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The Temple of Peace or 'Templum Pacis' was built by Vespasian to commemorate the capture of Jerusalem and the conclusion of the hard-fought Jewish War in 71 AD. The vast complex was constructed just north of the Roman Forum on land cleared by the Great Fire in 64 AD. #LostRome
Dedicated to Pax, the Roman goddess of peace, the structure was intended as a sacred temple complex rather than a forum. It featured libraries, gardens, pools and also acted as a public art gallery for the many artistic masterpieces taken in the conquest of Jerusalem. #LostRome
Ancient writers were particularly awed with the Temple of Peace. Josephus said it "surpassed all human imagination". Herodian thought it the "most beautiful of all the buildings in Rome". Pliny asked if the "noble building is the most beautiful the world has ever seen?" #LostRome
The complex displayed many of the treasures taken from Jerusalem like the famous seven-arm menorah, gold vessels and silver trumpets taken from the city’s temple, as well as Greek sculpture by Praxiteles and other art from the recently-demolished Domus Aurea of Nero. #LostRome
In the temple "were collected all those works that men had once traveled over the whole world to see." Wealthy Romans even used the temple as a safe-deposit, Herodian says it was filled "with numerous gold and silver items the people deposited there to keep them safe." #LostRome
The temple was also home to the 'bibliotheca Pacis'; a library and administrative centre which later famously housed the enormous Forma Urbis Romae, an amazingly detailed map of Ancient Rome carved upon 150 Proconnesian marble slabs. #LostRome
Incredibly, the wall on which the map was mounted still stands today. Experts have even reconstructed the exact placement of the 150 slabs from the holes in the brickwork. Today, around 1000 marble fragments (representing about 10%) of the plan have been recovered. #LostRome
In an enjoyable meta detail, parts of the Temple of Peace were reconstructed with some of the fragments of this marble map that was mounted there. #LostRome
From a podium in the central apse, a colossal statue of Pax would have looked out over the sacred area. Perhaps acrolithic in construction, the cult statue likely showed Pax seated holding an olive branch and sceptre, as depicted on Vespasian's coins of the time. #LostRome
The Temple of Peace suffered a catastrophic fire, perhaps after a lightning strike, just before the death of Commodus in 192 AD. Much of the structure and its art was destroyed, apparently bankrupting many wealthy citizens who had stored their treasures in the temple. #LostRome
It was valiantly reconstructed under Septimius Severus soon after and as we have seen, the Forma Urbis Romae installed. The complex would be closed in the late 4th century and likely suffered badly from consecutive barbarian sackings and earthquakes in the 5th century. #LostRome
In an incredibly evocative final word, Procopius writes that by the time of the Gothic War c.537 AD, livestock roamed among the ruins of the temple. "Cattle grazed in that place the Romans called the Forum of Peace, with its temple struck by lightning in ancient times." #LostRome
Even more surreally Procopius describes "Greek statues by Pheidias and Lysippus still standing" among the pasture. Also present was a "bronze bull made by Myron" which to the amusement of onlookers, one of the real cattle approached and grazed around. #LostRome
