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The Temple of Castor in the Forum Romanum
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 August 2013
Extract
It is one of the paradoxes of the study of Roman architecture that what, in terms of the written record, is probably the most thoroughly and reliably documented phase of its whole development, the Augustan age, is from the point of view of the architectural historian still one of the most obscure and controversial. That it was a vital turning point in the history of Roman architecture one cannot doubt; and yet the number of monuments in the capital that can be accepted without hesitation and without reservation as representative of the age is very limited. No doubt the full and critical publication of the excavations of the last few decades will increase the number and provide a firm basis for further studies. But in the meantime we are still dependent—all too dependent—upon those few buildings which are securely and unequivocally Augustan, and which may be used therefore as a safe standard of comparison for some at any rate of the architectural practices current in Augustan Rome.
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References
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