In a plot of land at the beginning of Calle Mármoles, three Roman columns are preserved, aligned in a northwest-southeast direction. They are at their original level, which means that they are about 4.50 metres below the current level of the city. Traditionally, they were identified with the mythical columns that Hercules erected to mark the place where Seville would be located. Today, they are usually dated to the 2nd century AD and it is believed that they could have formed part of the portico of a temple.
Its granite shafts are about 8 metres high and two of its bases are in the Attic style, while the third is Ionic.
For a long time there were three more columns in the same place. One of them broke when it was being moved to the Alcázar in the time of Pedro I. The whereabouts of its remains are currently unknown. The other two were moved to the Alameda in the 16th century to serve as supports for the statues of Hercules and Julius Caesar, in what was one of the first landscaping projects for a public space in Europe. They remain there today.
It is not known for certain which building the columns originally belonged to, although the Andalusian Institute of Historical Heritage states:
"Assuming that the six columns were from the façade, we can think that it would be a hexastyle and prostyle temple, with a front of about 20 metres and a depth of about 40 metres, which seems to be revealed by the current plot. In this we observe how the south side in the direction of San Nicolás has been perpetuated by Mármoles Street, while the north is drawn by the bottom of Gandesa Alley and another alley, now non-existent, which was located on Abades Street, penetrating right up to the supposed side of the temple. (…)
As for its chronology, the ceramic material found points to the end of the 1st century or beginning of the 2nd century AD. The Roman Republican level under the pavement was of little power, perhaps due to the construction of the temple that would cause its disappearance."
