At the end of the nineteenth century, a discarded cornice block from the Erechtheion (probably damaged material) was found inside the foundation of the Temple of Roma and Augustus,  a small monopteral temple on top of the Acropolis just to the west of the Parthenon.  This block allows us to date the round temple's construction to a period of a few years after the repairs were made to the Erechtheion.   The cornice block is now lost and may have been built back into the Erechtheion during a later reconstruction.  A date of ca. 25-20 B.C.E. would make the Temple of Roma and Augustus the first known Augustan monument in Athens and one of the earliest surviving temples of Augustus in the East.  Using the architrave dedication of the temple that mentions the dedicant Pammenes,  Schmalz has arrived at a date of ca. 20 B.C.E. for its dedication by narrowing the range during which the hoplite general could have held that office.  It has also been proposed that Pammenes was the main, or single, source of funding for the Temple of Roma and Augustus.  This gift would have certainly merited his assignment as the first priest of Roma and Augustus, as the same inscription records.   I would also suggest that Pammenes' prominent placement on the dedication and his possible status as sole benefactor should give evidence that a large number of Athenian aristocrats did in fact wish to bring about a reconciliation with Augustus.  Pammenes was an ardent supporter of the imperial family.  He would later be lifelong priest of Delian Apollo during a time when many prominent honors at Delos were given to Agrippa and Julia, as well as Gaius.   As a result of this association, J. Kroll has recently suggested that a set of Athenian bronze hemiobols from the latter half of the first century B.C.E. depict Pammenes with a statue of Apollo Delios on the reverse.   His election as hoplite general would certainly not have taken place unless many Athenian elite wished to cooperate with Augustus.

The monopteral temple, forms of which are also found in Rome, was more common to Greece and the East, and could be expected from Pammenes.  We can suppose that this particular style of temple, and not a more traditionally Roman one, would have been a less offensive monument to the other Athenians, though it was dedicated to the Roman princeps.   Further ties to classical Athenian iconography can be found in the ornament of the temple.

Roman interest in the Erechtheion as an example of classical Greek architecture, extended beyond the recent repairs on that temple.  The new round temple on the Acropolis dedicated to the new princeps, was the earliest of several that quoted architectural details of the Erechtheion.   Its Ionic order closely copied the capitals and the necking of the columns of the Erechtheion at three quarters’ scale, reproducing the complicated moulding.   The Ionic order itself further serves to link the Augustan temple to the Erechtheion and to classical architecture, since many similar Roman buildings at the time were designed in the Corinthian order.  This is especially true since the Corinthian order was almost without exception the only one used in round Roman buildings.

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