Pompey's politics and the presentation of his theatre-temple complex, 61-52 bce

 

 

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Similarly, there is an event which might have encouraged him to add a senate 

house. According to Roman law, Pompey could not attend a meeting of the senate 

within the wall of Rome as grain commissioner holding imperium. But a case arose in 

February 56 regarding Milo and the senate held its meeting in the temple of Apollo 

(close to his theatre) in the Campus Martius so that Pompey could attend (Cic. Q. Fr. 

2.3.1–4).

20

 When the senate came to him, Pompey decided to add a curia to his theatre 

complex at this time, a year prior to its grand opening.

21

 Through his goodwill and 

attempting to gain the senate’s approval, he honoured the senators with the construc-

tion of a senate house within the walls of the theatre complex which became known as 

the curia Pompeia. When the senate house in the Roman forum was burned down by 

rioters in 52, following the assassination of Clodius, Pompey’s curia gained new 

recognition. It became so important that it was the only structure outside the sacred 

forum area to actually be called a curia. 

 

In 55, the consulship of Pompey and Crassus began amid a certain amount of 

political turmoil. Many senators were opposed at giving extensive provincial com-

mands to both generals. Opposition was so fierce that it spilled into the streets where 

statues of Pompey were attacked by the urban mob.

22

 However, no matter what 

difficulties Pompey had encountered with his opponents, whether from the senate or 

mob, his popularity was about to receive a great boost. When the temple of Venus 

Victrix, was finally completed on August 12, 55,

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 a massive building complex with 

                                                                                                                             

centre for grain under the emperor Claudius (see Stambaugh 1988: 69, 334 n. 2, 353 n. 10). The 

quadriporticus post scaenam built by Agrippa for the theatre at Ostia provides an almost contemporary 

example for the function of Pompey’s portico. Agrippa’s double-colonnaded portico enclosed a garden 

and a small temple serving as a retreat for the audience (according to the precepts of Vitruvius De arch. 

5.9). But, located about one hundred metres from the Tiber river it also served as a centre for commercial 

activities called the Piazzale of the Corporations and divided into sixty-one stationes. Local merchants, 

shipwrights and foreign clients owned many of these offices. The portico resembled some of the early 

public, commercial warehouses (horrea) which contained storage rooms that opened off into porticoed 

courtyards near the river. In Rome this plan was well established in the republican Horrea Galbae and 

Augustan Horrea Agrippiana near the Forum (Pavolini 1983: 64–69, Ward-Perkins 1981: 143, Sear 1987: 

130). The horrea at Ostia stored commodities such as grain, vines and olives before they were reshipped to 

Rome. The Campus Martius had already been the preferred location for the display of eight previously 

constructed porticos. They were commemorative structures dedicated by triumphant republican gener-

als and civil magistrates in the second century designed to enhance the beauty of the Roman landscape. 

All of them were located very close to Pompey’s complex and decorated with many Hellenistic works of 

art. Three surrounded temples, four were in close proximity to temples, and one was near the dockyards. 

The interior of Pompey’s portico was decorated with trophies, statues and gardens and the exterior was 

divided into stationes for the local guilds and commercial store rooms for the local distribution of grain 

(La Rocca 1987–88: 287). Modern street names honour the ancient and medieval workshops that were in 

the area (see below n. 24). Negotiantes showed their appreciation by honouring Pompey with a statue 

placed somewhere near the portico (Degrassi 1965: 114–115 and fig. 163). 

20

 Rawson 1978: 122–123. 

21

 The room would house six hundred senators. Pompey received much recognition for providing Rome 

with such a magnificent curia. In 54, Cicero made an allusion to Pompey’s theatre and curia while refer-

ring to the theatre at Rhodes as the place for Greek assemblies (Rep. 3.48), „et in theatro et in curia res 

capitales et reliquas omnis iudicabant idem.” Pompey had observed that contiones and comitia could be 

transferred to his theatre (Cic. Sest. 50.106), so why not the curia also? As early as 54, Caesar reacted to 

Pompey’s action by having the idea to build a Saepta (a meeting and voting area) right beside the theatre 

and planned to build another theatre in the same vicinity; Taylor 1966: 31; Ward-Perkins 1981: 22, 23, 25. 

22

 Plut. Cat. Min. 43; Cass. Dio 39.33.6. 

23

 For the date of the Temple of Venus Victrix, see Degrassi 1963: 493. 

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magnificent harmonious proportions, whose total area was approximately the same 

as the Roman Forum, had been created.

24

 With the addition of his own senate house in 

the quadriportico he had symbolically created a functional „Forum Pompeium.”  

 

Located in the lower Campus Martius, the whole complex faced east as did 

most traditional Greek temples and sanctuaries.

25

 It was directed towards the valley 

between the Cispian and Esquiline hills – the Subura district. Beyond this point, it was 

oriented towards the large theatre-temple complexes of Praeneste, Gabii, and Tibur 

(less than fifty km east of Rome). The Porticus Minucia and its enclosed four temples 

acted as the monument’s sacred façade.

26

 Once the finishing touches were added to 

this aesthetic architectural masterpiece, unique in size and dimension

27

 and contain-

ing exceptional decoration,

28

 Pompey inaugurated his theatre complex at the end of 

September with great fanfare.

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In his quest for pietas Pompey promoted his cult of Venus Victrix in connection 

with his theatre. He manipulated the powerful cult by demonstrating to the Roman 

people that Venus was the epitome of victory and that Rome was safe under her 

protection. According to Tacitus (Ann. 14.20.4–6) many Romans could not accept 

Pompey’s theatre because it made the sacred area of the Campus Martius profane by 

                                            

24

 For the plan and scale of: i) the Roman Forum see Lugli 1968: 80; ii) the theatre of Pompey see Etienne 

1977: 73. The Roman Forum was approximately 52500 sq. m. and Pompey’s theatre complex measured 

approximately 48000 sq. m. A representation of Pompey’s monumentum is outlined on the Severan 

marble plan (Almeida 1981: 148 and table 32; Reggiani 1985: 369–375). Although its ancient, physical 

superstructure has disappeared it is one of the few Roman monuments whose form has been preserved 

in modern Rome’s urban topography, marked by: Piazza Campo dei Fiori, via dei Giubbonari, via dei 

Chiaviri, Piazza Grotta Pinta, via Sant’Anna, via delle Botteghe Oscure, via Sudario, via dei Falegnami, 

Largo di Torre Argentina. 

25

 Examples of some remarkable Greek temples which faced east include: the Hephaisteion overlooking 

the Athenian Agora, the magnificent Parthenon and the monumental entranceway of the Propylaia on 

the Acropolis at Athens, the temple of Apollo at Delphi, and the large temple of Zeus at Olympia.  

26

 The four temples were dedicated to: Iuturna, Fortuna Huiusce Diei, Feronia, and Lares Permarini. 

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 The theatre was known as the theatrum lapideum or marmoreum from the local materials of which it was 

built. The exterior façade was composed of three stories of arcades with twenty-four arches each. An 

arrangement of three superimposed column orders (Tuscan, Ionic, Corinthian) and entablature adorned 

the arcades. An aesthetic columnar progression enhanced the theatre’s exterior beauty. This was the first 

permanent structure at Rome to adopt this pattern of superimposed orders. The Temple of Venus, 

projecting outwards (Gagliardo and Packard 2006: 112 n. 60), was raised approximately forty-two metres 

high on a lofty podium above the cavea and facing the stage. The theatre itself was thirty-five metres in 

height, and 150 metres in diameter. The cavea had a capacity of about 25,000 people. The scaena was 95 

metres long and about ten metres deep. The first scaena frons may have been wooden (Marchetti-Longhi 

1936: 258–259; Crema 1959: 85, 95; cf. Gleason 1994: 21–24). The quadriportico was 180m x 135m. 

According to Vitruvius (De Arch. 5.9.1) the section of the portico behind the stage was set up as a 

choragium. Exedrae were used as store-rooms for stage properties and costumes, and as rehearsal halls for 

the chorus and actors. The theatre and temple were almost equivalent in height to the Capitoline hill and 

the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus respectively; for dimensions and height equivalents see Coarelli 1974: 

256; Lugli 1968: 3, 6. 

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 The decoration of the complex (including the statue of Pompey in the curia, and the statuary and booty 

from military campaigns) and the building of Pompey’s new house beside it are testimony to the 

general’s political image; see notes 45 and 49 below, Frézouls 1983, Rawson 1978: 98–138. 

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 The grand opening was announced by Cicero (Pis. 65) who also provides a vivid account of the 

festivities with some disdain (Fam. 7.1). The inaugural celebrations were successfully popular except for 

the debacle of the elephant slaughter, which turned the crowd against Pompey, and the events were 

expressively described by Pliny (HN 8.20.53, 8.24.64, 8.28.70, 8.30.72, 8.34.84), Plutarch (Pomp. 52), and 

Cassius Dio (39.38). 

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