7 AD
Just outside Rome
The Temple of Mars Pater
Aulus Nervanus was correct in his assessment of the Temple of Mars Pater. The temple sat atop a small, boulder-strewn hill just off the Via Latina. Poplar trees, stunted and twisted, clung to the hill between the tumbled rock and boulders, partially hiding the narrow mouth of the cave at the base of the hill. But the temple itself was visible to all from the highway. Now, in the early evening light, torches lit the way up the narrow path to the temple. It was a small temple, classic Greek in design, featuring three Dorian styled marbled pillars per side of the rectangular building.
But what caught the tribune’s interest were the two life sized statues flanking the four steps leading up to the temple’s portico. On the right was a statue of
