Profilo del Tempio della Fortuna Virile [Side elevation of the Temple of Fortuna Virilis], plate L from Volume IV of Le Antichità Romane [Roman Antiquities]

Long known to Renaissance and later architects as the Temple of Fortuna Virilis, the temple is now considered to have been dedicated to the harbor god Portunus. It dates from the early first century B.C. In antiquity, it stood just inside the river port area, on the approach to the Bridge of Aemilius, Rome’s second oldest bridge, the remains of which is today known as the Ponte Rotto. Renaissance drawings record the now lost stucco decoration on the frieze featuring garlands between putti, candelabra and bucrania (bull’s skulls). This is one of Piranesi’s renderings of the plan, the elevation, and the architectural elements including column base, capital, and entablature.