Portico of Octavia

Rom · Italy · Ruin

Under the broken arches, Queen Berenice still waits for Emperor Titus, who promised marriage and then sent her home for good.

Berenice of Judaea came to Rome as Titus's lover and lived openly with him in the imperial palace. When he became emperor in AD 79, the senate and Roman opinion forced him to send the foreign queen away; she left the city and they never met again. Legend places her restless shade here, among the colonnades at the edge of the old ghetto, a stone's throw from the Arch of Titus that celebrates the conquest of her own Jerusalem. Night walkers describe a female figure in eastern dress between the column stumps, weeping heard from one of the niches, and a shape that never turns around — she faces the forum, toward the road by which he should have come.

FAQ

Where is Portico of Octavia located?

Portico of Octavia is in Rom, Italy.

Image: Portico_Octavia_Rome.jpg: Jensens derivative work: Ptyx (talk) / Public domain — Wikimedia Commons