Portĭcus
The Roman name for a colonnade. The porticoes of ancient Rome must not be regarded as
isolated structures, but as really forming a great connected maze of sheltered walks, in which
one could cross, for instance, the whole Campus Martius, or go in a direct line from the Forum
Boarium to the Mausoleum of Hadrian, a distance of more than two miles. Professor Lanciani
estimates the space covered by the twelve larger porticoes of the Campus Martius as 4600
square yards, the surface protected from sun and rain as 28,000 square yards, and the total
area of the porticoes, including the central gardens, as 100,000 square yards. These porticoes
were decorated with columns of marble adorned with gilded bronze, and their pavements were
inlaid with jasper and porphyry. Each one contained a gallery of sculpture and a collection of
paintings, while the space which they enclosed was beautified by gardens, lakes, groves,
fountains, and water-falls. There were also museums within their walls, such as one of natural
history (in the Portico of the Septa), of Oriental curiosities (in the same), and of wigs and
specimens of hair-dressing (in the Portico of Marcius Philippus). See Lanciani,
Ancient
Rome, ch. iv.
(Boston, 1888); and
Stoa.
