Portico Dii Consentes

History

It was last rebuilt in AD 367 by Vettius Praetextus and was thus the last functioning pagan shrine in the Forum (such shrines had been forbidden by law more than a decade earlier). The Portico contained two distinct floors.The lower floor was constructed by the Emperor Titus alongside the Temple of Vespasian. This lower floor contained 7 rooms upon the ground level which are assumed by modern scholars to be shopfronts. With the completion of the Temple of Vespasian, public access to the Tabularium via the Forum had been blocked off. As a result Domitian built a second level of the portico composed of eight rooms, one of which contained a staircase allowing forum access to the Tabularium. These eight rooms on the second level are presumed to have been clerks offices. Later on Hadrian added on to the portico by adding a colonnade of 13 pillars. Between each of these pillars it is believed that a bronze statue of each of the Dii Consentes stood, overlooking the Roman Forum. The structures proximity to the Temple of Saturn (then a mint) and the Tabularium (a records keeping office) showcase the Dii Consentes importance in monitoring financial and administrative wrongdoing of the Roman Empire.