A small open-air shrine dedicated to
Cloacina, called Sacrum Cloacina by the Romans. The Shrine of Venus Cloacina marked a main entrance to the
Cloaca Maxima sewer system, which drained the naturally swampy area of the
Forum Romanum. The shrine was contained within a semi-circular marble wall of unspecified height, with a diameter of roughly 8 feet. Within this enclosure was a
travertine collared drain composed of smallish blocks of
tufa, or
cappellaccio, along with several small statues of Venus Cloacina. The date of the shrine's construction is unknown.
Livy notes that in 33 B.C.
Agrippa, the
aedile under
Augustus, inspected the shrine while refurbishing the Cloaca Maxima, which had been built several centuries earlier, possibly by the pre-Republic king
Tarquinius Superbus. It isn't clear, however, whether Agrippa built the
shrine or merely had it refurbished as well.
Cloacina was an ancient deity, called "
Our Lady of the Sewers". She was, as her title implies, the patron deity of sewers, and especially, it would seem, of the
Cloaca Maxima. Early Cloacina was eventually assimilated into the Roman belief system as an aspect of
Venus, as happened with many of the older feminine deities.
All that remains today of the shrine is its marble foundation, which can be found at the Forum, immediately
northwest of the ruins of the
Basilica Aemilia.