For the most part we have a rather lofty platform, mounted from one end by steps, which are flanked by walls or balustrades, often bearing at their extremities equestrian statues or other appropriate figures.  Upon the platform stands the temple proper, consisting of a chamber containing the statue of the god.  Where more than one deity are combined in the same temple—­as in that of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill, where the supreme deity has Juno and Minerva to left and right of him—­there may either be as many separate chambers or as many chapel-like bays as there are deities.  The altar for sacrifice stands outside opposite the entrance, being placed either upon the top of the main platform or more commonly on a minor platform of its own in the middle of the steps.  In most cases the chamber stands back behind a row, in some instances two rows, of columns, which support the characteristic entablature seen in the illustrations.  In the case of the more grandiose temples a series of columns may run all round the building, carrying an extension of the roof, under which is thus formed a covered colonnade.  More commonly the sides and back of the chamber have only what are known as “engaged” columns, as it were half-embedded in the wall.  The roof is gabled and tiled, with ornaments along the eaves.  The front has an embellished entablature, with its triangle of masonry called the “pediment,” consisting of a cornice overhanging a sunken surface decorated with a sculptured group.  Over each angle, right, left, and summit, is a base of stone supporting some conspicuous ornament, such as a statue, an eagle, or a figure in a chariot.  In the middle of the front of the building, behind the columns of the portico, are double doors, commonly made of decorated bronze, with an open grating of the same metal above them.  The whole is outwardly of marble, either all white or with colour in the pillars, but the core of at least the platform is commonly made of the immensely strong Roman concrete, or else of blocks of the less beautiful and costly kinds of stone.

In point of architectural style the Romans of this date—­who in artistic matters were but imitators of the Greeks and far less certain in taste than their masters—­affected the Corinthian, as being the most florid.  Even this they could not leave in its native purity, but for the most part converted it into Graeco-Roman or composite varieties.  A prime fault of the Roman taste was then, as it has always been, a love of gorgeousness, of excessive and obtrusive ornament.  In almost any Roman church of to-day we find the walls and pillars stuck about with figures, slabs, and so-called decorations to such an extent that the finer lines and proportions are often ruined, The ancient Roman likewise was commonly under the impression that the more decoration you added, the more magnificent was the building.  There were doubtless many buildings in simpler and purer taste, probably executed by Greek artists under the authority of some Roman who happened to possess a finer judgment or less self-assertiveness.  Nevertheless the fault of over-elaboration is distinctly Roman.