Aedes Ianus Geminus

debates sobre historicidade, literatura e construção de memórias em torno de um monumento na Roma antiga

Abstract

This study examines the literary and imagistic data related to one of the oldest temples in the Roman Forum: the Aedes Ianus Geminus. Due to the complete absence of surviving material remains of this construction, literary and textual descriptions emerge as essential vectors for the contemporary projection of what this monument was like in antiquity, and additionally, for understanding the modifications the building underwent throughout Roman history. With this objective, the initial focus was on the debates surrounding Latin literature and scholarship, as well as how these writers composed memories for specific spaces. Subsequently, data was gathered on the structural nature of this edicule, its historicity, and the transformations imposed over successive centuries. Finally, the analysis focused on how Latin literature, especially the poet Ovid, used topographical data from archaic Rome to construct etiological myths concerning this temple.