple is a tufa altar. The temple itself is on top of a podium of opus quasi reticulatum. The columns and capitals of the pronaos are of tufa, originally covered with stucco. The walls of the cella are of opus quasi reticulatum. In the centre of the floor of the cella is a rectangle of opus sectile, surrounded by black mosaic bands and white mosaic tesserae. Against the back wall stands the masonry base of the cult statue.
Plan of the temple. Pensabene 2007, fig. 26. Reconstructed front view. Parco Archeologico di Ostia Antica. Parts of a statue of Asclepius, deity of health, were found near the temple. He may well have been the main deity worshipped in the temple. In and near the temple fragments were also found of a statue of Lucilla, daughter of Marcus Aurelius and wife of Lucius Verus (adopted brother of Marcus Aurelius). She was represented as Hygieia, companion of Asclepius. In the cella of the temple inscriptions were found recording dedications to Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius. Fragments of a male statue were also found, so a statue of Lucius Verus may have accompanied that of Lucilla - Hygieia.
In the cella of the temple a dedication was found made by Lucius Plinius Nigrinus to Jupiter Dolichenus. This was an eastern deity, at the centre of a mystery cult. He also provided good health, and seems to have been associated here with Asclepius. Nigrinus may have been a descendant of a freedman of Pliny the Younger, who used a villa to the south of Ostia.
The temple seen from the south-west. Photo: Jan Theo Bakker.
The interior of the cella. Photo: Klaus Heese.
The interior of the cella. Photo: Parco Archeologico di Ostia Antica.
Detail of the floor of the cella. Photo: Parco Archeologico di Ostia Antica.
The statue of Asclepius. Photo: Wikimedia, Sailko.
The portrait of Lucilla. Photo: Wikimedia, Sailko.
The dedication to Jupiter Dolichenus.
EDR073481. Photo: Jan Theo Bakker.
