Porticus Argonautarum

{{Short description|Ancient structure in Rome}}

{{hatnote|Not to be confused with the Porticus Vipsania, also sometimes known as the Portico of Agrippa.}}

The Porticus Argonautarum (Latin for the "Portico of the Argonauts"; {{langx|it|Portico degli Argonauti}}), also known as the Portico of Agrippa{{cite book |last1=Draycott |first1=Jane |title=Roman Domestic Medical Practice in Central Italy: From the Middle Republic to the Early Empire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g0-QDwAAQBAJ&q=%22portico+of+agrippa%22&pg=PT51|date=2019 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781472433961 |accessdate=18 February 2020}} ({{langx|la|Porticus Agrippae}} or {{lang|la|Agrippiana}}) was a portico in ancient Rome.{{cite book|author=L. Richardson, jr|title=A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome|url=https://archive.org/details/newtopographical0000rich|url-access=registration|date=1 October 1992|publisher=JHU Press|isbn=978-0-8018-4300-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/newtopographical0000rich/page/315 315]–}}

The building was located in the Saepta Julia,{{Cite book |last1=Laurence |first1=Ray |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=byYUDAAAQBAJ |title=Rome, Ostia, Pompeii: Movement and Space. |last2=Newsome |first2=David J. |date=2011-11-24 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-958312-6 |pages=85 |language=en}}{{Cite journal |last=Bloch |first=Herbert |date=1961 |title=A New Edition of the Marble Plan of Ancient Rome |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-roman-studies/article/abs/new-edition-of-the-marble-plan-of-ancient-rome/747B5D584979EB60B4E37CF9F432A4FC |journal=The Journal of Roman Studies |language=en |volume=51 |issue=1–2 |pages=143–152 |doi=10.2307/298847 |jstor=298847 |s2cid=162365584 |issn=1753-528X}} a large square in the Campus Martius used for public comitia (assemblies). The square, a large free space surrounded by porticoes, was finished by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa,{{Cite book |last=Shipley |first=Frederick W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yED7DwAAQBAJ |title=Agrippa's Building Activities in Rome |date=2008-11-06 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-7252-2370-7 |pages=13 |language=en}} admiral and friend of emperor Augustus, in 27 BC. The portico of the Argonauts was added in 25 BC, to commemorate Agrippa's naval victories in 31 BC: it took its name from its decorations, which depicted the mythological expedition of Jason.{{cite book|title=Shopping in Ancient Rome: The Retail Trade in the Late Republic and the Principate|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oO7NwmbyxwAC&pg=PA249|date=26 April 2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-969821-9|pages=249–}}

Studies of the Forma Urbis (an ancient detailed plan of Rome) have located the portico in what is now Via della Minerva, near the basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva.[http://www.maquettes-historiques.net/pagina35.html A visual reconstruction of the Saepta Julia]

A brickwork wall preserved along the eastern side of the Pantheon has been assigned to the Porticus Argonautarum.