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Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia

Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia historical timeline

Last updated on October 8, 2026

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Late 3rd c. B.C. The cave fountains on the lower terraces are made, the oldest examples of the kind in Italy. A double cult is established at Praeneste: that of Fortuna, and another where honey was believed to ooze from an olive tree.
c. 175 B.C. A series of extravagantly monumentalised sanctuaries begins to be built across Latium -- at Tibur, Nemi and Terracina as well as here -- and continues to about 50 B.C.
Late 2nd c. B.C. The monumentalisation of the sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia, the work of one of the great architects active in Rome and Italy between the end of the second century and the beginning of the first. The two cults are brilliantly merged into one modular architectural structure: Fortuna on the terrace of the hemicycles, particularly the eastern one with the well, and the second cult centre higher up at the main temple. The motivation was probably the wish for social recognition among groups grown rich on Roman imperialism after the wars in the East.
c. 80 B.C. Sulla may have commissioned further monumentalisation after founding a colonia here, to thank Fortuna and commemorate his victory over Gaius Marius. Inscriptions in the cryptoporticus record a restoration by two local magistrates in Sullan times.
4th c. A.D. The oracle, consulted by the picking of lots as Cicero describes, is still being consulted into Christian times, until Emperor Constantine the Great forbids the practice; Theodosius I later forbids it again and closes the temple.
1450 In the fifteenth century the supporting arches of the cryptoporticus are bricked up and the passage becomes a cistern, which is the reason for the well standing in the theatre today. Features of the sanctuary begin to influence Italian villa gardens on steep sites.
1885 The Victor Emmanuel II Monument in Rome, begun in the 1880s, owes much to this site -- terraces, staircases and a crowning element read straight off a Roman hillside sanctuary.

Verified against Wikipedia, October 2026.

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Checked against Wikipedia — The lower two terraces of the sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia, just south of via del Borgo, linked the Forum area to the upper Sanctuary area and were enlivened by many water displays; on the upper terrace are fountains imitating natural caves, dating from the end of the 3rd to the beginning of the 2nd century BC and the oldest examples of the kind in Italy, while the lower terrace, supported by a wall in polygonal masonry, was decorated by another nymphaeum set inside an artificial cave, perhaps surrounded by a sacred wood, From about 175 to 50 BC a series of extravagantly monumentalised sanctuaries were built across Latium such as at Tibur, Nemi and Terracina, and the inspiration for this feat of integrated urbanistic design originally lay not in republican Rome but in the Hellenistic monarchies of the eastern Mediterranean, such as the sanctuaries of Delos and Kos; compared with these Hellenistic models, the Roman innovation was the massive use of opus caementicium which enabled the construction of enormous and daring buildings, The monumentalisation of the sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia dates to the late second century BC and was the work of one of that generation of great architects who worked in Rome and in Italy between the end of the 2nd and the beginning of the 1st century BC; its motivation was probably due to the wish for social recognition of groups grown rich following exploitation of Roman imperialism after the wars in the East, and it foreshadowed the grandiose Imperial style of the following generation. Sulla may have commissioned further monumentalisation around 80 BC after he created a Colonia here, to give thanks to Fortuna and commemorate his victory over Gaius Marius, There was a double cult at the sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia, that of Fortuna and another where honey was believed to have oozed from an olive tree, and the sanctuary brilliantly merged the two at the end of the 2nd century BC in an architectonic and modular structure, the first cult located in the terrace of the hemicycles, particularly the eastern one with the well, and the second cult centre further up with the main temple. The goddess Fortuna here went by the epithet of Primigenia and was represented suckling two babes said to be Jupiter and Juno, and she was especially worshipped by matrons; the cult featured an oracle consulted by the picking of lots as described by Cicero, which continued to be consulted down to Christian times until Constantine the Great, and again later Theodosius I, forbade the practice and closed the temple, Along the northern end of the Cortina terrace, underneath the stairway of the cavea of the theatre as part of its substructure, is a cryptoporticus, a barrel vaulted passage integral to the sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia which linked the two wings of Corinthian columns flanking three sides of the terrace and has six supporting arches; its mosaic floor, only partially preserved, was made of irregular tesserae alternating with chips of polychrome stones, on the outside of the supporting arches are Ionic semicolumns, and two big niches stood at the far ends of six arches slightly projecting from the portico front, not joined to the cryptoporticus behind but having waterfalls from their vault with traces of the piping system still visible. Inscriptions here mention restoration executed by two local magistrates in Sullan times, and in the 15th century the supporting arches were bricked up and the cryptoporticus transformed into a cistern, which explains the existence of the well today in the theatre, Features of the sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia influenced Roman garden design on steeply sloped sites through Antiquity and once again in Italian villa gardens from the 15th century, and the Victor Emmanuel II Monument in Rome owes much to the site (October 2026).

Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia historical timeline

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