The Functions of Roman Temples

The Functions of Roman Temples
by JOHN E. STAMBAUGH, Williamstown, Mass.
Contents
Introduction. The Temple of Mars Ultor 654

I. Construction and Maintenance of Temples ' . . . 557
1. Construction and Dedication 657
2. The Sanctuary and its Parts 568
3. Maintenance and Personnel. The aedituus 674
I I . Religious Rites and Ceremonies 576
1. Festivals 576
2. Private Devotions 579
I I I . Political Functions of Temples 680
1. Meetings of Official Bodies 580
2. Civic Offices 582
3. Temples as Political Propaganda 583
IV. The Temple in the City: Economic and Social Functions 685
1. Markets and Banks 585
2. Museums and Libraries 586
3. Temples as Landmarks and Meeting Places 587
V. Private Shrines: Temples of the collegia 588
VI. Shrines of the Oriental Cults 591
1. The Phrygian Gods 592
2. The Syrian Gods 593
3. The Egyptian Gods 695
4. Mithras 597
6. Others 598
V I I . Jewish Synagogues 599
V I I I . Christian Meeting-Places and Shrines 602
Bibliography 605
List of Illustrations 608
Introduction. The Temple of Mars Ultor
The importance of religion in the social and political life of the Roman
world is the topic of this paper: it concentrates on the impact of the gods
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THE FUNCTIONS OF ROMAN TEMPLES 555
and their worship on the life of the Romans by examining the role of shrines,
temples and sacred precincts in the city of Rome during the Republic and
Empire, with some illustrative examples from other localities in the Roman
world.
The variety of the functions which a Roman temple could fulfill is
well illustrated by the temple of Mars Ultor, dedicated by Augustus in
2 B.C. It served as a reminder of the avenging punishment inflicted by
Augustus on the assassins of Julius Caesar, and also as the architectural
focus of the Forum of Augustus, dominating the enclosed colonnaded space
which expressed the aspirations and pretensions of the Augustan political
legend1. The temple, consecrated to the paradigmatically Roman god Mars,
was of course the site of religious ceremonies. Augustus himself instituted
a festival to be celebrated there each year by the seviri equitum2. On state
occasions the Emperor himself presided at the sacrifices: one such sacrifice
conducted by Claudius ended in an assassination attempt 3 . The Salii, the
dancing priesthood of Mars, also held ceremonies in the temple, and met here
to celebrate their elaborate feasts. Suetonius relates that Claudius, conduct-
ing judicial business in the Forum of Augustus, was once so distracted by
the good smells from the banquet of the Salii that he left the tribunal,
entered the temple, and reclined on the banquet couches along with the
priests4. The anecdote is interesting not only because it illustrates Claudius'
fondness for good food (the reason it is cited by Suetonius) but also because
it shows the simultaneous conduct of religious and what we today would
call secular business, at the same time and within the same precinct. From
its inception, in fact, the temple of Mars Ultor was used by the state —
as a meeting place where the Senate deliberated about war and the granting
of triumphs, as the ceremonial spot from which governors were despatched
to their provinces, as the repository of the scepter and crown worn by
victorious generals in their triumphal processions and of military standards
obtained from the enemy, and as the place where young men assumed the
Iwould like to thank EMILY WADSWORTH CLELAND and JOHN ARTHUR H A N S O N for their
help in the preparation of this paper.
1
H. T. ROWELL, Vergil and the Forum of Augustus, Am. Journ. of Phil. 62 (1941), 261—276;
P. ZANKER, Forum Augustum, Das Bildprogramm, Monumenta artis antiquae 2, Tübin-
gen 1960; J.N.CROON, Die Ideologie des Marskultes unter dem Prinzipat und ihre Vor-
geschichte, ANRW II 17, ed. by W. H A A S E (Berlin—New-York 1978f.).
* Dio LV. 10. 4.
' Suetonius, Claudius 13: sacrificantem apud Martis aedem.
4
Suetonius, Claudius 33: cognoscens quondam in Augusti foro ictusque nidore prandii, quod
in próxima Martis aede Saliis apparabatur, deserto tribunali ascendit ad sacerdotes
unaque decubuit. The sumptuousness of these banquets was proverbial, cf. Horace, Odes
I. 37. 2—4. CIL VI. 2168, from the fourth century A.D., was found at this temple; it
records the restoration of mansiones Saliofrum Palatinojrum a veteribus ob armor [um
magnalium] custodiam constituías.

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556 JOHN E. STAMBAUGH
toga virilis6. Here too Augustus received foreign princes and administered
an oath of obedience®, and the Senate met to receive word of Caligula's
victories in Britain7. Most of these functions reflect Mars' role as a god of
war, with a special interest in the administration and prosperity of the
Roman state, but the catalogue is more generally significant, for it represents
the tendency in Rome to perform civic and political activities under the
gaze of a god. The temple functioned also as a museum and a kind of
bill-board, advertising the connection of Augustus with Aeneas, Romulus
and Mars in the reliefs on the doors and the inscriptions on the architrave 8 ,
as well as his diplomatic successes in the display of the standards regained
from the Parthians 9 . Memorabilia of other emperors were added in time:
Caligula dedicated three swords wrested from would-be assassins10 ; a statue
of Nero was voted by the Senate, to equal in size the statue of Mars11.
Among other dedications were drinking-cups of iron12. In the open space in
front of the temple were two statues which had served as tent-poles for
Alexander the Great13, as well as many other statues and paintings14.
(Plate I.)
Its location in the center of the city made it an attractive meeting place
for less formal occasions. The barrister Pomponius Auctus could be found
there, seated in front of the temple15, which thus served as a prominent
and agreeable landmark. The temple was also available as a repository for
citizens' valuable goods. Juvenal reports a recent robbery of some of these
private deposits, and he implies that the thieves had even stolen the helmet
from the statue of Mars, with the result that people were now depositing
their valuables in the temple of Castor instead16.
This one shrine, then, offers a single example of the many varied func-
tions for which the Romans used their temples, and which will be discussed
in more detail below.
5
Suetonius, Augustus 29; Dio LV. 10; Res Gestae V. 42.
β
Suetonius, Augustus 21. 2.
7
Suetonius, Caligula 44. 2.
» Ovid, Fasti V. 561—568.
* Res Gestae V. 42.
10
Suetonius, Caligula 24.
11
Tacitus, Annales XIII. 8.
12
Pliny, Ν. H. XXXIV. 141: scyphos e ferro dicatos. It also temporarily housed the ceremonial
chairs carried in honor of the gods at certain rites, P. R AVEGGI and A. MINTO, Magliano.
Scoperta di una „Tabula Aenea" inscritta, Not. degli Scavi di Ant., ser. 8, 1 (1947), 51—
54, lines 50—-52 (A.D. 19/20): Uti(que) Ludís Augustalibus cum subsellia sodalium ponentur
in theatris, sellae curules Germanici Caesaris inter ea ponantur cum quereeis coronis in
honorem eius sacerdoti; quae sellae cum templum Divi Aug(usti) perfectum erit ex eo templo
proferentur; interea in templo Martis Ultoris reponantur et inde proferantur.
» Pliny, N. H. XXXIV. 48.
14
See S. B . PLATNER and T. A S H B Y , A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome (Ox-
ford 1929), p. 220.
16
Martial VII. 5. 1: Ultoris prima Martis in aede sedet.
« Juvenal XIV. 261—263.

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T H E FUNCTIONS OF ROMAN TEMPLES 557
I. Construction and Maintenance of Temples
1. Construction and Dedication
The templum properly so called was a piece of land set aside for religious
purposes, a space determined by ritual to serve as a place for taking the
auspices17. The term could thus refer to a civic structure such as the Rostra,
Comitium or Curia, public meeting places in which the taking of auspices
would bear on the decisions and actions of the state. But the shrines of most
of the gods were also constituted in this way 18 , and so came to be known
generally as templa. When there was a special building to house the statue
or treasure of the god, it was properly called an aedes, 'house', although
templum was occasionally used, casually, to refer to the building alone.
In this paper, 'temple' is used in a broad sense, referring to the shrine of a
god, whether it had a special building to house a cult statue or was an open
shrine with only a fence and an altar. The Latin aedes is used to refer to
the building with the god's image.
The Romans built their temples for reasons as varied as the ways in
which they were eventually used ; yet as a rule they reflected and commemo-
rated some historical event in the history of the City. War provided frequent
occasions — temples vowed in battle, built by means of spoils, and dedicated
in connection with a triumph are most common in the annals of the Republic
and early Empire19. But there were other occasions for their construction
and dedication: the restoration of tranquility after civil strife20, the expiation
of such prodigies as lightning or earthquake21, some catastrophe such as
fire or disease to be averted, or the end of a plague to be celebrated22,
the finding of a sacred object23, or a historic event to be commemorated24.
An oracle from the Sibylline books could provide the impetus26, or the
direct revelation of a god to an individual26. From the time of Julius Caesar
on through the Empire, temples were erected to honor members of the im-
17 Varrò, L. L. V I I . 8: In terris dictum templum augurii aut auspicii causa quibusdam con-
ceptis verbis finitus. Servius ad Aeneid I. 92: templum dicitur locus manu auguris designatus
in aere, post quem factum ilico captantur augurio.
18 An exception was the temple of Vesta, Gellius X I V . 7. 7; Servius ad Aeneid V I I . 153.
19 F. W. SHIPLEY, Chronology of the Building Operations in Rome from the Death of Caesar
to the Death of Augustus, Mem. of the Am. Acad, in Rome 9 (New Haven, Conn. 1931),
pp. 9—14.
20 For references to these examples and those in the following notes, see PLATNER—ASHBY,
Top. Diet.: s. v. Cloacina, Concordia in Arce, Concordia in Foro, Juppiter Stator, Pax.
21 Aius Locutius, Apollo Palatinus, Juppiter Fulgur, Semo Sancus, Tellus, Venus Verticordia.
22 Aesculapius, Apollo Medicus, Ara Incendii, Ceres, Febris, Tellus, Verminius.
23 Honos.
24 Juno Sororia, Vica Pota.
25 Hercules Custos, Magna Mater, Mens.
26 Hercules Invictus, Juno Sospita, Silvanus.

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penal family27, to mark an emperor's birthplace, his return from wars or

escape from danger28, or his deification29. Other temples were dedicated
to express some political or social goal30 or to further some favorite cult of a
specific politician or Emperor31. The pervasively Roman characteristic of
these foundations is that they are rooted in some specific event in the history
of the state32; even the earliest temples, whose origins were unknown, were
given mythical foundation legends by the poets and annalists.
The construction and dedication of a temple required, during the
Republic, the authorization of the Senate or a majority of the plebeian
tribunes33. Apparently a law passed during the third century made the
authorization of the people mandatory; Cicero makes much of this law
when he argues that Clodius acted illegally in confiscating Cicero's house
during his exile and dedicating there a shrine of Libertas without the proper
explicit authorization of the people34. These provisions seem to have been
in force in 216 B.C. when the Senate requested the people to authorize a
commission to dedicate the temples of Mens and of Venus Erycina36, and
again in 212 when Senate and people together authorized several com-
missions, including one to rebuild the temples of Fortuna, Mater Matuta
and Spes3e. During the Empire, we hear nothing about the people except
for an occasional mention in a dedicatory inscription, but the Senate did
authorize or take the initiative for many temples: these include especially
those in honor of the imperial cult, starting as early as 46 B.C. when it voted
a temple of Libertas in honor of Caesar37. Further examples are the altar
27
Concordia Nova, Indulgentia, Matidia, Pietas Augusta.
28
Sacrarium Divi Augusti, Fecunditas, Gens Flavia; F o r t u n a Redux; Juppiter Conservator.
28
The aedes of the various Divi: Augustus, Claudius, Vespasianus, Titus, Hadrianus, Antoni-
nus et Faustina, Marcus.
30
Lares, Pantheon, Pudicitia Plebeia.
31
Hercules Pompei Magni, Isis et Serapis, Sol.
32
H. KAHLER, Der Römische Tempel (Berlin 1970), p. 24.
33
Livy I X . 46. 6—7: aedem Concordine in area Volcani summa invidia nobilium dedicavit;
coactusque consensu populi Cornelius Barbatus pontifex maximus verba praeire, cum more
maiorum negaret nisi consulem auf imperatorem posse templum dedicare. Itaque ex
auctoritate senatus latum ad populum est ne quis templum aramve iniussu senatus aut
tribunorum plebei partis maioris dedicar et. Tertullian, Adv. Nat. I. 10: mentior si numquam
censuerant, ne qui imperator fanum quod in bello vovisset, prius dedicasset quam senatus
probasset.
34
Cicero, De Domo 127: Video enim esse legem veterem tribuniciam quae vetet iniussu plebis
aedes, terram, aram consecrari.
35
Livy X X I I I . 31. 9: interea duumviri creati sunt Q. Fabius Maximus et T. Otacilius Crassus
aedibus dedicandis. Menti Otacilius, Fabius Veneri Erycinae; utraque in Capitolio est,
canali uno discretae.
se
Livy XXV. 7. 6: triumviri reficiendis aedibus Fortunae et Matris Matutae intra portam
Carmentalem et Spei extra portam. Similar commissions of duumviri aedibus dedicandis
are also known for the temples of Concordia on the Arx, Juppiter in Insula, Fortuna
Primigenia, Juventas, Pietas and Verminius (see PLATNER—ASHBY, Top. Diet., for
references): it seems likely t h a t they too will have been authorized by the people, with
approval by the Senate.
37
Dio X L I I I . 44. 1: νεών 'Ελευθερίας δημοσίς* έψηφίσαντο. Cf. also Dio XLIV. 4. 5: νεών
TE 'Ομονοίας Καινής Ώΐ καΐ δι' αύτοΰ είρηνοϋντες οίκοδομήσαι έγνωσαν. Dio X L I V . 6. 4:

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of Fortuna Redux in 19 B.C., the altar of Pietas Augusta in A.D. 22, the
altars of dementia and of Amicitia in A.D. 28, the temple of Fecunditas
and of Nero's infant daughter in A.D. 6338, and in general the temples of
deified emperors.
For dedications on private property no official permission seems to
have been sought39, though occasionally private individuals would obtain
a plot for a shrine from the appropriate magistrates40. Since such private
temples were not officially consecrated by a representative of the state,
their legal status was as private property, not sacred41.
The selection of a site and its development as a sanctuary required the
assent of the religious authorities as well. Since a member of the collegium
pontificum was normally present for the consecration, the pontífices had
the opportunity to veto the establishment of a new shrine or insist on certain
arrangements. So for instance when a temple to Honos was being built
outside the Porta Collina, the collegium pontificum required that the graves
within the precinct be dug up, to prevent pollution42. Again, the pontífices
prevented M. Claudius Marcellus from constructing a temple to Honos and
Virtus, on the grounds that two deities could not share a single aedesi3.
καΐ τέλος Δία τε αύτόν S i r r i K p u ç 'Ιούλιον προσηγόρευσαν, καΐ ναόν αύτφ τη τ ' 'Επιεικείς
αύτοϋ τεμενισθηναι Ιγνωσαν, Ιερέα σφίσι τόν Άντώνιον ώσττερ τινά Διάλιον προχει-
ρισάμενοι. Apparently the temple of Divus Julius was built without senatorial authori-
zation : a column and altar erected quite unofficially by Caesar's freedmen was destroyed
by Dolabella (see L. R. TAYLOR, The Divinity of the Roman Emperor, Philol. Monogr.
pubi, by the Amer. Philol. Assoc. 1 [Middletown, Conn. 1931], pp. 83—88). Dio XLVII.
18 says that the measures involved in deifying Caesar in 43 and 42 were the work of the
triumvirs, and he mentions no pro forma consultation with the Senate.
88
For the altars, see P L A T N E R — A S H B Y , Top. Diet. On senatorial initiative in erecting
temples to deified emperors, cf. Dio LVI. 46. 3: καΐ αύτω (sc. Augustus) Iv τε 'Ρώμη
ήρωον ψηφισθέν μέν Crrrò της γερουσίας οίκοδομηθέν δέ Cnrò τε τ % Aioulorç καΐ Cnrò Τιβε-
ρίου έττοιήθη ; and SHA, Antoninus Pius 13. 3—4: A senatu divus est appellatus . . . decreti
etiam sunt omnes honores qui optimis principibus ante delati sunt. Meruit et flaminem et
circenses et templum et sodales Antoninianos.
3
· Compare CIL VI. 3697 = 30940, from the Esquilme: Aedem aramque I(ovi) O(ptimo)
M(aximo) et Silvano Sancto ceterisque diis quorum in tutela aedificium est quod a solo fece-
runt L. Valerius Felicissimus C. Grasinius Silonianu[s] C. Vetina Quintus L. Lucilius
Augustalis possessores.
40
E. g. Macrobius, Sat. III. 6. 10—11: M. Octavius Herrenus . . . impetrato a magistratibus
loco aedem sacravit (sc. Herculi) et Signum, Victoremque incisis litteris appellavit. CIL VI.
31128: [locus adjsignatus ab L. [— SJabino et Aelio Romano Curat(oribus) Aed(ium)
SafcrarumJ et operum locorufmque publicorjum. Cf. F. CASTAGNOLI, Topografia e
Urbanistica di Roma Antica (Bologna 1958), pp. 62—56.
41
Marcianus, Digesta I. 8. 6. 3: sacrae res sunt hae, quae publice consecratae sunt, non private;
si quis ergo privatim sibi sacrum constituerit, sacrum non est, sed profanum.
42
Cicero, De Legibus II. 68: ut in urbe sepeliri lex vetat, sic decretum a pontificum collegio
non esse ius in loco publico fieri sepulchrum . . . statuit enim collegium locum publicum non
potuisse privata religione obligari.
44
Livy XXVII. 25. 7—-10: cum bello Gallico ad Clastidium aedem Honori et Virtuti vovisset,
dedicatio eius a pontificibus impediebatur, quod negabant unam celiarti duobus recte dedicari,
quia, si de caelo tacta aut prodigii aliquid in ea factum esset, difficilis procuratio foret, quod
utri deo res divina fieret, sciri non posset: ñeque enim duobus nisi certis deis rite una hostia
fieri. Ita addila Virtutis aedes adproperato opere.

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The Augurs, too, exercised some control, since they could demolish
a building which interfered with their lines of sight when taking the
auspices 44 .
Some temples were deliberately located where some important event
had taken place, whether legendary (as in the case of the shrine of the
Camenae at the spring where Numa visited the nymph Egeria 45 ) or historical
(as the Temple of Divus Julius, erected at the spot where Julius Caesar was
cremated 46 , or the temple of Juppiter Conservator, where Domitian took
refuge when the Vitellians burned the Capitoline in A.D. 6947). Occasionally
the gods themselves indicated their choice of a location : the temple of Apollo
on the Palatine was on a spot which had been struck by lightning and
sanctioned by the haruspices*6. The sacrarium Divi Augusti marked the place
of Augustus' birth 49 , and the temple of the Gens Flavia marked that of
Domitian's 60 . Houses of prominent people which had been confiscated were
often built over by temples, for example the temple of Tellus on the
Carinae61, that of Juno Moneta on the Arx 62 , and the sanctuary of Libertas
dedicated by Clodius in Cicero's house on the Palatine 63 .
In many cases the nature of the deity made a certain location appro-
priate. A shrine to the Nymphs would naturally be at a fountain. Venus
Obsequens had her temple in a grove because, as Festus says, she watched
over gardens 64 . War gods such as Bellona and Mars, and most newcomer
gods imported from other peoples, were located outside the sacred city
line of the pomerium64a. In Rome itself, the distribution of temples reflects
to some extent the growth of the city. The oldest shrines are located within
the pomerium especially in the Forum and on the Capitoline, and outside
it in the Forum Boarium. In the first century of the Republic, according to
the traditional dating, most temple building was concentrated outside the
pomerium, along the river in the Forum Holitorium and Forum Boarium,
and continuing into the valley of the Circus Maximus and up the slope of
44
Festus 344 M: Summissiorem aliis aedem Honoris et Virtutis C. Marius fecit, ne, si forte
officerei auspiciis publicis, augures earn demoliri cogerent.
45
Livy I. 21 ; Plutarch, Numa 4.
49
Dio XLVII. 18. 4.
47
Tacitus, Historiae III. 74.
48
Suetonius, Augustus 29. 3: Templum Apollinis in ea parte Palatinae domus excitavit, quam
fulmine ictam desiderari adeo haruspices pronuntiarant.
49
Suetonius, Augustus 5.
50
Suetonius, Domitian 1.
51
Valerius Maximus VI. 3. l b .
52
Valerius Maximus VI. 3. l a . Manlius' house was destroyed in 384 B.C. and the temple
was built in 344; therefore we cannot say that the temple's main purpose was to vilify
Manlius: yet the vacant space was available at a prime building location, and certainly
later writers (Livy VI. 10. 13 and Ovid, Fasti I. 638, VI. 34, 183) remembered it as the
site of Manlius' home.
53
Cicero, De Domo, passim.
54
Festus 265 M: in luco Libitensi, quia in eius deae tutela sunt horti.
54a
See P. CATALANO, Aspetti spaziali del sistema religioso-giuridico romano, above in this
same volume (ANRW II 16, 1), pp. 479 ff.

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T H E FUNCTIONS OF ROMAN T E M P L E S 561
the Aventine65. These temples represent Rome's contacts with the outside
world, Mercurius as god of merchants, Diana as patron of the Latin League,
Ceres, Liber and Libera, Minerva, Fortuna and Apollo all representing some
Italic or Greek influence56. The only known temple begun within the
pomerium between 509 and 40057 was that of Castor and Pollux in the
Forum, at the spot where the divine twins had appeared to the citizens
after the battle of Lake Regillus58.
New temples erected in the fourth century are distributed lightly
throughout the city and — reflecting perhaps its growing control over its
neighbors — in the surrounding countryside69. The wars and expansion of
the third and second centuries, which inspired the construction of many
new temples, also provided the occasion for new parts of the city to be
developed, and for temples to be grouped together in pairs or rows. The
southern end of the Campus Martius became particularly popular, and new
temples were added in the Forum Holitorium, Forum Boarium, Circus Maxi-
mus and Aventine. In the last century of the Republic, activity was con-
centrated on the occasional showy monument in Rome (the theater of
Pompey with its shrines of Venus Victrix, Honos, Virtus and Felicitas and
the temple of Venus Genetrix in the Forum of Caesar) and farther afield in
Latium (Hercules Victor and two other spectacularly sited temples at
Tibur, Fortuna Primigenia at Praeneste and Juppiter Anxur at Terra-
cina)60.
In the Augustan age, Vitruvius gave a theoretical set of temple lo-
cations based on the types of ceremonies and nature of each god: Juppiter,
Juno and Minerva as protectors of the city, on an elevated site in view of
the city walls ; Mercurius and the Egyptian deities as gods of businessmen,
in the market-place ; Apollo and Liber as patrons of the arts, near the theater ;
Hercules (as an athlete, presumably) near the Circus; and Venus with her
unseemly rites, Mars with his war-like nature, Vulcan with his fires and
Ceres with her need for secrecy, all outside the walls61.
55 See list in K. LATTE, Römische Religionsgeschichte, Handbuch der Altertumswiss. V 4

(Munich 2 1967), pp. 415—418.
58 G. LA PIANA, Foreign Groups in Rome during the First Centuries of the Empire, Harv.
Theol. Rev. 20 (1927), 213—215.
57 The temples of Juppiter Optimus Maximus, Juppiter Feretrius on the Capitoline, Semo
Sancus Dius Fidius on the Quirinal and Saturnus in the Forum were dedicated during
this period, but the first three had been started by one of the kings, and Saturnus was
merely a new temple on the site of a very old altar.
68 Dionysius, Ant. Rom. VI. 13.
68 Examples outside the city are Mars on the Via Appia, Fortuna Muliebris on the Via
Latina, Fors Fortuna on the Via Portuensis; new temples within the city are Juno Regina
(brought from Veii) on the Aventine, Juno Lucina on the Esquilme, Concordia in the
Forum, Juno Moneta on the Arx, Salus on the Quirinal, and Vica Pota on the Velia.
60 See note 98 below. On the sites of Tibur, Praeneste and Terracina, see H. KAHLER, Der
Römische Tempel, and the convenient topographical summaries in: The Princeton Ency-
clopedia of Classical Sites (Princeton 1976).
81 Vitruvius I. 7. 1—2: aedibus vero sacris, quorum deorum maxime in tutela civitas videtur
esse, et Iovi et Iunoni et Minervae, in excelsissimo loco, unde moenium maxima pars COn-
II ANRW II 16
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562 J O H N E . STAMBAUGH
The actual practice of Augustus and his subordinates in locating temples

seems to have had more to do with visual impact and propaganda effect
than with Vitruvius' theological principles. The temple of Mars Ultor
joined divine vengeance with a new useful public space in the very center of
the city. Both Apollo and Vesta had adequate temples in Rome, yet they
received new shrines on the Palatine in order to associate the Greek god
and the Roman goddess with the dwelling-place of Augustus62. Propaganda
value also seems to have dictated the site of the Pantheon of Agrippa in an
open space in the middle of the Campus Martius ; the Ara Pacis on the Via
Flaminia, the first monument of the living city 63 encountered by a traveller
entering Rome from the north; the altar of Fortuna Redux at the point
where one entered the city from the Via Appia; and the temple of Di vus
Julius in a dominant, axial position at the south-east end of the Forum.
Prominent locations in the monumental center of Rome or on the
hilltops became common for temples of the imperial cult or of deities
especially favored by individual emperors — we may cite the temples in
the imperial fora, that of Vespasian at the northwest end of the Forum, the
temple of Venus and Rome on the Velia, the temple of Claudius on the
CaeÜan, the temples of Matidia, Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius along the
Via Flaminia, the temples of Serapis and Sol on the crest of the Quirinal,
and the temple of Elagabalus on the eastern peak of the Palatine.
Once the site had been selected and approved, the actual founding of
the temple, its constitutio, took place64, in order to orient the sanctuary
in accordance with religious needs, particularly the taking of auspices.
The essential attributes of a templum were a rectangular space bounded
by the words of the augur, and the formula for defining the bounds is given
by Varrò66. Livy probably also reflects traditional custom when he portrays
spiciatur, areae distribuantur. Mercurio autem in foro aut etiam, ut Isidi et Serapi, in emporio;
ApoUini Patrique Libero secundum theatrum; Herculi, in quibus civitatibus non sunt gymnasia
neque amphitheatra, ad circum; Marti extra urbem sed ad campum; itemque Veneri ad portum.
id autem etiam Etruscis haruspicibus disciplinarum scripturis ita est dedicatum, extra murum
Veneris, Volcani, Martis fana ideo conlocari, uti non insuescat in urbe adulescentibus seu
matribus familiarum veneria libido, Volcanique vi e moenibus religionibus et sacrificiis
evocata ab timore incendiorum aedificia videantur liberari. Martis vero divinitas cum sit
extra moenia dedicata, non erit inter cives armigera dissensio, sed ab hostibus ea defensa belli
periculo conservabit. item Cereri extra urbem loco, quo nomine semper homines nisi per
sacrificium necesse habeant adire; cum religione, caste sanctisque moribus is locus debet
tueri. ceterisque diis ad sacrificiorum rationes aptae templis areae sunt distribuendae.
62
Suetonius, Augustus 29. 3; Ovid, Fasti IV. 949—954.
63
After t h e tombs, which included as well t h e Mausoleum and Ustrinum of Augustus. See
now E . BÜCHNER, Solarium Augusti u n d Ara Pacis, Rom. Mitteilungen 83 (1976), 319—•
365.
64
T h e sequence of events is preserved by Servius ad Aeneid I. 446 : antiqui enim aedes sacras
ita templa faciebant, ut prius per augures locus liberaretur effareturque, tum demum a ponti-
ficibus consecraretur ac post ibidem sacra edicerentur.
65
Varrò, L. L. V I I . 8: In terris dictum templum locus augurii aut auspicii causa quibusdam
conceptis verbis finitus. Concipitur verbis non isdem usque quaque; in arce sic: Templa
tescaque meae fines ita sunto quoad ego eas lingua mea nuncupavero. Ollaber arbos quirquir
est, quam me sentio dixisse, templum tescumque mea finis esto in sinistrum. Ollaber arbos

Authenticated
Romulus laying out the temple of Juppiter Feretrius on the Capitoline by

delimiting the boundaries of the sacred area and naming the god to whom it
was to be sacred66. Further details of the augural procedure appear in Livy's
account of the inauguration of Numa ; this was more a normal consultation
of the auspices than hallowing of a new temple, but in it we see the augur
facing south, holding his official curved staff, the lituus, in his right hand,
marking off the four quadrants of the sky and looking for auspices to appear
in them67. The orientation of temples seems often to have followed the
demands of augury — at both Cosa and Terracina the temple seems to be
oriented between two mountain promontories reaching into the sea68, and
it is significant that at Rome, where auspices were taken toward the south
(where the Alban Hills were visible as augural landmarks), the earliest
temples seem to be oriented in that direction69. Later temples face east,
quirquir est quod me sentio dixisse, templum tescumque mea finis esto dextrutn. Inter ea
conregione, conspicione, cortumione uti fas esto quoad utique eas rectissime sensi. Cf. Κ. LATTE,
Augur und Templum in der Varronischen Auguralformel, Philologus 97 (1948), 143—159
= ID., Kleine Schriften zu Religion, Recht, Literatur und Sprache der Griechen und
Römer (Munich 1968), pp. 91—105. Similar formulas are also preserved in the Tabulae
Iguvinae VI a 1—22. The essentials were a rectangular space bounded by a fence or simply
the words of the augur, and an entrance, cf. Festus 157 M: Minora templa fiunt ab auguribus,
cum loca aliqua tabulis aut linteis saepiuntur, ne uno amplius ostio pateant, certis verbis
definita, itaque templum est locus ita effatus aut ita saeptus, ut ea una parte pateat angulosque
IUI adfixos habeat ad terram. Cf. G. WissowA, Religion und Kultus der Römer, Hand-
buch der Altertumswiss. IV 5 (Munich 2 1912, repr. ibid. 1971), pp. 403—404, 454—456.
66 Livy I. 10. 5—6: spolia ducis hostium coesi suspensa fabricate ad id apte ferculo gerens in
Capitolium escendit; ibique ea cum ad quercum pastoribus sacram deposuisset, simul cum
dono designavit templo lovis fines cognomenque addidit deo : 'Iuppiter Feretri' inquit, 'haec
tibi victor Romulus rex regia arma fero, templum his regionibus quas modo animo metatus
sum dedico, sedem opimis spoliis quae regibus ducibusque hostium caesis me auctorem sequentes
posteri ferent'.
67 Livy I. 18. 6—10: Accitus, sicut Romulus augurato urbe condenda regnum adeptus est, de se
quoque deos consult iussit. Inde ab augure, cui deinde honoris ergo publicum id perpetuumque
sacerdotium fuit, deductus in arcem, in lapide ad meridiem versus consedit. A ugur ad laevam
eius capite velato sedem cepit, dextra manu baculum sine nodo aduncum tenens, quem lituum
appellarunt. Inde ubi prospectu in urbem agrumque capto deos precatus regiones ab oriente
ad occasum determinavit, dextras ad meridiem partes, laevas ad septentrionem esse dixit;
Signum contra quo longissime conspectum oculi ferebant animo finivit; tum lituo in laevam
manum translato, dextra in caput Numae imposita, ita precatus est: 'Iuppiter pater, si est
fas hunc Numam Pompilium cuius ego caput teneo regem Romae esse, uti tu signa nobis
certa adclarassis inter eos fines quos feci'. Tum peregit verbis auspicia quae mitti vellet.
Quibus missis declaratus rex Numa de templo descendit. See H. J . ROSE, The Inauguration
of Numa, Jour, of Roman Stud. 13 (1923), 82—90. Varrò, L. L. VI. 54 regarded the delimit-
ing of boundaries as the crucial element of the ceremony, and he goes so far as to derive
the word fanum from fines: fana nominata, quod pontífices in sacrando fati sunt fines.
68 F. E . BROWN, Cosa I I : The Temples of the Arx (Mem. of the Am. Acad, in Rome 26
[New Haven, Conn. I960]), pp. 8—18. On Terracina, cf. H. KAHLER, Der Römische Tempel,
pp. 16—17.
69 Examples are Juppiter Optimus Maximus (E. NASH, Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient
Rome I [London 1968], pp. 530—533), the temples at S. Omobono (NASH I, pp. 412,
415—417) and the Curia Hostilia (Pliny, N. H. V I I . 212: cum a curia inter Rostra et Graeco-
stasim prospexisset solem ; L. RICHARDSON, Cosa and Rome, Curia and Comitium, Archaeol-
ogy 10 (1957), 49—55).
36*
Authenticated
west and even north, but they all seem to be located so that an augur,
facing away from the aedes or altar, would have as wide a view of natural
phenomena as possible. In the subsequent history of any temple the day
of the constitutio was important, and was often commemorated as an anni-
versary celebration70.
The constitutio was however only preliminary, and not considered as a
satisfaction of the vow: in 294 B. C. when a temple was built to Juppiter
Stator, it was noted that the vow of such a temple which Romulus had
made had never yet been fulfilled, even though the space had long
since been 'constituted'71. Construction and dedication were necessary,
and architects, masons and sculptors worked to complete the shrine72.
Depending on the degree of elaboration and on social and economic
conditions, this might take a year or two, or might stretch as long as
30 years.
Temples vowed in battle were usually paid for, during the Republic, by
the victorious general out of the spoils of victory73. The Senate maintained
some authority over the construction, since the spoils belonged to the state,
and on at least one occasion it intervened, when in 173 B.C. it prevented
Q. Fulvius Flaccus, who was building the temple of Fortuna Equestris,
from using marble roof tiles robbed from a venerable shrine of Juno Lacinia
in Croton74. On those occasions when the general no longer held office at
the time construction began, the Senate was responsible for appointing a
70 E.g. the temple of Minerva on the Aventine, C I L I 2 , pp. 312—-313 (Commentarli Diurni) :
Artificum dies, (quod Minervae) aedis in Aventino eo die est (dedicata) (Fasti Praenestini,
cf. C I L I 2 , p. 234), C I L I 2 , p. 320 (Commentarli Diurni): Minervae in Aventino (Fasti
Esquilini, cf. CIL I 2 , p. 211; Fasti Amiternini, cf. C I L I 2 , p. 243), and several altars founded
under Augustus, CIL I 2 , pp. 244—-245 (Fasti Amiternini): ara Pads Augustae in Campo
Martio constituía est (iv Non. lui.); arae Cereri M atri et Opi Augustae ex voto suscepto
constitutae sunt (iv Id. Aug.); araq(ue) Fort(unae) Reduci constitfuta est) (iv Id. Oct.).
Best known is the Ara Pacis on the Campus Martius, which represents a procession
generally interpreted as the ceremony of constitutio in 13 B.C. Cf. I. S. RYBERG, The
Procession of the Ara Pacis, Mem. of the Am. Acad, in Rome 19 (1949), 77—-102, esp.
pp. 84—89. Curiously, no augurs are preserved in the procession, but one does appear
holding a lituus and flanked by a priest and a woman on an altar from the Vicus Sanda-
liarius and now in the Uffizi, see I. S. RYBERG, Rites of the State Religion in Roman Art
(Mem. of the Am. Acad, in Rome 22 [New Haven, Conn. 1955]), fig. 31, p. 60, nn. 46—49,
whose interpretation of the piece is different.
71 Livy X . 37. 15—16: ad Luceriam utrimque multos occisos inque ea pugna Iovis Statoris
aedem votam, ut Romulus ante voverat; sed fanum tantum, id est locus templo effatus, fuer at.
Ceterum hoc demum anno ut aedem etiam fieri senatus iuberet bis eiusdem voti damnata re
publice in religionem venit. This passage seems to argue against J . MARQUARDT, Römische
Staatsverwaltung I I I (Leipzig 2 1885), pp. 273—274, who denied that the constitutio was a
separate ceremony.
72 On the contracts for construction see R . MACMULLEN, Roman Imperial Building in the
Provinces, Harv. Stud, in Clas. Phil. 64 (1959), 207—235, esp. pp. 210—213.
73 E.g. Cicero, De Nat. Deorum I I I . 52: itaque et Fontis delubrum Masso ex Corsica de-
dicava. Dio, fr. 76, 2: τ ω Λουκούλλω χρήσαΙ te άγάλματα ττρός τήν τοΟ Τυχαίου, ô
έκ τοΰ 'Ιβηρικού πολέμου κ ΟΠΈ σκεύασε, καθιέρωσιν.
74 Livy X L I I . 3. 1—11.

Authenticated
T H E F U N C T I O N S OF R O M A N T E M P L E S 565
commission to let the contract and supervise the construction75. The

censors were regularly responsible for much new public construction, yet
they are usually more concerned with roads, aqueducts and basilicas than
with temples: occasionally a man who as consul several years before had
vowed a temple used the censorship to begin the construction76, and when
the cult of Magna Mater was introduced into Rome in 204, it was the
censors for the year who let the contract for her temple on the Palatine,
which was paid for by the Senate77. The aediles, also, were in general
responsible for the maintenance of the public buildings in Rome, but they
sometimes initiate construction of temples, using the money from the fines
which were under their supervision78.
During jthe Empire, most of the construction and reconstruction of
public temples ewas sponsored by the Emperor and paid for out of his
funds. Augustus for instance paid for the construction of 16 temples, in-
cluding Mars Ultor (which was financed out of war booty), and for the
restoration of 82 more, although he also encouraged individuals to pay
for temples?and other public buildings in the tradition of the Republican
triumfhatores79. The Senate's revenues were much reduced in the Empire,
but it did payjfor several altars under the Julio-Claudians and an occasional
temple in the high Empire80. Nearer the end of antiquity, when the imperial
largess was preoccupied with Constantinople, the Senate and individual
officialsTbecame more active in rebuilding the old shrines81.
75 L i v y V I I . 28. 5: Senatus duumviros ad earn aedem pro amplitudine populi Romani faciendam
creari iussit. Cf. L i v y X L . 34. 4—6.
78 So in the case of C. Junius Bubulcus and the temple of Salus, L i v y X. 1. 8; M. Livius
Salinator and the temple of Iuventas, L i v y X X X V I . 36. 5—-6: voverat earn sexdecim annis
ante M. Livius consul, quo die Hasdrubalem exercitumque eius cecidit; idem censor earn
faciendam locavit M. Cornelio P. Sempronio consulibus.
« L i v y X X I X . 10. 4—5 and 37. 2; X X X V I . 36.
78 E.g. L i v y X. 33. 9: ipse aedem Victoriae quam aedilis curulis ex multaticia pecunia faciendam
curaverat, dedicavit.
7> Res Gestae 19—21, App. 2 and 3; Suetonius, Augustus 29. Among the restorations was,
presumably, that of the Volcanal: C I L V I . 457, the dedication of an altar there, shows
that a special donation of the people to Augustus' purse was used to pay for it, Imp(erator)
Caesar Divi f(ilius) Augustus pontifex maximus ... ex stipe quam populus Romanus anno
novo absenti contulit . . .
80 E. g. the altars of Amicitia, Clementia, Fecunditas and Pietas. The dedicatory inscription
on the temple of Vespasian implies that the Senate, rather than the Emperor, paid for it
(Anon. Einsiedlensis f. 72, n. 35, cited in CIL V I . 938: Divo Vespasiano Augusto S.P.Q.R.).
The Senate seems also to have paid for the temple of Faustina (SHA Antoninus Pius 6. 7—8:
quae a senatu consécrala est delatis circensibus atque templo et flaminicis et statuts aureis
atque argentis; cum etiam ipse [sc. Antoninus] hoc concesserit, ut imago eius cunctis
circensibus poneretur. Statuam auream delatam a senatu positam suscepit) ; the dedicatory
inscription refers to its rededication to Faustina and the deified Antoninus by senatorial
decree (CIL V I . 1005, Divo Antonino et Divae Faustinae ex S(enatus) C(onsulto)).
81 E. g., the fourth-century restorations of the temple of Saturnus (CIL V I . 937: Senatus
populusque Romanus incendio consumptum restituii) and of the portico of the Dei
Consentes (CIL V I . 102: [Deorum CJonsentium sacrosancta simulacra cu[m omni lo]ci
totius adornatiofne cultu i]n f[ormam] antiquam [restitute VJettius Praetextatus υ (ir)
c(larissimus) prafefectus u]rbi [reposuit].

Authenticated
Outside Rome, a temple might be erected at the expense of the Emperor

or his deputy, by the local council or by private individuals. A well do-
cumented example of a temple donated by an individual for public use is
that erected by Pliny the Younger at Tifernum Tiberinum. Pliny was a
patron of the town, and when he decided to build a temple he first applied
to the Emperor for permission, though that may have been necessary only
because it was to be a temple of the imperial cult. Next he asked the town
council for a site and it paid him the compliment of allowing him to choose
one himself. He went himself to Tifernum in 99 to supervise the start of
construction. The dedication was delayed because Pliny was too busy to
be present, but eventually it was celebrated with the appropriate ceremonies
and a banquet given at Pliny's expense82.
The solemn dedication of the completed temple was celebrated
with great pomp, and observed each year as the birthday of the
temple; often the day coincided with a festival of its deity 83 . An
official representative of the state presided at the dedication, either
a magistrate or someone specially appointed by the Senate or plebs84.
In the Empire, the Emperor himself or a designated representative normally
presided85. The other essential participant in the dedication was at least
one member of the collegium pontificum, who, with head covered, touched
the doorpost of the temple and pronounced the solemn words of conse-
cration for the magistrate to repeat 86 . As part of the dedication the charter
of the temple, the lex dedicationis, was promulgated; it included the
boundaries of the sanctuary, special provisions such as the right of asylum,
and regulations about the temple funds and sacrifices87.
82
Pliny, Ep. X. 8. 2: ego statim decurionibus scripseram ut adsignarent solum in quo templum
pecunia mea extruerem; Uli in honorem operis ipsius electionem loci mihi obtulerant. Cf.
Macrobius, Sat. I I I . 6. 11: impetrato a magistratibus loco. Pliny, Ep. I I I . 4. 2: cum publi-
cum opus mea pecunia inchoaturus in Túseos excucurrissem. Pliny, Ep. IV. 1. 5—6: templum
pecunia mea exstruxi, cuius dedicationem, cum sit paratum, differre longius inreligiosum est.
Erimus ergo ibi dedicationis die, quem epulo celebrare constituí.
83
E. AusT, De Sacris Aedibus Populi Romani (Marburg 1889), p. 39.
84
Livy I X . 46. 6: aedem Concordiae in area Volcani summa invidia nobilium dedicavit,
coactusque consensu populi Cornelius Barbatus pontifex maximus verba praeire, cum more
maiorum negaret nisi consulem aut imperatorem posse templum dedicare. In many cases the
dedicator was the general who had originally vowed the temple, especially if he held office
in the year of the dedication, cf. Livy X. 1, 9: ceterum tantum Romae terrorem fecere, quia
uix credibile erat tam adfectis rebus solos per se Aequos ad bellum coortos, ut tumultus
eius causa dictator diceretur C. Iunius Bubulcus . . . ac die octavo triumphans in urbem cum
redisset, aedem Salutis, quam consul voverat, censor locaverat, dictator dedicavit. Cf. also
Livy X X X I Y . 53. 3—6. Less often the general or his son was created duumvir aedi sacran-
dae, cf. Livy XL. 34. 4—6.
85
Ulpianus, Digesta I, 8. 9. 1: sciendum est locum publicum tunc sacrum fieri posse, cum
princeps eum dedicavit vel dedicandi dédit potestatem. Cf. TH. MOMMSEN, Römisches Staats-
recht II, 1 (Leipzig s 1887), p. 624, n. 3.
86
Cf. Livy IX. 46. 6, n. 84 above, coactusque . . . pontifex maximus verba praeire. See J .
MARQUARDT, Römische Staatsverwaltung III 2 , pp. 269—-273.
87
Examples of such leges are CIL IX. 3513, III. 1933, and VI. 30837.

Authenticated
The dedication was also celebrated, as in the case of Pliny's temple

at Tifernum, with a banquet, an efulumP*. When important temples were
dedicated games of greater or less elaboration were held to involve the whole
population in the festivities89.
The ceremony set aside the temple as sacred land, which could not be
used for profane purposes ; indeed no changes could be made without con-
sulting the gods by divination 90 . Thus Clodius, having secured Cicero's
exile, dedicated a shrine to Libertas in his house in order that Cicero would
never again be able to use it as a private dwelling. He himself, as a tribune
of the plebs, officiated, and brought in a new and youthful member of the
collegium -pontificwm, to dictate the words. Cicero's 'De Domo' gives his
view of how irregular this procedure was, as he makes his plea to the
collegium urging it to declare the dedication void and return the house for
his use90». In the case of Cicero's house, the dedication was voided by the
pontífices because it had been improperly consecrated91. Other occasions
arose in which such deconsecration was necessary, and the procedure of
exauguratio or evocatio was used, to move the deity to a new location92.
An early example is the removal of many shrines from the Area Capitolina
when Tarquin was preparing the space for the temple of Juppiter ; according
to the legend Terminus (and, according to other legends, Juventas) exer-
cised his divine prerogative and refused to move, and so his shrine was left
in place93. From the end of the Republic we have the examples of a shrine
of Diana on the Caelian demolished (apparently in an irregular way) by
L. Piso94 ; the inaugurated place in the Portico of Pompey where the Senate
was meeting when Caesar was killed, which was later deconsecrated and
88
Cf. the banquet held for invited guests by Scipio Aemilianus when he dedicated the
temple of Hercules in the Forum Boarium: φίλουζ έστιών ΙΤΓΙ TT¡ καθιερώσει τοΰ 'Ηρα-
κλείου, τον συνάρχοντα Μόμμιον οϋ παρέλαβε, Plutarch, Praec. Rei Pubi. Ger. 816 C;
and, in the case of a collégial chapel to Silvanus, CIL VI. 630: . . . idemque dedicavit et
epulum dedit decuris.
83
E.g., Livy X X X V I . 36. 6: huius quoque dedicandae causa ludi facti. For the extravagant
games at the dedication of Pompey's theater and the temple of Venus Victrix see Cicero,
Ad Fam. VII. 1.
90
CIL VI. 576: extra hoc limen aliquid de sacro Silvani efferre fas non est. CIL VI. 30837,
within the bounds of the Ara Incendii Neronis it is forbidden aedificium extruere manere
negotiari arborem ponere aliudve quid serere. Cf. G. WISSOWA, Religion und Kultus der
Römer, pp. 399—410. The principles of pontifical law applied only within Italy, as
Trajan wrote to Pliny, Ep. X. 50: solum peregrinae civitatis capax non sit dedicationis quae
fit nostro iure. Cf. also Pliny, Ep. IX. 39. 1: haruspicum monitu reficienda est mihi aedes
Cereris.
9
°a Cicero, De Domo 117—127.
91
Cicero, De Har. Resp. 31; Ad Att. IV. 2. 2—3.
92
Ulpianus, Digesta I. 8. 9. 2: sacer locus est locus consecratus, sacrarium est locus in quo
sacra reponuntur, quod etiam in aedificio privato esse potest, et soient, qui liberare eum locum
religione volunt, sacra inde evocare.
93
Dionysius, Ant. Rom. III. 69; Livy I. 55. 2: exaugurare fana sacellaque statuii·, Servius
ad Aeneid. IX. 446: actum est, ut exinde ad alia tempia numina evocarentur sacrificiis.
94
Cicero, De Har. Resp. 32.

Authenticated
568 JOHN E . STAMBAUGH
converted to use as a latrine96 ; and the shrine of Mutinus Titinus, destroyed

to make room for the bath of a private house96.
2. The Sanctuary and its Parts
The essential furnishings of a Roman sanctuary were a fence or wall to

define the area sacra and an altar for sacrifices. In addition there might be
an aedes to house the god's image and treasure, porticoes, subsidiary shrines,
trees, seats, statues, votive columns, commemorative dedicatory tablets,
basins and underground storage pits.
The earliest aedes were in the Etruscan style, elevated on a podium, with
deep front porch and a low, broad roof supported on wooden beams and
often decorated with terracotta statues and antefixes97. (Figure 1.) Beginning
•5 Dio X L V I I . 19. 1; Suetonius, Caesar 88.

· · Festus 154 M.
· ' Pliny, Ν. H. X X X V . 154: ante hanc aedem (sc. Ceteris) Tuscanica omnia in aedibus fuisse
auctor est Varrò, et ex hac, cum reficeretur, crustas parietum excisas tabulis marginatis
inclusas esse, item signa ex fatigiis dispersa. Cf. A. MINTO, Problemi sulla Decorazione
Coroplastica nell'Architettura del Tempio Etrusco, Studi Etr. 22 (1952—53), 9—48 and
Vitruvius III. 3. 5. note 101 below.

Authenticated
in the late third or early second century B.C., the architectural details and
proportions began to become Greek88, and by the Augustan period the rules
for tasteful temple architecture as reported in Vitruvius are permeated with
Greek aesthetic sense, with great emphasis on proportions and spacing of
the temple columns". (Plate II.) The external decoration of the aedes
could also include statuary — along the peak of the roof 100 , in the pedi-
ment 101 , or in the pronaos 102 . (Plate III. A.) The pronaos might also
contain a small altar 103 . (Plate III. B.) The elevated podium was
approached by steps — usually a wide central flight, which could be used
as a speaking platform 104 . On the architrave or above the doors was a space
for a dedicatory inscription recording the builder's name and some part
of his career 105 . At least one temple had its entrance wall covered with
poetry 106 . The doors themselves were prominent pieces of temple equip-
ment — they are mentioned in dedicatory inscriptions 107 , sometimes had
sculptural decoration 108 , and were sufficiently prominent that they could
be effected by prodigies, drip with sweat, be struck by lightning, or spring
open spontaneously when the temple was closed109.
The doors provided security for the valuable objects inside. Most
important was the cult statue or other sacred symbol of the deity 110 , but it
98 Elaborate embellishments from Greek lands were introduced by Marcellus in 212 B.C.
(Livy X X V . 40. 1—3). By the early second century, Rome saw Greek roof-tiles imported
and then removed (Livy X L I I . 3) ; in the middle of the century Metellus Macedonicus
had built the first temple of marble (Velleius I. 11. 3—-5). The temples of the Largo
Argentina, Forum Boarium and Forum Holitorium illustrate the Hellenizing tendencies,
see F. C O A R E L L I , Guida Archeologica di Roma (Rome 1974), pp. 250—254, 284—287;
J . Β. W A R D - P E R K I N S , Roman Architecture (New York 1977), pp. 17—57.
99 Vitruvius I I I and IV.
100 Livy X X V I . 23. 4: in aede Concordine Victoria, quae in culmine erat, fulmine icta decussarne
ad Victorias, quae in antefixis erant, haesit neque inde procidit.
101 Vitruvius III. 3. 6: ornantur signis fictilibus aut aereis inauratis earum fastigia tuscanico
more. Tertullian, De Spect. 8: circus Soli principaliter consecratur : cuius aedes medio spatio
et effigies de fastigio aedis emicat.
108 Dio L U I . 27. 2—3: τό τε Πάνθειον ώνομασμέυον έξετέλεσε (sc. ό Άγρίπττα?). . . . έν δέ
τ ω ττρονάω τοΰ τε Αυγούστου καΐ έαυτού άνδριάντας Ιστησε.
108 Dionysius III. 69. 5: ό μέν ετερόζ (sc. βωμός) έστιν Ιν τ ω ττρονάω τ η ; Άθηνα;.
104 Festus 246, 286 M.; cf. Cicero, In Pisonem 11; Dio LIV. 35. 4—5, LVI. 35. The site of a
temple sometimes required the steps to be at the sides or corners of the podium, for example
in the temple of Apollo beside the theater of Marcellus.
105 Most famous is the inscription of the architrave of the Pantheon, M. Agrippa L. f .
cos. tertium fecit. Livy X L . 52. 4—6 gives the text of the dedicatory inscription of the temple
of the Lares Permarini, which was carved supra valvas templi.
106 Mars in Circo Flaminio, mentioned by Valerius Maximus V i l i . 14. 2: Acci versibus tempio-
rum aditus . . . adornavit.
107 CIL VI. 30899: aedem valvas aram. CIL VI. 30915: valvas cum Anubi et ara.
108 Ovid, Fasti V. 561—568.
109 Dio, fr. 57. 60: Ιδρώτι ττολλω αϊ τε Θύραι τοΟ Ποσειδωνίου καΐ 6 βωμό; έρρύη. Julius
Obsequens 13: valvar node sua sponte adapertae.
110 Some gods (Terminus, Magna Mater, Apollo, Elagabalus) were represented by a sacred
stone, cf. G. C A R E T T O N I , Le Bétyle dans le Culte d'Apollon et Autres Divinités à Rome,
Rev. des Étud. Lat. 51 (1973), 32—35.

Authenticated
was surrounded by other dedications of many different types. There might

be statues, libation vessels of precious materials, paintings, lamps, and votive
tablets and columns111. Inside some temples were aediculae of other gods,
either small portable shrines or elements built into the interior cella wall112.
(Plate IV. A.) The dedications could be public in nature, such as spoils of war or
proceeds of fines113, or they could be intensely personal, like the weapons which
Propertius spoke of dedicating at the conclusion of a war114. In the cella of
the Capitoline temple were several small altars115, and in it and other temples
where lectisternia or other banquets were held there would also be tables
and couches among the cella furnishings116. The temple of Concordia offers
111 Livy X X V 7. 5—6: triumviri bini, uni sacris conquirendis donisque persignandis, alteri
reficiendis aedibus Fortunae et Matris Matutae intra portam Carmentalem et Spei extra
portam, quae priore anno incendio consumptae fuer ant. Macrobius, Sat. III. 11. 6: in fanis
alia vasorum sunt et sacrae supellectilis, alia ornamentorum. quae vasorum sunt instrumenti
instar habent, quibus semper sacrificia conficiuntur, quarum rerum principerà locum optinet
mensa, in qua epulae libationesque et stipes reponuntur. ornamenta vero sunt clipei coronae
et huiusce modi donaría, ñeque enim dedicantur eo tempore, quo delubra sacrantur, at vero
mensa arulaeque eodem die, quo aedes ipsae, dedicati soient, unde mensa hoc ritu dedicata in
templo arae usum et religonem optinet pulvinaris. CIL VI. 676: P. Fuficius Primigenius
Sancto Silvano columellam cum lucerna aerea d(onum) d(edit). Pliny, N. H. X X X I V . 14:
placuere et lychnuchi pensiles in delubris aut arborum mala ferentium modo lucentes, quale
est in tempio Apollinis Palatini.
112 E.g., the aedicula Victoriae Virginis installed by Cato in 193 in the tempie of Victoria,
Livy X X X V . 9. 6; or the bronze shrine of the Muses said to have been originally dedicated
by Numa, which M. Fulvius Nobilior moved in 189 to his new temple of Hercules Musa-
rum, Servius ad Aeneid I. 8; or the architectural treatment of the walls inside the temple of
Bacchus at Baalbek, or the niches in the apses of the temple of Venus and Rome at Rome.
The variety of statues in even a relatively small temple is well illustrated by CIL VI. 656:
Sancto Silvano Abascantus Aug. lib. Atimetianus ampliato podio marmora reliq(ua) quae
defuer(ant) adiecit et aedem opere signin(o) inposuit in qua consacravit signa Silvani
Iovis Volcani Apollinis Asclepi Deanae item typum et pavimentum Graecense ante podium
eiusd(em) p(edes) XXIV.
113 E.g., Res Gestae IV. 24: dona ex manubiis in Capitolio et in aede Iuli Divi et in aede Apol-
linis et in aede Vestae et in templo Mariis Ultoris consecravi. For dedications from fines in
the temple of Ceres, see Livy II. 41. 10, X. 23. 13, X X V I I . 6. 19, X X V I I . 26. 9, X X X I I I .
25. 3.
114 Propertius IV. 3. 71—-72: armaque cum tulero portae votiva Capenae, subscribam „Salvo
grata puella viro." Cf. also Porphyrius ad Horace, Ep. I. 1. 4: Veianus nobilis gladiator post
multas palmas consecratis Herculi Fundano armis suis in agellum se contulit; and Horace,
Odes III. 26. 3—6.
115 Dionysius, Ant. Rom. I I I . 69. 4: ó 8' ετερος (sc. βωμός) êv αύτω τ ω σηκω πλησίον τού
εδους. The text does not make it clear whether the altar is in the cella of Juppiter or
Minerva. Varrò apud Servius ad Aeneid III. 134 implies that each of the celias had an
interior altar: sane Varrò, Rerum Divinarum, refert inter sacratas aras focos quoque
sacrari solere, ut in Capitolio Iovi, Iunoni, Minervae.
116 Livy X X I . 62: . . . corvum in aedem Iunonis devolasse atque in ipso pulvinari consedisse.
CIL VI. 628: . . . sanctis Silvano et [. . .] vit mensas. CIL VI. 2104, line 25: reversi in aedem
in mensa sacrum fecerunt ollis et ante aedem in cespite promag(ister) et flam(en) sacr(um)
fecer(unt). See L. R. T A Y L O R , The "Sellisternium" and the Theatrical "Pompa", CI. Phil.
30 (1935), 122—130, and A. K. LAKE, The Supplicatio and Graecus Ritus, Quantulacumque,
Studies pres. to Kirsopp Lake, pp. 243—251, esp. p. 245.

Authenticated
an example of an aedes full of dedications of many sorts: statues by Greek

sculptors of Apollo, Juno, Latona nursing Apollo and Diana, Asclepius and
Hygia, Mars, Mercury, Ceres, Juppiter, Minerva, Marsyas, Liber Pater,
Cassandra, Vesta 117 ; a statue of Antony 118 and four obsidian elephants
installed by Augustus 119 ; the famous ring of Polycrates, a sardonyx set in a
golden horn 120 ; marble tablets with votive dedications. A series of tablets
and bases which held dedications of gold and silver expressed the thanks of
various officials for the collapse of Scribonius Libo's plot against Tiberius 121 .
Among the remains of the temple are eleven niches in the cella wall to con-
tain statues, and two chambers inside the podium which could have served
as repositories. (Plate III. A.)
It would appear that the public could view these treasures at least on
occasion, for some temple images are explicitly known to be accessible122.
Other sacred things were, on the other hand, carefully guarded, such as
the holy things guarded by the Vestal Virgins in the aedes Vestae123, the
mysterious magmentarium in the temple of Tellus124, and the Sibylline
books first in the temple of Juppiter Optimus Maximus then in the temple of
Apollo Palatinus 125 .
Outside, the area itself was often paved, sometimes in marble, though
travertine was more common 126 . The bounding wall was monumental in
the case of hill-top temples such as Juppiter Optimus Maximus on the
Capitoline 127 or Juppiter Anxur at Terracina, but it is mentioned at less
imposing temples as well128. It could serve as a kind of bulletin board for
votive plaques and other records 129 .
The altar was often, especially in old or archaizing shrines, the only
real construction; here the gods' portions of the sacrificial victims were
117
Pliny, Ν. H. X X I V . 73, 77, 80, 89, 90; X X X V . 66, 131, 144; Dio LV. 9. 6.
118
Dio X L I X . 17. 6.
119
Pliny, N. H. X X X V I . 196.
120
Pliny, Ν. H. X X X V I I . 4.
121
CIL VI. 91—94, 30856; Tacitus, Annales II. 32, Supplicationum dies Pomponii Flacci
sententia constituti, dona Iovi, Marti, Concordiae . . . L. Piso et Gallus Asinius et Papius
Mutilus et L. Apronius deer ever e.
122
Dionysius, Ant. Rom. I. 68. 1: έν τούτω κείνται των Τρωικών θεών εικόνες ά$ άπασιν
όρδν θέμις, έπιγραφήν εχουσαι δηλοΰσαν τούς Πενάτας.
123
Dionysius, Ant. Rom. II. 66.
124
Cicero, De Har. Resp. 31.
125
Dionysius, Ant. Rom. IV. 62. 5: ούτοι διέμειναν ol χρησμοί μέχρι τοϋ Μαρσικού κληθέντος
πολέμου κείμενοι κατά γης έν τ ώ ναω τοϋ Κατπτωλίνου Διός έν λιθίνη λάρνακι ύπ' άνδρών
δέκα φυλαττόμενοι. Servius ad Aeneid VI. 72: qui libri in templo Apollinis servabantur.
126
CIL VI. 30985: signum dei Silvani . . . aedern ipsius marmoratam a solo sua pecunia fecit
et templum marmoris stravit.
127
Dionysius, Ant. Rom. III. 69; cf. E. AUST, art. Iuppiter in: R O S C H E R ' S Ausführliches
Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie II (Leipzig 1894—1897, repr.
Hüdesheim 1965), cols. 708—709.
128
CIL VI. 358: locavit Q. Pedius Q(uaestor) Urb(is) murum Iunonis Lucinae. CIL VI. 610:
luco Silvani scyphum marmore incluso impensa sua C. Iulius Abascantus d(onum) d(edit)
et maceriam corrupta (m) impensa sua restituit.
129
CIL I 2 587: ad aedem Saturni in pañete intra caulas proxume ante hanc legem scripta.

Authenticated
burned, as well as the cakes and incense offered independently or in connec-

tion with an animal sacrifice. When a shrine had an aedes, the altar was
placed in front of it and arranged so that when offering sacrifice one could
look across it toward the image of the god in his house130.
Porticoes became an important part of sanctuary design in the second
century B.C. with the porticoes of Scipio Nascia on the Capitoline131.
Eventually it became common to provide most sanctuaries with some sort
Fig. 2. Plan of the Republican sanctuary at Gabii
130 Vitruvius IV. 5. 1 ; IV. 9 : arae spectent ad orientent et semper inferiores sint conlocatae quam
simulacra, quae fuerint in aede, uti suspicientes divinitatem, qui supplicant, et sacrificent.
See H. C. BOWERMAN, Roman Sacrificial Altars (Lancaster, Pa. 1913) andjj. JIMÉNEZ-
DELGADO, P r o Aris e t F o c i s , H e l m a n t i c a 2 3 ( 1 9 7 2 ) , 137—149.
181 Vellerns II. 1. 2: tum Scipio Nasica in Capitolio porticus, tum quas praediximus Metellus,
tum in Circo Cn. Octavius multo amoenissimam moliti sunt, publicamque magnificentiam
secuta privata luxuria est. Scipio's innovation was followed by the Porticus Metelli, the
Porticus Minucia and the Porticus Philippi (P. GROS, Trois Temples de la Fortune, Mèi.
d'Art et d'Arch. de l'Éc. Fran, de Rome 79 [1967], 503—566, and M. G. MORGAN, The
Portico of Metellus, a Reconsideration, Hermes 99 [1971], 480—505.)

Authenticated
of portico, often with shops or storerooms behind 132 , for it was a functional
construction, helpful in providing shelter in case of rain or extreme heat.
(Figure 2 and Plate IV. B.)
Within the area of a large temple could be found smaller shrines of
other gods, such as the shrines of the Argei in or near various temples133.
Trees were frequently cultivated, or sprang up under conditions which made
them sacred objects in their own right; a famous example is the Ficus
Ruminalis in the Lupercal 134 . Some sanctuaries were specifically designated
as groves, luci135. For the convenience of visitors to a temple, seats were
provided for lounging, and also for spending the time between prayer and
return to the world outside13®. One group of temples included elaborate
seating shaped like a theater, which provided a model for Pompey's legal
fiction that his stone theater was really the area of a temple of Venus
Victrix 137 . For ritual washing of hands, basins were a part of the equip-
ment 138 . Statues also stood about, both as part of the original design and as
honorific or votive dedications added in the course of time 139 . Dedications
took other forms as well, such as subsidiary altars, tablets and columns
like those Pliny saw at the rural shrine at the source of the Clitumnus 140 .
Dedications which broke or wore out were relegated to underground storage
chambers called favissaeul, though Plutarch claims that booty which had
132
E.g., the Forum of Caesar in Rome and the temple at Gabii (Figure 2; cf. R. D E L B R U E C K ,
Hellenistische Bauten in Latium II [Straßburg 1912], pp. 5—-10; M. A L M A G R O , Arqueo-
logia y Historia Antiqua, Cuardernos de Trabajos de la Escuela Esp. de Hist, y Arq. en
Roma 10 [1958] 7—29); the temple of Apollo Palatinus (Suetonius, Augustus 29. 3;
Propertius II. 31); the temple of Venus Erycina, Strabo VI. 2: τό π ρ ό της πύλης
της Κολλίνης Ιερόν 'Αφροδίτης Έρυκίυης λεγόμενον, Ιχον καΐ νεών καΐ στοάυ περικει-
μένην άξιόλογου. Pliny, Ερ. IX.39.3: Videor ergo munifice simul religioseque facturus, si
aedem quam, pulcherrimam extruxero, addidero porticus aedi, illarn ad usum deae, has ad
hominum.
133
E.g., Varrò, L. L. V. 54: sacellum Argeorum in Velia apud aedem deurn Penatium. Valerius
Maximus II. 5. G: sacellum Febris in area Marianorum monumentorum.
134
On the Ficus Ruminalis, see P L A T N E R — A S H B Y , Top. Diet. The palm tree at Fortunae
Tres, Livy XLIII. 13; a lotus tree at Juno Lucina (Pliny, Ν. Η. XVI. 235); a lotus and a
cypress at the Volcanal (Pliny, N.H. XVI. 236); a pair of myrtle trees ante aedem ipsam
at the temple of Quirinus (Pliny, N.H. XV. 120—121). See also L. R I C H A R D S O N , Hercules
Musarum and the Porticus Philippi in Rome, Am. Jour, of Arch. 81 (1977) 355—-361;
H. L A U T E R , Ein Tempelgarten ?, Arch. Anz. 83 (1968), 626—631.
135
E.g., Vestae lucus; cf. F. C A S T A G N O L I , Topografia e Urbanistica di Roma Antica, Storia
di Roma 22 (Bologna 1958), p. 72.
136
Varrò, R. R. I. 2. 2: ad subsellia sequentibus nobis procedit. Martial II. 14. 7—8: Memphitica
tempia frequentai, adsidet et cathedris, maesta iuvenca, tuis. Cf. n. 190 below.
137
Gellius X. 1 . 7 — 9 . On this type of temple see J. A. H A N S O N , Roman Theater-Temples.
138
Plutarch, Sulla 32: τ ω δέ περιρραντηρίφ του 'Απόλλωνος έγγΰς οντι προσελθών άπενί-
ψατο τάς χείρας.
139
E.g., Propertius II. 31 on the temple of Apollo Palatinus; Cicero, Ad Quint. Frat. III. 1. 14:
Ad Telluris quidem etiam tuam statuam locavi.
140 P I I N Y _ Ε Ρ . V I I I . 8 . 7 : leges multa multorum omnibus columnis, omnibus parietibus inscripta,
quibus fons ille deusque celebratur. Plura laudabis, nonnulla ridebis.
141
Gellius II. 10: ,,favissae Capitolinae" . . . id esse celias quasdam et cisternas quae in area sub
terra essent, ubi reponi solerent signa vetera quae ex eo templo collapsa essent, et alia quaedam

Authenticated
574 J O H N E. STAMBAUGH
been dedicated was left on display forever no matter what its con-
dition142.
3. Maintenance and Personnel. The aedituus
The temples of the state were, to a large extent, maintained at state

expense. The aediles were responsible for the care of all public buildings
during the Republic143. Under the Empire, the curator aediurn publicarum
had charge of temples144, though several were under the special care of the
Senators145. Extraordinary expenses and major reconstruction could be
undertaken by the censors out of the public treasury146, or be assigned
to a special commission147, or become part of the celebration of a triumph148.
Some temples enjoyed their own funds, such as the temple of Juno Lucina,
to whose treasury parents were expected to make donations on the birth
of a child149, or the temple of Sol, which was endowed by Aurelian with
funds for maintenance160. Private shrines were of course maintained by
those who used them, often with the money of some wealthy patron151.
religiosa e donis consecralis . . . ,,favissas" esse dictas celias quasdam et specus, quibus aeditui
Capitola uterentur ad custodiendas res veteres religiosas. Cf. Festus 88 M. For such storage
pits a t the temple of Vesta, see A. B A R T O L I , I Pozzi dell'Area Sacra di Vesta, Mon. Ant.
dell'Acc. Naz. dei Lincei 45 (1961), 1—143. For excavation results of a typical collection
of small dedications to Ceres a t Lavinium, including statuettes of humans and cows and also
representations of p a r t s of the human body, see B . M. T H O M A S S O N , Deposito Votivo del-
l'Antica Città di Lavinio (Pratica di Mare), Opuse. Rom. 3 (1962), 123—138.
142
Plutarch, Quaest. Rom. 273 C.
143
Varrò, L. L. V. 81: Aedilis qui aedis sacras et privatas procuraret. Livy X. 23. 11—13:
Eodem anno Cn. et Q. Ogulnii aediles curules aliquot feneratoribus diem dixerunt; quorum
bonis multatis ex eo quod in publicum redactum est aenea in Capitolio limina et trium mensarum
argentea vasa in cella Iovis Iovemque in culmine cum quadrigis et ad ficum Ruminalem
simulacra infantium conditorum urbis sub uberibus lupae posuerent semitamque saxo
quadrato a Capena porta ad Martis straverunt. Et ab aedilibus plebeiis L. A elio Poeto et C.
Fulvio Curvo ex multaticia item pecunia, quam exegerunt pecuariis damnatis, ludi facti
pateraeque aureae ad Cereris positae. cf. Varrò, R. R. I. 2. 2; Cicero, Ad Quint. Frat. I I I .
1. 14 and De Har. Resp. 31.
144
F. C A S T A G N O L I , Topografia e Urbanistica di Roma Antica, pp. 54—55.
145
Dio LV. 10. 5: καΐ τήν τοϋ ναού (sc. of Mars) φυλακή ν καΐ βουλευτείς Ιργολαβεϊν έξεϊναι,
καθάπερ έττί τε του 'Απόλλωνος καΐ έττΐ τοΰ Διός τοϋ Κααπτολίου ένενομοθέτητο.
146
Livy X L I I . 3. 7: cui sarta teda exigere souris publicis et locare tuenda more maiorum traditum
est.
147
Livy XXIV. 47. 15—16, after a fire in 213: triumviri bini, uni sacris conquirendis donisque
persignandis, alteri reficiendis aedibus Fortunae et Matris Matutae. Cf. also Cicero, In
Verrem I. 131—134.
148
Pliny, Ν. H. X X X V . 24 and 99.
149
Dionysius, Ant. Rom. IV. 15. 5.
150
SHA Aurelian 35. 3: decrevit etiam emolumenta sartis tectis et ministris. Cf. also CIL X I .
6173, from Suasa: qui testamento suo ex HS n(ummorum) templum Suasae Felici fieri
iussit et in tutelam eius HS XX n(ummorum) reipublicae Suasa[n]or(um) reliquit.
151
E.g., CIL VI. 656, cited above n. 112; and Pliny, Ep. I X . 39. 3—4: Velim ergo emas quattuor
marmóreas columnas, cuius tibi videbitur generis, emas marmora, quibus solum, quibus

Authenticated
T H E FUNCTIONS O F ROMAN TEMPLES 575
The day-to-day care of the temple was the responsibility of the attend-
ant, the aeditumus or aedituus. This might be a free man, even one of some
means152, or a public slave153. Varro's work 'De Re Rustica' begins with an
anecdote in which the aedituus of the temple of Tellus invites several friends
to the temple to celebrate the Sementivae there. When they arrive they
do not find him, for he has been summoned away to the aedile who had
jurisdiction over him and his temple. Because the temple is closed, they
stroll around the area looking at objects on display, then sit down on the
seats and begin a conversation. They later discover that the aedituus has
been killed accidentally, so they walk down from the temple and go home154.
The anecdote tells a number of things about the use of a temple on its feast
day: the aedes with its treasures was apparently locked, although the area
was apparently accessible to the public. The aedituus had a home some-
where else (to which his body was carried), but he seems to have had some
sort of temporary lodging at the temple155. The Sementivae was a festival
of the Earth, and it appears that generally the aedes was open only on
important festivals of the god concerned, or on special occasions such as
supplicationes15β. At night, of course, all the temples were closed, except
parietes excolantur. Erit etiam vel faciendum vel emendum ipsius deae signum, quia antiquum
illud e Ugno quibusdam sui partibus vetustate truncatum est.
152
CIL VI. 675: T. Flavius Eucharistus et T. Claudius Ratus aeditui port(icum) crep(idinem)
et Sex. Caelius Encolpius et T. Claudius Herma aedituus de moneta Silvanum monolithum
sanct(o) D(eo) S(ilvano) . . .
153
Tacitus, Historiae I. 43: Piso in aedem Vestae pervasit, exceptusque misericordia publici
servi et contubernio eius abditus non religione nec caerimoniis sed latebra imminens exitium
differebat. Ibid., I I I . 74: Domitianus prima inruptione apud aedituum occultatus, sollertia
liberti lineo amictu turbae sacricolarum immixtus ignoratusque, apud Cornelium Primutn
paternum clientem iuxta Velabrum delituit.
154
Varrò, R. R. I. 2. 1—2: Sementivis feriis in aedem Telluris veneram rogatus ab aeditumo,
ut dicere didicimus a patribus nostris, ut corrigimur a recentibus urbanis, ab aedituo. Offendi
ibi C. Fundanium, socerum meum, et C. Agrium equitem R. Socraticum et P. Agrasium
publicanum spectantes in pariete pictam Italiam. Quid vos hic? inquam, num feriae
sementivae otiosos hue adduxerunt, ut patres et avos solebant nostros? Nos vero, inquit Agrius,
ut arbitrer, eadem [de] causa quae te, rogatio aeditumi. itaque si ita est, ut annuis, morere
oportet nobiscum, dum ille revertatur. nam accersitus ab aedile, cuius procuratio huius templi
est, nondum rediit et nos uti expectaremus se reliquit qui rogaret. Voliis igitur interea vetus
proverbium, quod est 'Romanus sedendo vincit', usurpemus, dum ille venit? Sane, inquit
Agrius, et simul cogitans portam itineri dici longissimam esse ad subsellia sequentibus nobis
procedit. Ibid. I. 69. 2—4: Cum haec diceret, venit libertus aeditumi ad nos flens et rogai ut
ignoscamus, quod simus retenti, et ut ei in funus postridie prodeamus. Omnes consurgimus ac
simul exclamamus, Quid? in funus? quod funus? quid est factum? Ille flens narrat ab nescio
quo percussum cultello concidisse, quem qui esset animadvertere in turba non potuisse, sed
tantum modo exaudisse vocem, perperam fecisse. Ipse cum patronum domum sustulisset et
pueros dimisisset, ut medicum requirerent ac mature adducerent, quod potius illut admini-
strasset, quam ad nos venisset, aecum esse sibi ignosci. Nec si eum servare non potuisset, quin
non multo post animam effiar et, tarnen putar e se fecisse recte. Non moleste ferentes descendimus
de aede et de casu humano magis querentes, quam admirantes id Romae factum, discedimus
omnes. Cf. also Plutarch, Quaest. Rom. 272 F.
155
Cf. η. 153 above.
156
Livy X X X . 17. 6: itaque praetor extemplo edixit, uti aeditui aedes sacras tota urbe aperirent.
On the supplicationes, see η. 168 below.

Authenticated
for that of Horta 157 . In at least some sanctuaries, the aedes was patrolled
with watchdogs 168 , and yet it seems that the surrounding area remained
open: this seems at any rate to be implied by the evocative passage in
Horace where he described, among the night sounds of the city, the
amorous whisperings in the areae159.
II. Religious Rites and Ceremonies
The main function of a Roman temple was to provide for the offering
of religious duties to the divinity. Such duties were both public in nature,
involving the magistrates of the state or certain of the official priesthoods,
and private, in which individuals came to temples to present their prayers
and offerings for their own intentions.
1. Festivals
As a rule, a special sacrifice was held each year in each temple on the
anniversary of its dedication or constitution, a date which often coincided
with the festival of the patron deity 180 . These ceremonies could display
the greatest solemnity, or a more informal, 'folksy' mood.
The major festival at the Capitoline temple of Juppiter Optimus Maxi-
mus was held originally on September 13, the natalis of the temple, but
was later moved, along with the beginning of the consuls' term of office,
to January 1. A solemn procession of magistrates, Senate, priests and people
climbed the Clivus Capitolinus from the Via Sacra and filled the area
around the temple. The doors on the three celias of the aedes were open,
and each of the consuls sacrificed an ox from Falerii to Juppiter as the
protector of the state 161 . There followed a solemn meeting of the Senate,
either inside the aedes or before it in the area.162.
157
Plutarch, Quaest. Rom. 275 F. Cf. also Varrò, L. L. V. 68: Luna vel quod sola lucei noctu
itaque ea dicta Noctiluca in Palatio, nam ibi noctu lucet templum.
158
J. AYMARD, Scipion l'Africain et les Chiens du Capitole, Rev. des Ét. Lat. 31 (1953), 111—
116. On the ferocious pack of dogs guarding the temple of Adranus in Sicily, cf. Aelian,
N. A. X I . 20.
158
Horace, Odes I. 9. 18—20: nunc et campus et areae / lenesque sub noctem susurri / composita
repetantur hora.
180
E.g. CIL I 2 , p. 233, Feriae Marti Iunoni Lucinae Esquiliis quod eo die aedis ei dedicata
est per matronas quam voverat Albinia; CIL I 2 , p. 244, Feriae quod eo die arai Cereri Matri
et Opt Augustae ex voto suscepto constitutafe sunt.] Cf. η. 83 above.
181
Ovid, Fasti I. 69—86.
182
See E . Ausx in: ROSCHER'S Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen
Mythologie II, col. 723.

Authenticated
More raucous was the annual festival celebrated in late April and early
May in honor of the goddess Flora. In front of her temple young girls
performed mimes {ludi scaenici). These included a kind of strip-tease which
scandalized the younger Cato; men and women dressed in bright colors,
garlanded with roses, drank wine and joked, carried torches and watched
animal shows and hunts 163 . Other theatrical performances were held at
other temples: the dedication of a temple was often observed with ludi
scaenici1M, and the ludi Megalenses, held in front of the temple of Magna
Mater on the Palatine, regularly included dramatic performances165.
Sacrifices were held in the area of the sanctuary, at or near the altar.
Most spectacular were the offerings of animals, in which after preliminary
inspections and offerings of libations and incense, the beast was slain by
the specially trained victimarius, its entrails were inspected by a haruspex
and burned on the altar by the officiant, whether priest, magistrate or
private individual166. The participants in the sacrifice then usually ate
the edible parts of the animal at a banquet, epulum167.
Certain occasions required that all the temples in the city be open, and
that prayer and sacrifice be offered in them all. The technical term for this
was supplicatici, and Livy reports several such observances in response to
unfavorable omens or military reverses, and in other times of intense concern
or excitement 168 . A similarly extraordinary event, and one influenced by
Greek practice169, was the lectisternium, in which the gods joined in the
" s Ovid, Fasti V. 183—375; Pliny, N. H. XVIII. 286. I. M U N D L E , in: Reallexikon für Antike
und Christentum VII (1969), s. v. Flora, Floralia, cols. 1124—1131. Valerius Maximus II.
10. 8; Seneca, Ep. 97. 8. The animals hunted were deer and rabbits (Ovid, Fasti V. 372)
and the hunts were held in the morning (Martial VIII. 67. 4).
164
Lactantius, Div. Inst. VI. 20. 34: nam ludorum celebrationes deorum festa sunt, si quidem
ob natales eorum vel templorum novorum dedicationes sunt constituti. For specific references
see J . A. H A N S O N , Roman Theater-Temples, p. 17, n. 51.
1,5
Several of the plays of Plautus and Terence were first performed at the games in front of
this temple. See H A N S O N , op. cit., pp. 13—16 and Cicero, De Har. Resp. 24: nam quid ego
de illis ludis loquar, quos in Palatio nostri maiores ante templum in ipso Matris Magnae
conspectu Megalesibus fieri celebrarique voluerunt, qui sunt more institutisque maxime casti,
soUemnes, religiosi?
1M
The procedure of a sacrifice is described in detail in R. M. O G I L V I E , The Romans and their
Gods (New York 1 9 6 9 ) , pp. 4 1 — 5 2 ; G. W I S S O W A , Religion und Kultus der Römer,
pp. 3 5 1 — 3 5 3 ; Κ . L A T T E , Römische Religionsgeschichte, pp. 2 0 9 — 2 1 1 , 3 7 5 — 3 9 3 ; J . L . M.
D E L E P P E R , De Godsdienst der Romeinen (Koermond en Maaseik, 1 9 5 0 ) , pp. 9 0 — 9 1 .
For illustrations of the ceremony, see I. S. R Y B E R G , Rites of the State Religion in Roman
Art (Mem. of the Am. Acad, in Rome 2 2 [ 1 9 5 5 ] ) , plates V—XVI, X X I — X X X I .
187
L A T T E , op. cit., pp. 3 7 7 — 3 7 8 ; A U S T , op. cit. (Η. 1 6 2 above), cols. 7 3 4 — 7 3 6 . At the Ara
Maxima of Hercules, custom was to sit for the meal rather than to recline, Macrobius,
Sat. III. 6 . 1 7 and 1 1 . 7 .
168
Livy XXVII. 4. 15: haec prodigia hostiis maioribus procurata decreto pontificum; et
supplicatio diem unum Romae ad omnia pulvinaria, alterum in Capenati agro ad Feroniae
lucum indicta. Livy X X X . 17. 6: itaque praetor extemplo edixit uti aeditui aedes sacras omnes
tota urbe aperirent, circumeundi salutandique deos agendique grates per totum diem populo
potestas fieret. For further references see W I S S O W A , op. cit. (Η. 166), pp. 357—-360; L A T T E ,
op. cit., pp. 245—246.
169
A. K. L A K E , op. cit. (n. 116 above) and L A T T E , op. cit., pp. 242—245.
37 ANRW II 16
Authenticated
sacrificial banquet 170 . When this custom was first introduced, in the Republic,
under instructions from the Sibylline books, the images or symbols of six
(Greek) gods were brought out of their own shrines and set up on couches
in the public squares171. Later, the lectisternium became less rare, and the
meal was conducted within the temple, presumably in the aedes itself;
eventually fulvinar, the word for the couch or dais on which the image
reposed during the banquet, came to be used by metonymy for the whole
temple172.
Some temples served specific segments of the population, for example
the local shrines associated with individual neighborhoods173, or the shrines
of Pudicitia, one accessible only to patrician matrons, the other only to
plebeians174. Men were forbidden to enter the temple of Diana on the Aven-
tine176, women could not attend rites at the Ara Maxima of Hercules176,
female slaves were barred from the temple of Mater Matuta 177 .
The various minor priestly collegia, which seem to have lost most of
their importance during the later Republic but were revived by Augustus,
also made use of the temples, both public ones and certain shrines set aside
for their own use. We gain occasional glimpses in the sources of the Fetiales
hurling a spear on to 'enemy ground' by the temple of Bellona178, the
Luperci racing up and down the Via Sacra and meeting in the Lupercal179,
and the Salii enjoying a banquet in the temple of Mars Ultor180. We are
able to follow the Argei in procession on May 14 over the Caelian, Esquiline
and Quirinal, as they collect the small puppet figures from the shrines
reserved for them 181 . And we know a great deal about the rites conducted by
the Fratres Arvales in many public temples, with their sacrifices of animals,
incense and wine, examination of entrails for omens, formal prayers,
banquets, special vestments of togae fraetextatae and fillets, distribution of
170
Livy V. 13. 6: Duumviri sacris faciundis lectisternio tunc primum in urbe Romana facto
per dies octo Apollinem Latonamque et Dianam, Herculem Mercurium atque Neptunum
tribus quam amplissime tum apparari poterat slratis lectis placavere.
171
Livy XL. 59. 7: in foris publicis, ubi lectisternium erat, deorum capita, quae in lectis erant,
averterunt se. See L . R . T A Y L O R , op. cit. (Η. 1 1 6 above).
172
Livy XXI. 62. 9: Romae quoque et lectisternium Iuventati et supplicatio ad aedem Herculis
nominatim, deinde universo populo circa omnia pulvinaria indicta.
173
E.g., CIL VI. 761: Statae Fortunae Augustae sacrum . . . Mag(istri) Vici Sandaliari Reg . . .
and CIL VI. 30888: Mag (istri) He[rculani] suffragio pag(anorum) primfi facti...]
ludos (sc. compitalicios) fecerunt.
174
Livy X. 23. 1—10.
175
Plutarch, Quaest. Rom. 264 C.
178
Propertius IV. 9. 69.
177
Ovid, Fasti VI. 481.
178
Festus 33 M. ; Dio L. 4. 5.
179
On topography and interpretation of the Lupercalia, A. K . L. MICHELS, The Topography
and Interpretation of the Lupercalia, Trans, of the Am. Phil. Assoc. 84 (1953), 35—59.
Cf. A. PIGANIOL, Observations sur le Rituel le Plus Récent des Frères Arvales, Comptes-
Ren. de l'Ac. des Inscr. et Belles Lettres 1946, 241—251.
180
Suetonius, Claudius 33. On these three sodalities in general see W I S S O W A , op. cit. (η. 166),
pp. 475—485.
181
Varrò, L . L . VII. 44. Cf. L A T T E , op. cit. (η. 166), pp. 412—414.

Authenticated
sacred food to the public inside and outside the temple area, movements
into and out of the aedes, anointing of the cult statues, opening and closing
of doors182.
2. Private Devotions
Most of the religious acts described above have been of a formal nature,
which expressed loyalty to the state, membership in some group, or interest
in antiquarian customs, rather than deep personal religious experience.
Often it seems that the family cult, or one of the oriental religions, or a
philosophical sect, was the chief outlet for a Roman's deeper religious
strivings.
And yet the public temples did include very personal testimonies to
individual faith and gratitude, in the ex-voto dedications made when a vow
was fulfilled or because of a dream-appearance of a god183.
Certain temples were associated with very particular needs. Prospective
brides were supposed to offer sacrifice at the altar of Juno Juga or the
temple of Venus and Rome184. When a marriage was in difficulty, it was
common to go to the shrine of Dea Viriplaca on the Palatine to pray 185 .
Expectant mothers prayed at the shrine of Carmenta for a normal child-
birth18®. The sick could go to the temple of Aesculapius on the Tiber Island
for treatment 187 .
An individual who passed a shrine or image of a god would salute it
by kissing his hand in the direction of the holy place188. When he entered
the shrine to make a prayer or offering, he would wash his hands at the
basin and pray facing the image — standing with hands raised or
(occasionally, in the case of women) kneeling189.
182
CIL VI. 202a—2114, esp. 2042, 2060, 2104 for details of sacrifices, banquets and rites.
183
E.g., CIL VI. 637: sacrum Sancto S(ilvano) Aug(usto) voto suc (cesso) ex vis(u).
184
Festus 104 M. : ara Iunonis Iugae quam putabant matrimonia iungere. Dio L X X I I . 31:
τ ω δέ Μάρκω καΐ τ η Φαυστίνη έψηφίσστο ή βουλή ?ν τε τ ω ΆφροΒισΙφ τ ω τε 'Ρωμαίω
εΙκόνας άργυρος άνατεθήναι καΐ βωμόν ίδρυθήναι, καΐ έπ' αύτοΰ πάσας τ ά ; κόρας τάς
Ιν τ ω δστει γαμουμένας μετά τ ω ν νυμφίων θύειν.
185
Valerius Maximus II. 1. 6: quotiens vero inter virum et uxorem aliquid iurgii intercesserat, in
sacellum Deae Viriplacae, quod est in Palatio, veniebant.
186
Gellius XVI. 16. 4.
187
Festus 110 M.: In insula A esculapio facta aedes fuit, quod aegroti a medicis aqua maxime
sustententur. Eiusdem esse tutelae draconem, quod vigilantissimum sit animal; quae res ad
tuendam valitudinem aegroti maxime apta est. Canes adhibentur eius templo, quod is uberibus
canis sit nutritus. Bacillum habet nodosum, quod difficultatem significai artis. Laurea
coronatur, quod ea arbor plurimorum sit remediorum. Huic gallinae immolabantur. Cf. note
236 below.
188
Apuleius, Apologia 56. 4: nulli deo ad hoc aevi supplicavit, nullum templum frequentava,
si fanum aliquod praetereat, nefas habet adorandi gratia manum labris admovere. Minu-
cius Felix, Octavius 2. 4: Caecilius simulacro Serapidis denotato, ut vulgus superstitiosus
solet, manum ori admovens osculo, labiis pressit.
189
Seneca, Ep. 41. 1: non sunt ad caelum elevandae manus nec exorandus aedituus, ut
nos ad aurem simulacri quasi magis exaudiri possimus admittat. Cf. C. SITTL, Die Ge-
37*
Authenticated
After making his prayer, the individual usually sat down on one of the
benches, for a moment of quiet reflection or to talk quietly190. The best
known example is Scipio Africanus, whose special devotion to Juppiter
included nocturnal visits to the Capitoline temple for quiet communing
with the god191. It is not certain that Scipio was actually as faithful in his
prayers as tradition maintained, but the matter of fact way in which Livy
reports it makes it likely that some Romans did make a habit of such per-
sonal visits with the gods.
III. Political Functions of Temples
The intimate relationship between the Roman state and religion is

characteristic of Roman life generally, but it is most clearly shown in the
use of temples as meeting places, offices and archives for the business of
the state.
1. Meetings of Official Bodies
The Roman Senate could meet only in an enclosed space and in a

properly inaugurated templum (so that the gods could be consulted through
augury) on property belonging either to the gods or to the state192. Tradition
ascribed the solemn inauguration of the Curia Hostilia to King Tullus
Hostilius himself, and recorded the ritual which he used193. For much of
bärden der Griechen und Römer (Leipzig 1890), p. 177; N. TURCHI, La Religione di Roma
Antica (Bologna 1939), pp. 130—131; F. DE RUYT, L'Agenouillement dans l'Iconographie
Antique de la Prière, Bull, de la Cl. des Lettres de l'Acad. Roy. de Belgique 57 (1971),
205—216.
1.0 Plutarch, Quaest. Rom. 270 D: προσευξάμενοι καΐ προσκυνήσαντε; έν TOÏÇ Ιεροΐς έτπ-
μένειυ καΐ καθίζειν εΐώθασιν. Propertius II. 28. 44—46: scribam ego: 'Per magnum est
salva puella Iovern' ; ante tuosque pedes illa ipsa operata sedebit, narrabitque sedens longa
pericia sua. Ovid, Fasti VI. 307—308: nunc quoque cum fiunt antiqua sacra Vacunae, ante
Vacunales stantque sedentque focos. Cf. H. LEWY, Das Sitzen nach dem Gebet, Philologus
84 (1928/29), 378—380.
1.1 Gellius VI. 1. 6. Livy X X V I . 19. 5: nullo die prius ullam publicam privatamque rem egit
quam in Capitolium iret ingressusque aedem consideret et plerumque solus in secreto ibi
tempus tereret. See R. SEGUIN, La Religion de Scipion l'Africain, Latomus 33 (1974),
3—21.
182 T. MOMMSEN, Römisches Staatsrecht III, 2 (Leipzig 31887), p. 926. Varrò apud Gellius
XIV. 7.7: nisi in loco per augurem constitute, quod templum appellaretur, senatus
consultum factum esset, iustum id non fuisse : propterea et in curia Hostilia et in
Pompeia et post in Iulia, cum profana ea loca fuissent, templa esse per augures constituta,
ut in iis senatus consulta more maiorum iusta fieri possent. Ci. Servius ad Aeneid VII. 153.
195 Varrò, L. L. V. 155. Livy I. 30. 2 : templumque ordini ab se aucto curiam fecit quae Hostilia
usque ad patrum nostrorum aetatem appellata est.

Authenticated
the Republic, meetings were often held in the temple of Juppiter on the
Capitoline and in the temple of Castor in the Forum. Beginning around
63 B.C. Cicero begins to report meetings in the temple of Concordia rather
than that of Castor194. Outside the fomerium, meetings to receive ambas-
sadors and generals under arms, as well as to assign provinces and to de-
liberate about war were held in the temples of Apollo Medicus and of
Bellona. Under the empire, the temples of Apollo Palatinus, Concordia and
Mars Ultor seem to have been regular meeting places. In times of stress the
Senate was convened at any convenient temple, as when under threat of
siege it met at the temple of Quirinus in 435 B.C., when ambassadors were
received at the temple of Aesculapius in 174 B.C.195, when Scaevola asked
the Senate's advice about Ti. Gracchus in the temple of Fides, when Cicero
summoned the Senate to condemn Catiline in the temple of Juppiter
Stator, when it met in the temple of Honos to recall Cicero from exile,
when Antony convened it in the temple of Tellus after the murder of Caesar,
and when it met in the temple of Juppiter Victor after the murder of
Caligula196.
Other official meetings were held inside or in front of temples. The
comitia tributa were normally held in the Comitium, the inaugurated
meeting place in front of the Senate House. Crowds of citizens also
assembled at the other end of the Forum, and then the speaker used the
steps of the temple of Castor as a tribunal197, or of Divus Iulius198. The Area
Capitolina was often used for meetings of very large numbers of people199.
Once, when a riot threatened to break out in the theater, Cicero summoned
the crowd to a meeting at the near-by temple of Bellona200.
Certain temples were the sites of specific political functions. Emissaries
to the Emperor first registered their pleas with the state treasurers in the
area of the temple of Saturn201. The censors' first act on assuming office
was to sit on their curule chairs at the altar of Mars in the Campus
Martius202; the consuls' first acts were to feed the sacred geese on the
Capitoline and renew the red paint on the cult statue of Jupiter there203.
Oaths were sworn at the temple of Castor, the temple of Saturnus and the
Ara Maxima of Hercules204. Law courts sometimes met in temples: we hear
of Claudius hearing cases in front of the temple of Mars Ultor, and Hadrian
184
MOMMSEN, op. cit. (Η. 192 above), p. 928, n. 6.
195
A secret meeting, at night, Livy XLI. 22. 3, cf. Livy XLII. 24.
196
For references to these meetings, see PLATNER—ASHBY, Top. Diet., under the various
temples.
197
Plutarch, Cato Minor 27.
198
Both times associated with funerals of members of the Julio-Claudian family: Dio LIV. 35.
4—5 and LVI. 35—41.
199
Livy XXV. 3. 4; Velleius II. 3. 2.
200
Plutarch, Cicero 13.
201
Plutarch, Quaest. Rom. 275 B—C; CIL VIII. 9249.
202
Livy XL. 45. 8.
20S
Plutarch, Quaest. Rom. 287 C—D.
204
Appian, Bell. Civ. I. 31; CIL I2. 582; Dionysius, Ant. Rom. I. 40. 6.

Authenticated
doing the same in the Pantheon 205 . The temple of Bellona was the site of
the ceremony in which a member of the Fetiales cast a ritual spear to
declare war against an enemy206.
2. Civic Offices
The temple of Castor, being one of the earliest temples in the Republican
forum, became the office of the consuls. They convened the assembly there,
and sat on the podium in front of it to conduct official business207. As a
result the place was thronged with litigants and politicians, so much so that
assassination attempts were made there on Pompey and on Sestius, and
when Clodius stored weapons there he had to tear up the steps to enforce
his occupation of the building208.
Similarly, the censors used the consecrated Atrium Libertatis as their
office209, and they kept their public accounts here and in the near-by temple
of the Nymphs 210 . The quaestors maintained the public treasury at the
temple of Saturnus, and it and its area became a repository of many laws
and commemorative documents211. The plebeian aediles maintained their
headquarters at the temple of Ceres on the Aventine, which had great
importance as a plebeian shrine: here were the archives of the aediles, copies
of Senatus consulta, and dedications made with fines levied by the plebeian
magistrates 212 .
In addition, military documents were displayed in temple precincts:
treaties on the Capitoline around the temple of Juppiter, as chief god of the
state 213 , and the temple of Fides, as enforcer of oaths214. The official copy
205
Suetonius, Claudius 33; Dio L X I X . 7. 1.
206
Festus 33 M: ante cuius templum erat columella, quae bellica vocatur, super quam hastam
iaciebant cum bellum indicebatur. Cf. Dio L. 4. 5.
207
Plutarch, Sulla 8 and 33. 4; Cicero, De H a r . Resp. 28; Pro Sestio 79.
208
Plutarch, Cato Minor 27; Cicero, P r o Milone 18; De H a r . Resp. 49; Ad Quint. F r a t . I I .
3. 6; D e Domo 54 and 110; I n Pisonem 11 and 23; P r o Sestio 34 and 85.
209
Livy X L I I I . 16. 13: censores extemplo in atrium Libertatis escenderunt, et ibi signatis
tabellis publicis clausoque tabularlo de dimissis servis publicis negarunt se prius quicquam
publiez negotii gestures, quam iudicium populi de se factum esset. Livy X L V . 15. 5: postremo
eo descensum est, ut ex quattuor urbanis tribubus unam palam in atrio Libertatis sortirentur,
in quam omnes qui servitutem servissent conicerent.
210
Cicero, Pro Milone 73: aedem Nympharum incendit, ut memoriam publicam recensionis
tabulis publicis impressam extingueret. Cf. Festus 241 M.: t h e augural laws were also kept
here.
211
Varrò a p u d Macrobius I. 8. 3: aedem vero Saturni aerarium Romani esse... apud eum loca-
retur populi pecunia communis, sub quo fuissent cunctis universa communia. CIL I 2 587, t h e
'Lex Cornelia de X X Quaestoribus' of 81 B.C., col. 2, line 40: nomina in eis decurieis ad
aedem Saturni in pariete intra caulas proxume ante hanc legem.
212
Livy I I I . 55. 13; Dionysius, A n t . Rom. VI. 89. 3. A . A L F Ö L D I , Il Santuario Federale Latino
di D i a n a sull'Aventino e il Tempio di Ceres, Stud, e Mat. di Stor. delle Rei. 32 (1961),
21—39.
213 Polybius I I I . 26; Appian, Bell. Syr. 39; cf. E . A U S T in: R O S C H E R ' S Ausführliches Lexikon
der griechischen u n d römischen Mythologie II, 1, cols. 725—726.
214
Dio X L V . 17. 3: τ ά ς στήλαζ . . . περί του τ ή ; Πίστεως vecóv.

Authenticated
of a soldier's honorable discharge from military service was also displayed —

under the Julio-Claudians and Flavians they were placed in the area Capi-
tolina near the temple of Fides; from A.D. 90 on, they were all located in
the precinct of Divus Augustus215.
Temples also provided a setting for important documents and relics of
political life, the spolia opima in the temple of Juppiter Feretrius216, the
linen books with early lists of magistrates and the sacred geese in the temple
of Juno Moneta217, the Palladium and other ineffably sacred objects in the
temple of Vesta218, and official weights and measures both in the Forum
at the temple of Castor and on the Capitoline in the temple of Ops219.
3. Temples as Political Propaganda
Because the temples were so thoroughly enmeshed in the political

processes of the Roman state, it is easy to understand how they became
important in the political gestures and maneuverings that characterized
Roman political history. The traditions about the early kings of Rome
included temples built to commemorate great deeds or aspirations to
greatness, and from the earliest days of the Republic memories of political
strife and posturing were enshrined in temples: Dea Carna, to celebrate the
expulsion of the Tarquins; Mercurius, dedicated by an humble centurion
when the two consuls could not give way to each other; Ceres, Liber and
Libera, important to the plebeians in their early struggles with the
patricians; Concordia, voted to commemorate the passage of the Licinian
laws and restored by Opimius to celebrate his victory over the 'discordant'
Gracchi220.
The many temples vowed by generals and built or dedicated in connec-
tion with their triumphs may have demonstrated some true religious sense
of obligation to a god. Just as surely, they demonstrated the prestige of the
builder, his ability to benefit the city and his desire to beautify it, and they
contributed effectively to the public-relations campaigns of these generals
as they rose to political prominence. How important the politicians them-
selves considered them is shown both by their inscribing prominently the
215
See CIL III. Suppl., pp. 2034—2035.
216
Cf. η. 66 above.
217
Livy IV. 7. 12 and 20. 8; Plutarch, Camillus 27.
218
Dionysius II. 66. Augustus is said to have moved some of them to the Palatine in 14 B.C.,
Dio LIV. 24. See A. DEGRASSI, Esistette sul Palatino un Tempio di Vesta ?, Mitt. des Deut.
Arch. Inst. (Köm. Abt.) 62 (1955), 144—154; M. GUARDUCCI, Vesta sul Palatino, ibid. 71
( 1 9 6 4 ) , 1 5 8 — 1 6 9 ; H . G. KOLBE, N o c h e i n m a l V e s t a a u f d e m P a l a t i n , i b i d . 7 3 — 7 4 ( 1 9 6 6 —
1967), 94—104.
219
E.g., CIL XI. 6726, 2, a weight inscribed exa(ctum) ad Casto(ris), cf. also CIL V. 8119, 4
and CIL XIII. 10030, 13 and 14. H. DESSAU, Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae 8637a, bronze
weights tested at tempi (um) Opts Aug(ustae).
220
See PLATNER—ASHBY, Top. Diet, for references.

Authenticated
name of the builder on the temple (a custom which the Renaissance cardinals
and popes later adopted with enthusiasm) and by the elaboration and re-
finement of the temples with (from the late third century on) their Greek
columns and statues. The building programs just after 146 B.C. provide a
good illustration. Metellus Macedonicus was awarded a triumph in that
year for his successes as propraetor in Greece against the Achaean League ;
to observe the occasion, he erected a portico around the temples of Juppiter
Stator and Juno Regina at the Circus Flaminius221. The portico was the
first marble construction in Rome, and was decorated with a group of
equestrian statues brought back from the campaign, work of Lysippus
commissioned by Alexander the Great. Metellus was succeeded in the
Achaean campaign by the consul L. Mummius. After his destruction of
Corinth in 146 he built a temple to Hercules Victor; its dedicatory
inscription celebrates his exploits without modesty222. He also shipped
many works of art back from Greece, though he had no reputation as a
conoisseur. These included a statue of Hercules in his temple223, bronze
sounding jars from Corinth installed in the temple of Luna 224 , and some
statues which he lent to Licinius Lucullus (a novus homo as consul in 151)
who as proconsul had won a victory in Lusitania and celebrated a triumph
in 146226. The statues Licinius installed in the temple which he built to
Felicitas, and when Mummius requested their return, he refused. Still
another important figure was Scipio Aemilianus Africanus, who celebrated
the destruction of Carthage with a triumph and a temple to Hercules in
the Forum Boarium. He and Mummius were censors in 142, but rivals, and
Plutarch tells us that Scipio insulted Mummius by not inviting him to the
dedication banquet226. All these maneuverings show how temples celebrated
the exploits of the political figures and leading families of the city 227 , and
the custom continued to the end of the Republic with such grandiose con-
structions as the temple of Venus Victrix in Pompey's theater and the temple
of Venus Genetrix in Caesar's Forum.
Temples continued to serve as propaganda under the emperors, with
the installation of spoils of war in various temples228, the construction of
221 Velleius I. 11. 3—5.

222 CIL VI. 331: L. Mummi L. f. cos. ductu auspicio imperioque eius Achaia capta Corinto
deleto Romam redieit triumphans ob hasce res bene gestas quod in bello voverat hanc aedem et
Signum Herculis Victoris imperator dedicai.
228 Velleius I. 13. 4.
224 Vitruvius V. 5. 8.
225 The statues may have been the Muses by Praxiteles, from Thespiae, cf. Cicero, In Verrem
II. iv. 126; Pliny, N. H. X X X I V . 69, X X X V I . 39.
228 Festus 242 M. : in foro Boario ubi A emiliana aedes est Herculis ; cf. Plutarch quoted above,
n. 88.
227 E.g., the temple of Libertas on the Aventine, dedicated by T. Sempronius, consul in 238,
from the proceeds of fines; his son added a painting of the victory at Beneventum, Livy
X X I V . 16. 19; or the temple of Honos et Virtus vowed by M. Claudius Marcellus in 222,
impeded by the pontífices, but eventually dedicated by his son in 205, Livy X X I X . 11. 13.
228 Note 113 above.

Authenticated
temples and altars to commemorate the Emperor's virtues229, the erection

of statues of members of the imperial family230. For the most part, however,
the emperors built less intensely in Rome than in the provinces, where
temples under the Emperor's auspices or to his Genius sprang up in nearly
every city231. And in those Italian and provincial cities, the temples
continued to convey an important political message, for they often imitated
the temples of Rome and helped make the cities extensions and models of
Rome throughout the empire232.
IV. The Temple in the City: Economic and Social Functions
1. Markets and Banks
The general term for a businessman or tradesperson who worked in the

neighborhood of a certain temple followed the pattern vestiarius ab aede
Cereris233, in which the temple serves most immediately as an identifying
landmark and focus for the neighborhood business district. We know in
general terms that flower sellers worked near the temple of Portunus in
the Forum Boarium and near the Lares on the Velia, and booksellers near
the temple of Peace234. State-supplied wine was sold in the porticoes of the
temple of Sol236, and in the precincts of the temple of Aesculapius where
the sick would come to rest and consult and pray, a busy market grew up236.
On the Aventine, clothing and perfume sellers gathered around the temples
of Diana and Ceres237. The official guild of merchants met at the temple of
Mercurius, their patron, and many commercial guilds tended to gather at
a temple, as discussed below in section V.
228
Under Augustus and Tiberius, cf. Ara Fortunae Reducís, Ara Pacis Augustae, Ara Provi-
dentiae Augustae, Ara Pietatis, Ara Amicitiae, Ara Clementiae. See P l a t n e r — A s h b y ,
Top. Diet, for references.
230
E.g., the statue of Drusus erected by decree of the Senate at the Lupercal, CIL VI. 31200.
231
R. MacMullen, Roman Imperial Building in the Provinces, Harv. St. in Class. Phil. 64
(1959), 207—236.
232
Cf. the Capitolium at Cosa, Ostia, Pompeii, Brescia, Timgad; the temple of Apollo at
Cuma ; the temple of Rome and Augustus in the fora at Pola, Pisae, Ferentum, Ostia and
Pompeii: see L. R. T a y l o r , op. cit. (η. 116 above), 123, η. 30.
233
CIL VI. 9969.
234
Fronto, Ep. I. 7; Ovid, Fasti VI. 791—792; Martial I. 2. Ovid, Ars Am. III. 165—169:
Femina procedit densissima crinibus emptis proque suis alios efficit aere suos. Nec pudor
est emisse palam; venire videmus Ηerculis ante oculos virgineumque chorum. (Cf. Martial V.
49. 12—13.)
235
SHA Aurelianus 48. 4: in portieibus templi Solis fiscalía vina ponuntur, non gratuita
populo erogando sed pretto.
236
Cf. note 187 above, and M. Guarducci, L'Isola Tiberina e la sua Tradizione Ospitaliera,
Rend. dell'Acc. Naz. dei Lincei, Cl. di Sci. Mor., Stor. e Fil. 26 (1971), 267—281.
237
E.g., CIL VI. 1006, unguentaria ab D(ianae) and 33922, vestiarius de Dianio; and VI.
9969, vestiarius ab aede Cereris.

Authenticated
Much of the banking business of Rome revolved around the temple of

Saturnus in the Forum. This was the headquarters of the state treasury,
and as a result business and bankers gathered in the area of the temple,
and some had their offices in or adjacent to the area. The phrase which
describes t h e m is negotiatores ex area Saturni238.
The temples of Castor, Mars and Ops served as safe places to deposit
sums of money or valuable objects, since the resident god could be expected
to exert his protective power, and the security arrangements for the temple's
treasures would also normally, and more practically, serve for private
goods on deposit along with them 239 . Juno Moneta may also have accepted
private deposits along with its function as the mint, though the evidence
is not completely clear on the point240.
2. Museums and Libraries
We have already surveyed the ways in which dedications might come

to temples, and the kinds of objects they might include. The practice of
carrying off statues from foreign lands, particularly the Greek world, and
installing them as votive dedications in temples made these temples reposi-
tories of some of the greatest works of art in the world. In the chapters on
Greek art in the 'Natural History' of Pliny the Elder, temples in Rome are
repeatedly named as the location of famous statues or other curiosities.
The richest art collections were: the one which Mummius brought from
Corinth and installed in the temple of Ceres; the one which had accumulated
gradually in the temple of Concordia; and the ones which were assembled
for display as single collections by Augustus in the temple of Apollo
Palatinus and by Vespasian in the temple of Pax240a. Not all the
art on display was from the Greek masters: there were statues of famous
Romans in the Area Capitolina, and shields with the busts of Appius Clau-
dius' ancestors at the temple of Bellona. The meeting hall in the temple of
Apollo Palatinus had statues of famous orators.
Temples were a natural place to enshrine the sacred relics of Roman
society, starting with the secret holy things in the temple of Vesta, and
including the bones of Orestes at the temple of Quirinus; an old statue
draped with the supposed toga of Servius Tullius in the temple of Fortune ;
the original statue of Juno Regina brought by evocatio from Veii ; the sandals,
spindle and distaff of Tanaquil and a shield commemorating the league
with Gabii, at the shrine of Semo Sancus; Cleopatra's pearls at the Pan-
theon; a memorial pair of scales at the temple of Saturnus; a column with
the original text of the 'Lex Icilia' and another with the lex dedicationis
238
CIL X I V . 153.
239
Juvenal XIV. 261—263; Cicero, Phil. II. 93; Velleius II. 60. 4.
240
Cicero, Ad Att. V I I I . 7 . 3 and S H A C K L E T O N — B A I L E Y ' S note ad loc.
240» CF P L A T N E R — A S H B Y , Top. Diet, under these temples. On the selection and arrangement
of this statuary, see C . V E R M E U L E , Greek Sculpture and Roman Taste (Ann Arbor 1 9 7 7 ) .

Authenticated
which served as a model for other temples, at the temple of Diana ; and such
scientific wonders as Rome's first sun-dial at the temple of Quirinus and a
remarkably hard stone which Nero kept in a special shrine, of Fortuna
Seiani, in his Golden House.
By the end of the Republic a strong precedent had already been set
for using temples as repositories for treasures like these. And so when
Asinius Pollio established the first real library in Rome, it was natural for
him to locate it at the Atrium Libertatis, sacred to a goddess but also capable
of accommodating (since it already housed the censors' records and activities)
a collection of books. Augustus' library had separate rooms adjoining the
area of Apollo Palatinus 241 , and Tiberius followed by installing a library in
the temple of Divus Augustus. Others eventually opened in the temples of
Minerva and of Pax — and we know that the last attracted as assortment of
literary types242.
An important center of cultural activity was the temple of Hercules
Musarum. Just as the merchants congregated at the temple of Mercurius,
so here the poets gathered to teach and read their works, surrounded by
statues of their distinguished literary predecessors and of the Muses, as
well as by important paintings of mythological scenes243. (Plate IV. B.)
3. Temples as Landmarks and Meeting Places
All these many functions produce an impression of people streaming

to, around and from temples, finding them indispensable to the conduct
of their business and their cultural and intellectual life. Beyond that, shady
porticoes, the steps and benches for stolling and sitting, the constantly
changing scene, the prospect of seeing a procession or sacrifice, made the
temples some of the most attractive places for lounging and loafing in the
city. The Area Capitolina attracted many strollers244, and all the more
241
F. C A S T A G N O L I , Sulla Biblioteca del Tempio di Apollo Palatino, Rend. dell'Acc. Naz.
dei Lincei, Cl. di Sci. Mor., Stor. e Fil. 4 (1949), 380—382.
242
Gellius V. 21. 9: Sinni Capitonis, doctissimi viri, epistulae sunt uno in libro multae positae,
opinor, in templo Pads. Gellius XVI. 8. 2: commentarium . . . studiose quaesivimus eumque
in Pads bibliotheca repertum legimus. Cf. SHA Trig. Tyrr. 31. 10: Nemo in templo Pads
dicturus est me feminas inter tyrannos, tyrannas videlicet vel tyrannides, ut ipsi de me soient
cum risu et toco iactitare, posuisse.
243
Porphyrio ad Horace, Serm. I. 10. 38—39: In aede Musarum . . ., quo solebant poetae con-
venire et dicta sua multis audientibus recitare captantes laudem ex versibus, et ideo Tarpam
iudicem voluit, vel quod Tarpa probare consuevisset, quae ad scenam deferenda essent. Cf.
Pliny, Ν. Η. X X X V . 66, 114, 144. Β. TAMM, Le Temple des Muses à Rome, Opuse. Rom. 3
(1962), 157—167 and L. R I C H A R D S O N , Hercules Musarum and the Porticus Philippi in
Rome, Am. Jour, of Arch. 81 (1977), 355—361.
244
Sidonius, Ep. I. 7. 8: aream Capitolinam percurrere albatus; modo subdolis salutationibus
pasci, modo crepantes adulationum bullas ut recognoscens libenter audire, modo serica et
gemmas et pretiosa quaeque trapexitarum involucra rimari et quasi mercaturus inspicere
prensare depretiari devolvere, et inter agendum multum de legibus, de temporibus, de senatu,
de principe queri, quod se non prius quam discutèrent ulciscerentur.

Authenticated
important temples offered a place for beggars to wait for handouts, for the
idle to wait for something of interest, and for shoppers to browse among
the shops and stalls. The temple of Venus Genetrix, with its Forum of
Caesar crowded with legal business and its rows of shops filled with jewellers
offers one very frenetic type of temple precinct in the middle of the city246 ;
a more relaxed atmosphere would probably have prevailed within the
precinct of Claudius on the brow of the Caelian, with its hedges and gardens
(Plate V.) Such crowds of people visiting the temples at leisure presented
possibilities for all sorts of liaisons, and the moralists point particularly
accusing fingers at the temples of Isis, Ganymede, Magna Mater, Ceres246 and
Venus247. In one instance we hear of lewd behavior at the temple of Juno
Sospita, but the virtuous matron Caecilia undertook to clean it physically
and morally248.
V. Private Shrines : Temples of the collegia
Apart from the family, the most important social groupings in Rome
were the clubs — the collegia or sodalicia comprised of businessmen involved
in the same trade, or of soldiers, veterans and poor people banding together
for social reasons and as funerary associations. These collegia participated
in the public religious life of Rome on the occasions when they had some
special role at a festival, as did the guild of merchants at the feast of Mer-
curius, the craftsmen at the Quinquatrus on March 19 in honor of Minerva,
the flute-players at the minor Quinquatrus on June 13249. But beyond this
occasional participation in public state festivals, the collegia, whether their
goal was commercial, political or funerary, all had a religious life of their
own, expressed in the popular custom of adopting the name of the patron
deity as part of the name of the collegium ; or in dedications to one or another
245
Appian, Bell. Civ. I I . 102: άνέστησε καΐ TÍ) Γενετείρα τ ό ν νεών, ώσττερ εύξατο μέλλων tv
Φαρσάλω μαχείσθαι· καΐ τέμενος τ ω νεω περιέθηκεν, δ ' Ρ ω μ α ί ο ς ϋταξεν ά γ ο ρ ά ν είναι,
ού τ ω ν ώνίων, άλλ' ârrl πράξεσι συνιόντων έ; άλλήλους, καθά καΐ Πέρσαΐζ ήν τις ά γ ο ρ ά
ζητοΰσιν ή μανθάνουσι τ ά δίκαια. Cf. also NASH, Pict. Diet. I, p p . 33—34, 424—432
a n d D. D U D L E Y , U r b s R o m a (Aberdeen 1967), pp. 120—123.
248
Juvenal I X . 22—25: fanum Isidis et Ganymedem Pads et advectae secreta Palatia matris
et Cererem (nam quo non prostat femina templo?) notior Aufidio moechus scelerare solebas.
247
Porphyrio ad Horace, Serm. I. 2. 94: haec autem adeo vilis fuit, ut in aede Veneris adulterium
committeret.
218
Cicero, De Div. I. 4; Julius Obsequens 55: Metella Caecilia somnio Iunonem Sospitam
profugientem, quod immunde sua tempia foedarentur, cum suis precibus aegre revocatam
diceret, aedem matronarum sordidis obscenisque corporis coinquinatam ministeriis, in qua
etiam sub simulacro deae cubile canis cum fetu erat, commundatam supplicationibus habitis
pristino splendore restituii.
J . - P . W A L T Z I N G , É t u d e Historique sur les Corporations Professionnelles chez les Romains,
I, Mémoirs couronnés et Mémoirs des Savants étrangers 50 (Louvain 1895), p. 199.

Authenticated
god by the whole collegium or one of its officers; or in the construction of

an aedes for the god in the group's headquarters (its schola)260.
Our evidence for these scholae in Rome itself is epigraphic, but the
inscriptions give a fairly complete picture of the religious nature of their
furnishings. Three documents of collegia of Silvanus show the members who
took the lead in construction, the shrines to the gods with their altars,
statues and porticoes261. The land for the schola with its temple might be
granted by a city official262 or by a private property owner263. A particularly
elaborate schola, belonging to the secretaries and criers of the curule aediles,
is known to have stood on the Via Sacra in the Forum just east of the temple
of Saturnus254. Incomplete excavation reports from the middle of the
sixteenth century confirmed that it was a small but sumptuous room,
completely of marble, but an inscription describes in more detail the marble
walls, bronze chairs, seven silver statues of the gods and mutuli with
bronze revetments. Several of these documents refer to the dedication of
these temples, with feasting, and in this the collegium was imitating
the rites of the state, though in most cases the dedication would be of a
different order than was the case with public temples dedicated by mag-
istrates and pontiffs. The ceremonies were probably very similar, but the
legal effects were quite different: the dedication of private land could turn it
into a locus religiosus, but it remained solum privatum, not solum sacrum255.
250 Ibid., pp. 203—205.

251 CIL VI. 642: Silvano sancto d[. . .Jus Felix e[t ]s Paris, immfunes . . . cjollegi idem
[curaiJores aedicfula restituì]a, solo ampli[ato, loco excult]o, qui sunt cult[ores] Silvani
d . C I L V I . 671: Sancto Silvano sacr( um) Euty ches, collegi magni Lar (um) etimag(inum)
domin(i) invidi Antonini Pii Felicis Aug (usti) p(atris) p(atriae) ser(vus) actor d(onum)
d(edit) hortis Abonianis aram marmorea(m) cum suo sibi sigillo Silvani. CIL VI. 675:
cited note 152 above.
262 CIL VI. 814, found at the Forum Boarium: Ex auctoritate Imp(eratoris) T. Vespasiani
Aug. in loco qui designatus erat per Flavium Sabinum, operum publicorum curatore(m),
templum extruxerunt negotiatores frumentari.
253 CIL VI. 839, found on the Via Nomentana near the Castra Praetoria: C. Heduleius
Januarius q(uin)qfuennalis) aram sodalibus suis Surrensibus donum posuit et locum
schole ipse adquesevit. CIL VI. 10231, found on the Via Appia just outside the Porta
Capena: Locus sive is ager est, qui est via Appia inter miliarium secundum et (tertium),
euntibus ab Roma e parte dexteriori, in agro Curtiano Talarchiano in praedis Juliaes
Monimes et sociorum, locus, in quo aedificata est schola sub por(ticu) consacrata Silvano
et collegio eius sodalic (i), mancipio acceperunt immunes et curator et pleps universa collegi eius
de Julia Monime et socis eius sestertio nummo uno donationis causa, tutore C. Memio Orione
Juliaes Monimes, et ad eum locum itum actum aditum ambitum sagrificia facere, vesci,
epulari ita lic[e]at quandiu is collegius steterit. Quodsi aliter factum fuerit, quod ad collegium
pertinet [SiJlvani, is locus sacratus restituetur ... I sine ulla controversia. Ci. W A L T Z I N G ,
op. cit. I, pp. 213, 225.
254 CIL VI. 103: C. Avillius Licinius Trosius curator scholam de suo fecit. Bebryx Aug(usti)
l(ibertus) Drusianus, A. Fabius Xanthus cur (atores), scribis librariis et praeconibus
aedil(ium) cur(ulium) scholam ab inchoato refecerunt, marmoribus ornaverunt, Victoriam
Augustam et sedes aeneas et cetera ornamenta de sua pecunia [dederunt], See C. H U E L S E N ,
Il Sito e le Iscrizioni della Schola Xantha sul Foro Romano, Mitt. des Deut. Arch. Inst.
(Rom. Abt.) 3 (1888), 208—221.
255 Note 41 above.

Authenticated
The ceremonies of a typical funerary collegium are known in great

detail from the charter of the collegium of Diana and Antinous at
Lanuvium 266 . I t provides for the financial arrangements of membership,
guarantees a decent burial, but more significant in our present context,
it prescribes the collégial meals and religious rites with great care.
I t is at Ostia that our picture of collégial temples becomes more com-
plete. An inscription from one schola lists the presentations of members in
the years just after its dedication in A.D. 143: busts of Antoninus Pius,
several in silver, and of Lucius Verus; a statue of Victoria and a bust of
Concordia; six benches; four tables and two stools with their cushions;
a hot bath ; candelabra ; and an endowment for a banquet every August 24 257 .
Another schola, of the builders' collegium, illustrates the inscription 268 ,
for it is laid out as a porticoed courtyard around which are a series of rooms,
five of which have the concrete couches which identify them as dining
rooms. Another room is a kitchen. Facing the entrance of the schola from the
main street is a temple; the rear columns of the colonnade served as its
256 CIL XIV. 2112, esp. lines 29—32: item placuit, ut quinquennalis sui cuiusque temporis
diebus sollemnfibus ture] et vino supplicet et ceteris officiis albatus fungatur, et die [bus
natalibus] Dianae et Antionoi oleum collegio in balinio publico pon [at antequam] epulentur.
257 G. CALZA, Un Documento del Culto Imperiale in una Nuova Iscrizione Ostiense, Epigra-
fica 1 (1939), 28—36; R . MEIGGS, R o m a n Ostia (London 1960, 21973), pp. 325—326.
258 MEIGGS, op. cit., p. 324 and p. 243, fig. 8 (Ostia plan I. xii. 1).

Authenticated
T H E FUNCTIONS O F ROMAN T E M P L E S 591
pronaos-columns, and the interior of the aedes is marked at each side and
the rear by a raised platform (the pulvinari) to hold a number of statues
and busts (Fig. 3.). A less elaborate, and therefore probably more typical,
example is the schola of the fabri tignuarii, a craftsman's guild, dedicated
to the deified Antoninus Pius. Here steps lead up from the main street of
Ostia to a courtyard, in which is an altar; beyond, a long flight of steps
leads to the cella. The interior arrangement of the cella has disappeared, but
beneath it is a room, level with the courtyard, which may have served the
collegium as its meeting room. The banquets may have been held here, too,
or more likely outside in the courtyard around the altar on moveable wooden
couches280.
Such temples, then, served not only for the worship of the gods, in
this case the patrons of the collegium. They also served as a community
center and private club, where a good meal could be found on specified
occasions, and where agreeable company could be found at least once a
month261. These attractions made the schola a rewarding place to spend
one's time. From the Emperor's point of view, however, such congregating
was potentially dangerous, for it could breed political plots, and official
policy discouraged frequent meetings262. The main response to this official
concern was the outpouring of dedications to deified emperors and
dedications to other gods on behalf of the living emperor263. In this way
the collégial temple provided the opportunity for the group to prove its
loyalty to the state.
VI. Shrines of the Oriental Cults
The diversity of appeal and impact which the oriental cults exerted
on the population of Rome is reflected in the diversity of temples and the
purposes for which they were used. Some catered to small bands of initiates
239 According to TAYLOR (cited n. 116 above).
260 Bull. Com. 15 (1887), 3—7: eborarii et citrarii . . . qui ad tetrastylum epulati fuerint. Cf.
MEIGGS, op. cit., p. 324 (Ostia plan V. x. 1).
261 Cf. the concern in C I L X I V . 2112 for the banquets to be conducted decently and in order:
si quis quid queri aut referre volet, in conventu referai, ut quieti et hilares diebus sollemnibus
epulemur . . . si quis quinquennali inter epulas obprobrium aut quid contumeliose dixerit,
ei multa esto HS χ χ η.
262 Marcianus, Digesta X L V I I . 22. 1: Mandatis principalibus praecipitur praesidibus provin-
ciarum, ne patiantur esse collegia sodalicia neve milites collegia in castris habeant. Sed
permittitur tenuioribus stipem menstruam conferre, dum tarnen semel in mense coeant, ne sub
praetextu huiusmodi illicitum collegium coeat. Quod non tantum in urbe, sed et in Italia
et in provinciis locum habere divus quoque Severus rescripsit. Sed religionis causa coire non
prohibentur, dum tarnen per hoc non fiat contra senatus consultum, quo illicita collegia arcentur.
Non licet autem amplius quam unum collegium licitum habere, ut est constitutum et a divis
fratribus: et si quis in duobus fuerit, rescriptum est eligere eum oportere, in quo magis esse
velit... Cf. also Trajan's letter in Pliny, Ep. X . 34.
263 Cf. nn. 251 and 252 above.

Authenticated
and resemble the collégial temples in their more introspective aspects.

Others enjoyed an official status which could open their temples and rites
to the whole city.
1. The Phrygian Gods
The sacred stone of Cybele, the Great Mother of Phrygia, known to

the Romans as Magna Mater, was brought to Rome at the instructions
of the Sibylline books during the uneasy days of the Hannibalic War in
205 B.C.2®4 The stone on its arrival was lodged in the temple of Victoria
until a proper temple could be built and dedicated in 191 B.C., on the
Palatine overlooking the Tiber where the goddess' stone had arrived in
the city. Its site within the pomerium is unusual for a foreign divinity, and
demonstrates the Senate's desire to integrate the cult into the traditions of
Roman worship2®6. But once the Romans comprehended the nature of the
practices of this cult, with its priests who castrated themselves as the
climax to an ecstatic initiation ceremony, no such full integration was
conceivable. Instead, Romans generally expressed suspicious and super-
cilious scorn for these priests who were known chiefly for their frenzied
processions through the streets, tossing their heads about, lashing them-
selves, beating cymbals and tambourines, singing hymns in Greek, begging
for money2®®. The official embarrassment about these non-Roman religious
manifestations caused them to be set off as much as possible from Roman
daily life. No citizen could participate actively in the cult2®7, and
except on the specified days of their processions, the priests probably stayed
inside the temple precinct on the Palatine2®8. During the Republic
dedications were made within this precinct, including many small crude
statuettes of Attis. Adjacent to the aedes was a set of steps, which may have
accommodated spectators at the ludi Megalenses. The steps led down to a
small pool where, perhaps, the holy stone of the goddess received its annual
ritual washing269. In the imperial period, when the cult became less
intimidating, the priests were no longer eunuchs270, and the Romans
2M
Livy X X I X . 10. 4 and 14. 5. Other references and discussion in L A T T E , Römische
Religionsgeschichte, pp. 258—262.
285
A. BARTOLI, Il Culto della Mater Deum Magna Idaea e di Venere Genetrice sul Palatino,
Mem. della Pont. Acc. d'Arch. 6 (1947), 229, argued that the site is due to her role as
protectress of Aeneas.
2ββ
Lucretius II. 618—628; Ovid, Fasti IV. 183—190; Servius ad Georg. II. 394; Cicero, De
Leg. II. 22 and 40.
267
Dionysius, Ant. Rom. II. 19. 5.
2,8
CIL X. 333 mentions special quarters for the priests at a sanctuary of Magna Mater at
Atina in Lucania: et porticum qui est ante aedem et celiarti sacerd(otis).
288
A. BARTOLI, Tracce di Culti Orientali sul Palatino Imperiale, Rend, della Pont. Acc.
d'Arch. 29 (1956/57), 16; in Augustan times, the statue was solemnly washed in the Almo,
Ovid, Fasti IV. 337—342.
270
J. CARCOPINO, Attideia, Mèi. d'Arch. et d'Hist. de l'Éc. Fran, de Rome 40 (1923), 164—157,
217—324.

Authenticated
STAMBAUGH PLATE I

Authenticated
PLATE II STAMBAUGH

Authenticated
STAMBAUGH PLATE III
Β. Pronaos of t h e temple of Veiovis on t h e Capitoline, showing small a l t a r

Authenticated
PLATE IV STAMBAUGH
Β . Severan Marble Plan: The aedes of Hercules Musarum and the Porticus Octaviae with the aedes
of Juppiter and the aedes of J u n o

Authenticated
STAMBAUGH PLATE V

Authenticated
P L A T E VI STAMBAUGH

Authenticated
STAMBAUGH PLATE VII
A. Severan Marble P l a n : The Serapeum in t h e Campus Martius
Β. The Mithraeum under t h e church of S. Prisca

Authenticated
PLATE Vili STAMBAUGH
Β. The lararium near the church of S. Martino ai Monti

Authenticated
became more adventurous, the temple was used for an official festival
lasting from March 23 to March 2 7271. This festival was attended by the
public, including the members of the Senate, who were gathered there
in A.D. 268 when they received word of the accession of Claudius Gothicus
and hurried across to the temple of Apollo272, an inaugurated meeting
place, to give formal thanks.
More private shrines of the Phrygian gods appeared during the
Empire. In the Vatican, the taurobolium and criobolium were celebrated in
honor of the Magna Mater, to the benefit of prominent members of late
imperial Roman society273. Elsewhere, collegia of cult devotees (dendro-
phori and cannophori, referring to the trees and reeds carried in the rites
of the goddess) are known on the Palatine and on the Caelian274. Two
temples in Rome were dedicated to Bellona-Ma, a Phrygian goddess who
shared only a generalized ferocity and an artifically imposed name with
Bellona the Roman war deity: these temples were apparently private
shrines of collegia of spear-bearers, hastiferi, with priests called fanatici
after the holy place, the fanum275, in which they practiced their rites276.
2. The Syrian Gods
The cult of the Syrian gods became public with great vigor when the
Emperor Elagabalus constructed a great temple on the Palatine to house
all the religious treasures of the state and to be the center of a new
world-wide cult of the Baal of Emesa277. This grandiose attempt was short-
lived, but later the Emperor Aurelian instituted the cult with an equally
grandiose temple in the Campus Martius, built in A.D. 273278.
271
CIL I 2 pp. 338 and 358; the festival is discussed by D. F I S H W I C K , The Cannophori and the
March Festival of Magna Mater, Trans, of the Am. Phil. Ass. 97 (1966), 193—202, who
assigns its institution to the reign of Claudius.
272
SHA Claudius 4.
273
CIL VI. 4 9 7 — 5 0 4 . Cf. R . D U T H O Y , The Taurobolium, Its Evolution and Terminology,
Études préliminaires aux religions orientales dans l'empire romain 1 0 (Leiden 1 9 6 9 ) .
274
CIL VI. 1040. CIL VI. 641: Silvano dendrophoro sacrum M. Poblicius Hilarus margar(ita-
rius) q(uin)q(uennalis) p(er)p(etuus) cum liberis Magno et Harmoniano dendrophoris
M(atris) D(eum) M(agnae) de suo fecit. CIL VI. 3 0 9 7 3 is the dedicatory inscription of the
Basilica Hilariana. See W A L T Z I N G , op. cit. (Η. 2 4 9 above) I , p. 2 1 6 .
275
CIL VI. 490; VI. 2232: Q. Caelio Apollinari fanatico de aede Bellonae Pulvinfensis) cuius
monito hasta in aede Bellona(e) in luco dicata est. CIL VI. 2233: L. Lartio Antho Cistophoro
aedis Bellonae Pulvinensis. CIL VI. 2234: L. Cornelio Ianuario fanatico ab Isis Serapis ab
aedem Bellone Rufiliae (i.e., in Region III of the city, called 'Isis et Serapis').
274
At Ostia, the area sacra of the Magna Mater contained porticoes and buildings to house
the priests, a chamber for the taurobolium, shrines for Attis and Bellona, and a schola of
the hastiferi: G . CALZA, Il Santuario della Magna Mater a Ostia, Mem. della Pont. Acc.
d'Arch. 6 (1946), 183—227; M. F L O R I A N I SQUARCIAPINO, I Culti Orientali ad Ostia, Études
préliminaires aux religions orientales dans l'empire romain 3 (Leiden 1962), pp. 1—18.
2
" SHA Elagabalus 1. 7 and 3. 4.
278
SHA Aurelianus 35. 3: sacerdotia composuit, templum Solis fundavit et porticibus (v. 1.
pontífices) roboravit.
38 ANRW II 16
Authenticated
The worshippers of the Syrian Baal who preceded Elagabalus to Rome

were more modest in their temple construction. As early as the first century
A.D. a temple was built to the Syrian god identified as Juppiter Helio-
politanus on the slope of the Janiculum. Rebuilt in the second century and
again in the fourth, this last phase offers a good if enigmatic example of
such a sanctuary279. The whole was enclosed by a circuit wall with a main
entrance on the long south side. At the west end, against the side of the
hill, was a building with three celias in which was found a statue in Greco-
Roman style and a small triangular altar: here the official religious cere-
monies of the cult would have been held, and it is possible that these would
have been open to the public, with sacrifices offered on behalf of the state
and the Emperor. In that case the central courtyard would have been accessible
to the public as well. At the eastern end of the ensemble, however, was a
complex of three rooms which seems to have housed the celebration of the
mysteries, open only to initiates ; these would in some way involve the seven
eggs and statue of a god buried in a triangular pit. (Figure 4.) Such a shrine
was important to Syrians living in Rome ; it was a place of reunion for the
Syrian community, and gave its more successful members a chance to
benefit the whole group. The case of M. Antonius Caionas is instructive:
he is known from several dedications and from his epitaph as a patron of the
cult of Juppiter Optimus Maximus Heliopolitanus who served as warden
of the sacred reliquary, the cista, and as steward of the ceremonial meals;
he was so proud of his contributions in this latter capacity that he
mentioned it in his epitaph280. The temple and the cult gave special
meaning to his life in Rome.
278
S. M. SAVAGE, The Cults of Ancient Trastevere, Mem. of the Am. Acad, in Rome 17 (1940),
51—52: B. M. FELLETTI MAI, Il Santuario della Triade Eliopolitana e dei Misteri al
Gianicolo, Bull. Com. 75 (1953/56), 137—162; V. VON GRAEVE, Tempel und Kult der
Syrischen Götter am Janiculum, Jahrb. des Deut. Arch. Inst. 87 (1972), 314—347.
280
CIL VI. 420 = 30764 = IG XIV. 985, reading M. Antonius M. f. Ga[ionas] in line 11.
CIL VI. 32316 = I G . X I V . 1 5 1 2 . Cf. SAVAGE, o p . c i t . , p . 3 7 .

Authenticated
The Syrian god of Commagene, known to Romans as Juppiter Doli-

chenus, was worshipped in at least two temples, on the Esquiline281 and on
the Aventine. That on the Aventine may have originated as an open shrine,
later walled in282. It flourished in the late second and early third centuries
A.D. The inscriptions reflect an elaborate collégial (or hierarchical) organiza-
tion, devoted to the god who is identified by certain characteristic attributes
as the god of the members' native land283. He instructs them to make dedica-
tions to him, presumably through dreams284. The temple, of which the three
northernmost rooms were excavated in 1935, included an apse with several
niches for statues ; a long room with wide benches on each side, apparently
for reclining for a meal, and with a small round altar at one corner, elab-
orately set off by slabs of marble and perhaps covered by some sort of
baldachino. (Plate VI.)
3. The Egyptian Gods
From the time of the Republic, the Egyptian gods and their temples
enjoyed greater prestige at Rome than most of the other oriental cults.
In the first century, Isis had a shrine on the Capitoline286, and the temple
of Isis and Serapis on the Campus became a political object as much as a
religious shrine: it was voted by the triumvirs in 43 B.C., but after
Cleopatra, when official propaganda came to treat Egypt as a subversive
element, the cult was repeatedly suppressed, by Augustus, Agrippa and
Tiberius28®. The cult became legitimate once more under Caligula, who may
have added the "Aula Isiaca" to his residence on the Palatine287 and rebuilt
the large temple in the Campus Martius.
281 P. MERLAT, Répertoire des Inscriptions et Monuments Figurés du Culte de Jupiter

Dolichenus (Paris 1951), pp. 212—230: CIL VI. 414. 30931. 30942—30945.
288 A. M. COLINI, L a Scoperta del Santuario delle Divinità Dolichene sull'Aventino, Bull.
Com. 63(1935), 167. Cf. the inscription in MERLAT, op. cit., p. 186, no. 196: B(ona) F fortuna).
Ex praecepto I(ovis) O(ptimi) M(aximi) a(eterni) fcons(ervatoris)] totius mundi, Aur(e-
lius) Mag[nes]ius candid (atus ) et patronus hu[ius] loci, pro salute sua et A urfeli] Sara-
piaci, patroni huius [loci], et suorum omnium, maceria sfaejpsit loc(um) sacr(um) dei
magni Commafg(enorum)] per M. Aur(elium) Hoinopionem Acacinum, sacerdotem et
patre(m) candidator(um).
283 MERLAT, op. cit., pp. 1 7 6 — 1 7 7 .
284 CIL VI. 406.
286 Cf. CIL VI. 2247, a tombstone of a man and woman, both sacerdotes Isidis Capitolinae.
According to Dio X L I I . 26. 2 the τεμεν(σματα of Isis and Serapis were destroyed by order of
the Senate in 43 B.C., but they were apparently once more in operation in A.D. 69, when
Domitian escaped from the Capitoline under cover of an Isiac procession: Suetonius, Domi-
tian 1. 2. On the influence of this temple on the products of the near-by mint between 80
and 67 B.C., see A. ALFÖLDI, Isiskult und Umsturzbewegung im letzten Jahrhundert der
römischen Republik, Schweizer Münzblätter 5 (1954), 25—31.
284 P. F. TSCHUDIN, Isis in Rom (Aarau 1962), pp. 20—22.
287 BARTOLI, op. cit. (η. 269 above), pp. 16—21.
38*
Authenticated
This temple, restored by Domitian and Severus Alexander, appears in

part on several fragments of the Severan marble plan288. It consisted of
three parts — one entered, from one of the busiest parts of the Campus
Martius, through a double arch into a courtyard. To the south was the
colonnaded hemicycle of the Serapeum, behind which were two smaller
niches (aedicula for attendant gods) and, on axis with the entrance, a larger
one for the statue of Serapis. Like the large temple of Serapis built by
Caracalla on the edge of the Quirinal289, this was probably Hellenistic-
Roman in style. To the north of the entrance court was the rectangular area
of Isis, which will have included the shrine of Isis shown on a coin of
Vespasian290. Here too would have been the shrine of Anubis291, paintings292,
statues and other objects evocative of the mystic orient. As a public temple
it was open to those who wanted to look and loiter293 as well as to those who
like Tibullus' Delia, Propertius' Cynthia, Ovid's Corinna and Apuleius'
Lucius wanted to pray294. It was a major landmark, and an exotic one at
that, full of Egyptian sphinxes, statues and columns296. The religious
ceremonies appealed especially to women296, and included daily morning
and evening services297 with the shaking of the sistrum and the sprinkling
of Nile water298. Inscriptions reveal a wide spectrum of individuals interested
in the cult299. (Plate VII. A.)
288
G. G A T T I , Topografia dell'Iseo Campense, Rend, della Pont. Acc. dell'Ardi. 20 (1943/44),
117—163.
289
E. NASH, Pict. Diet. II, pp. 376—383.
280
Cf. P L A T N E R — A S H B Y , Top. Diet., p. 2 8 4 .
291
Josephus, Ant. X V I I I . 7 4 .
2,2
Juvenal XII. 27: pictores qui nescit ab Iside pasci?
283
Ovid, Ars. Am. I. 77—78: nec fuge linigerae Memphitica templa iuvencae (multas illa facit,
quod fuit ipsa Iovi); Martial II. 14. 7—8; Juvenal IX. 22.
294
Tibullus I. 3. 29—32: ut mea votivas persolvens Delia voces / ante sacras lino tecla fores
sedeat / bisque die resoluta comas tibi dicere laudes j insignis turba debeat in Pharia.
Propertius II. 33. 1—4. Ovid, Am. II. 13. 7—26. Cf. S. H E Y O B , The Cult of Isis among
Women in the Graeco-Roman World, Etudes préliminaires aux religion orientales dans
l'empire romain 61 (Leiden 1975), pp. 58—60, 71—73. Apuleius, Metamorphoses XI. 26:
nec ullum tarn praecipuum mihi exinde Studium fuit, quam cotidie supplicare summo
numini reginae Isidis, quae de templi situ sumpto nomine Campensis summa cum vener-
atione propitiatur. eram cultor denique adsiduus, fani quidem advena, religionis autem
indigena.
295
A. R O U L L E T , The Egyptian and Egyptianizing Monuments of Imperial Rome, Études
préliminaires aux religions orientales dans l'empire romain 20 (Leiden 1972) ; M. M A L A I S E ,
Inventaire Préliminaire des Documents Égyptiens Découverts en Italie, Études prélimi-
naires aux religions orientales dans l'empire romain 21 (Leiden 1972); ID., Les Condi-
tions de Pénétration et de Diffusion des Cultes Égyptiens en Italie, ibid. 22 (Leiden 1972).
296
Ovid, Am. II. 13. 17: saepe tibi sedit certis operata diebus; cf. Tibullus I. 3. 23—32 and, on
the scandal of Paulina, Josephus, Ant. XVIII. 65—80.
297
Apuleius, Metamorphoses XI. 27 : ilico deae matutinis perfectis salutationibus ; Martial X. 48.1 :
nuntiat octavam Phariae sua turba iuvencae. The two passages suggest a liturgical setting.
298
Juvenal VI. 528—529.
299
CIL VI. 344—347, 30744; IG XIV. 961, 1031. On the Iseum on the Esquiline, which gave
its name to Region III of the city, Isis et Serapis, see C. P I E T R A N G E L O Musei Capitolini,
Monumenti dei Culti Orientali, pp. 24—32.

Authenticated
Smaller temples also honored Isis. We know of a shrine erected by a

Metellus on the north side of the Caelian, which may be the same as the
shrine of Isis Lydia, refurbished by an imperial freedman 300 . A temple of
Isis Pelagia had its own aedituus301. A small cult room of a lower-class
collegium Isiacum, with graffiti religious and obscene, and drawings of Isis
and her festivals, has been excavated near the church of S. Sabina on the
A ventine302. And two inscriptions inform us of collegia in Rome which
erected temples to the Egyptian gods303. If we use the Iseum of Pompeii
and the Serapeum of Ostia304 for comparison, we can assume these temples
in Rome were set off from the street and equipped with an aedes approached
by a broad flight of steps: inside the cella was a long platform for statues
of several gods ; an altar and a covered basin for the holy Nile water were
in the area, as well as subsidiary rooms for cult meals and lodging305. These
temples, too, served as social centers for the groups which met and prayed
in them.
4. Mithras
During the second and third centuries A.D. an estimated fifty temples
were erected in Rome to serve the worshippers of the Iranian god
Mithras306. These temples tended to be small307, and provided conditions
of privacy for groups of devotees organized into a hierarchy of seven grades
of initiation, where they could gather, conduct their rituals and perhaps
share some common meal. Most of these cult places were really rooms
adapted for cult use in existing buildings — they appear in private homes,
in baths, even in temples of other gods308 — and they are distributed
throughout all the residential sections of Rome and Ostia, and even in
Marino, a quarry town in the Alban hills309. The temples themselves were
300
SHA Trig. Tyr. 25; CIL VI. 30915.
301
CIL VI. 8707.
802
F . D A R S Y , Un Sanctuaire d'Isis sur l'Aventin, Rend, della Pont. Acc. d'Arch. 21 (1945/46),
8—9.
803
CIL VI. 348: Pro salute domus Augustae ex corpore pausariorum et argentariorum Isidi et
Ostri mansionem aedificavimus. CIL VI. 349: [Isi]di Aug(ustae) safcrum . . . i]us datus
suo nomine et pofpuli collegi in quae]stura templum corpo[ratis conferentibus au]cium et
consummatfum dedicavit et corporatis] VI. Κ (alendas) Maias viritim dedit.
304
V. T R A N Τ Α Μ T I N H , Essai sur le Culte d'Isis à Pompéi (Paris 1 9 6 4 ) ; M. F L O R I A N I S Q U A R C I A -
PINO, I Culti Orientali ad Ostia, pp. 19—35.
305
Η. ΥουτίΕ, The κλίνη of Sarapis, Harv. Th. Rev. 41 (1948), 9—29.
308
M. J. V E R M A S E R E N , De Mithrasdienst in Rom, Diss. Utrecht (Nijmegen 1 9 5 1 ) , pp. 8 9 — 9 5 .
307
The Mithraeum in the Baths of Caracalla is an exception: V E R M A S E R E N , op. cit., compares
it to a cathedral.
308
In the early third century A.D. the stuppatores at Ostia remodeled the basement of their
collégial temple into a Mithraeum: Fructosus . . . [te]mpl(um) et spel(aeum) Mìt(hrae) a
solo sua pec(unia) fecit, SQUARCIAPINO, op. cit., p. 40.
809
For Rome, see V E R M A S E R E N , op. cit. ( n . 3 0 6 above), p p . 3 3 — 4 5 . For Ostia, see G . B E C A T T I ,
I Mitrei (Rome 1 9 5 4 ) and M. F L O R I A N I S Q U A R C I A P I N O , I Culti Orientali ad Ostia, Études

Authenticated
laid out with a central aisle flanked by stuccoed raised benches which
suggest dining couches. At the end of the aisle was an altar and a
representation of Mithras slaying the bull310. Ceilings were generally low,
for the room was considered to represent a cave311. (Plate VII. Β.)
5. Others
Two other monuments, hard to classify but definitely temple-like,

deserve mention.
The first is the underground 'basilica* at the Porta Maggiore, dug out
of bedrock in the first century A.D. The resulting space, resembling a three-
aisled basilica, was decorated with fine stucco reliefs depicting mytho-
logical subjects susceptible of allegorical interpretation and evocative of
elevated reflections on mortality312. The ensemble is enigmatic, but its
location on the Via Praenestina, well outside the city in an area filled with
tombs, makes it reasonable to suggest that it belonged to a collegium,
funeraticium — though one with considerable artistic, literary and phil-
osophical sophistication. (Plate VIII. A.)
The other is a small private shrine on the Esquiline, which illustrates
the religiosity of the later Empire. A single lararium near the church of
S. Martino ai Monti contained, in a large niche, a statue of Isis or Fortuna
holding a cornucopia ; this was flanked on each side by superimposed niches
containing two small herms of Hercules, a small herm of a bacchant, a
statuette of a crouching Harpocrates, a statuette and a bust of Serapis,
a cippus dedicated to Horus, a triple statuette of Diana/Hecate, a head
of Juppiter, and statuettes of Venus Pudica, Juppiter and Mars313. Here
was focused a wide spectrum of religious interest, in what seems to have
been a quiet spot for devotional reflection and meditation. (Plate VIII. B.)
The temples reviewed in this section on the oriental cults serve as wide
a range of functions as the public temples of the state: religious, social and
even political. Some are built by the Senate (Magna Mater), some by
Emperors (Serapis and Sol). The characteristic function which all share is
préliminaires aux religions orientales dans l'empire romain 3 (Leiden 1962), pp. 37—59.
For Marino, see H. L A V A G N E , Le Mithreum de Marino, Comptes-Rend. de l'Ac. des Inscr.
et Belles Lettres 1974, 191—201.
1,10
L. A. C A M P B E L L , Mithraic Iconography and Ideology, Études préliminaires aux religions
orientales dans l'empire romain 11 (Leiden 1968) ; F. C U M O N T , Textes et Monuments
Figurés Relatifs aux Mystères de Mithra (Brussels 1896—1899); M. J. V E R M A S E R E N ,
Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae (The Hague 1956).
311
CIL VI. 733: Deo Soli Invicto Mitrhe Fl. Septimius Zosimus ν (ir) p(erfectissimus) sacerdus
dei Brontontis et Aecate hoc speleunt constituit.
812
J. CARCOPINO, La Basilique Pythagoricienne de la Porte Majeure (Paris 1954).
313
C. V I S C O N T I , Del Larario e del Mitreo Scoperti nell'Esquilino presso la Chiesa di S. Martino
ai Monti, Bull. Com. 13 (1885), 27—35; C . P I E T R A N G E L O Musei Capitolini, Monumenti dei
Culti Orientali, pp. 25—28.

Authenticated
the engendering and expressing of a sense of belonging. In the smaller cult

groups the individuals contributed according to their abilities: the wealthier
members made dedications and undertook necessary reconstruction, just as
magistrates and civic patrons did in the public temples; the poorer
members contributed the minimum fees to the group's treasury and per-
formed such duties as they could. (The dedicatory inscriptions are usually
generous in listing the members and officers of the group.) Even in the case
of a temple serving a larger public, such as the great Iseum on the Campus
Martius, the men like Apuleius and women like Corinna felt, when they
came before the doors and contemplated the holy image, a part of a larger
group bound together in love of their goddess. Both as a place of meeting
and as a place to house dedications, each of these temples functioned as a
physical expression of that sense of communion with a group of fellow
devotees, and of sharing a common religious aspiration.
VII. Jewish Synagogues
Like some of the collegia and the devotees of the oriental cults, the
Jews of the Diaspora in Rome gathered and worshipped in private places
which, walled off from the surrounding neighborhoods, served as prayer
hall, school and community center.
In Rome itself, the term synagoga was applied not to a building but to
the community which gathered. Thirteen such synagogues are known,
which took their names from prominent people in Rome or Palestine at
the time of their establishment, from their location in Rome (Suburra,
Campus Martius) or from the city of origin of the first Jews of the com-
munity314. Less specific are the synagogues 'of the Hebrews' and 'of the
vernaculi316 which may have included the earliest Jewish groups in Rome.
The synagogue 'of the calcarenses' is more puzzling, for it has been inter-
preted as the name of a Jewish trade collegium of lime-kiln workers316,
or as a regular local designation of a group from the lower Campus Mar-
tius317. These groups were organized in a regular manner318: a council of
elders with a president (γερουσιάρχης) and an executive committee
(άρχοντες), a custodian of the community's property (φροντιστής), a
secretary (γραμματεύς) and a sort of patron to attend to the community's
314 P. J.-B. FREY, Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaicarum (Vatican City 1936—1952), jpp. lxx—
lxxxi.
815 Literally "slaves born in the master's house", but interpreted by FREY, op. cit., p. lxxvii
as a designation of all the Jews born in Rome, to differentiate them from the newcomers
of the first century B.C. and later.
816 LA PIANA, op. cit. (n. B6 above) 352—357.
317 FREY, op. cit., pp. lxxv—lxxvi.
818 FREY, op. cit., pp. lxxxii—xcix.

Authenticated
legal needs (προστάτης). There were also honorary officers, and supervisors
of the religious services (άρχισννάγωγος). The synagogue came together
in a 'house of prayer', a προσευχή319: here the community gathered, as
Philo said (in a passage describing and justifying Augustus' liberal policy
toward the Jews), especially on the Sabbath, for instruction and to make
offerings320. Each synagogue had a treasury, but also enjoyed the patronage
of one of its wealthy members from time to time: a mosaic inscription from
Aegina in Greece, for example, records the rebuilding of the synagogue
with money from regular revenues and from offerings made to
God321.
Although no proseuchae have been excavated in Rome itself, we can
gain a good idea of their appearance and functions from the synagogue
excavated at Ostia322 and from inscriptions323. In its final stage we find an
assembly room with a platform for reading lessons, to which later a shrine
was added to house the Torah; in front of it was an ante-room divided
longitudinally into three aisles, in one of which was a basin for ablutions;
this antechamber was separated from the main assembly room by screen
walls and by a four-columned entrance. The complex was arranged so that
the three doors entering the ante-room face south-east, toward Jerusalem.
Along the south-east edge of the building was a narrow courtyard, with a
well near the main entrance from the street. The south-west half of the
building was occupied by a kitchen with an oven for baking unleavened
bread, a corridor with several closets, and a large room with wide benches
on two sides, which may have served for meetings, instruction or as a hostel.
Apparently the earlier stages were simpler, consisting of one main room
with benches and a vestibule with a few subsidiary rooms, but an inscription
records the installation of an Ark in the late second century or the early
third324. (Figure 5.) An inscription from a synagogue in Jerusalem (of the
first century A.D.) supplements the picture: it mentions the synagogue's
function as a place for reading the law and learning the commandments,
319 Juvenal III. 296: in qua te quaero proseucha ? CIL VI. 9821, from the Esquiline: Dis M(a-
nibus) P. Corfidio Signino pomario de aggere a proseucha.
320 Philo, Ad Gaium 156: ήπίστατο οΰν καΐ προσευχάς έχοντας καΐ συνιόντα; EIJ αϋτάς,
καΐ μάλιστα ταϊς Ιεραίς έβδόμαις, ότε δημοσία τήν πάτριου παιδεύονται φιλοσοφίαν.
ήπίστατο καΐ χρήματα συνάγοντας άπό των άπαρχών lepct καΐ πέμποντα; eis 'Ιεροσόλυμα
δια των τάς θυσίας άναξόντων. CF. Ε. Μ. SMALLWOOD, Philonis Alexandrini Legatio ad
Gaium, ed. with an introd., transi, and comm. (Leiden 21970), 236—-242.
321 IG IV. 190: Θεόδωρο; άρχισυν[άγωγοξ φ]ροντίσας ετη τέσσερα [φθαρεΐσαν] έκ θεμελίων
τήν συναγ[ωγήν] [άν]οικοδόμησα. Προσοδεύ[θησαν] χρύσιν[ο]ι [ρ]ε' καΐ έκ των του
θε(οϋ) δωρεών χρύσινοι po', θεωδώρου νεω(τέ)ρ(ου) φροντίζοντ(ος) [έκ τη; πρ]ο[σ]όδου
της συναγ(ωγης) έμουσώθη.
322 Μ. FLORIANI SQUARCIAPINO, L a Sinagoga di Ostia, Boll. d'Arte 46 (1961), 326—337 and
E AD., The Synagogue at Ostia, Archaeology 16 (1963), 193—203.
323 SQUARCIAPINO, Archaeology, 203, and EAD., Ebrei a Roma e ad Ostia, Studi Romani 11
(1963), 129.
324 For a general survey see A. T. KRAABEL, Synagogues, Ancient, New Catholic Encyclopedia
X V I (1974), pp. 4 3 6 — 4 3 9 .

Authenticated
Fig. 5. The Synagogue at Ostia
and for housing guests326. Just as pilgrims came to Jerusalem, so Jewish

travellers would have needed to find lodging in Ostia and Rome. Another
inscription (of the fourth century, from Stobi in Yugoslavia) mentions a
dining room with four columns and a second-story gallery326.
525 FREY, Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaicarum II, pp. 332—335, no. 1404: θ[ε]όδοτος Οϋετ-
τήνου, Ιερεύς καΐ ά[ρ]χισυνάγωγο$, uiôç άρχισυν[αγώ]γ[ο]υ, υΐωνός άρχισυν[α]γώγου,
ώκοδόμησε τήν συναγωγήν els άν[άγν]ωσ[ιν] νόμου καΐ εΙς [δ]ιδαχ[ή]ν έντολών, καΐ
τ[ό]ν ξενώνα, κα[1 τά] δώματα καΐ τά χρησ[τ]ήρια των υδάτων, είς κατάλυμα τοϊς
[χ]ρήζουσιν άττό της ξέ[ν]ης . . . Cf. Β. LIFSHITZ, Donateurs et fondateurs dans les synago-
gues juives. Répertoire des dédicaces grecques relatives à la construction et à la réfection
des synagogues, Cahiers de la Revue Biblique 7 (Paris 1967), no. 79. See ID., Jéru-
salem sous la domination romaine. Histoire de la ville depuis la conquête de Pompée
jusqu'à Constantin (63 a.C.—325 p.C.), A N R W I I 8, ed. by. H . TEMPORINI and W. H A A S E
(Berlin-New York 1978), 44—489, esp. 455 f.
828 Ibid., I, no. 694:. . . εϋχης ενεκεν τούς μέν οίκους τ ω άγίω τόπφ καΐ τό τρίκλεινον σύν τ ω
ΤΕτραστόω έκ των οίκείων χρημάτων μηδέν δλω; παραψάμενος των άγίων, τήν δέ ίξου-
σίαν των υπερώων πάντων πδσαν καΐ τήν (δ)εσττοτε(αν εχειν έμέ τόν Κλ. Τιβέριον ΤΤολΟ-
χαρμον καΐ τούζ κληρονόμους του; έμούς δια παντός βίου . . .

Authenticated
VIII. Christian Meeting-Places and Shrines
The earliest Christians, in the Apostolic age, worshipped in the Temple

at Jerusalem or in the synagogues elsewhere; they preached in public
places or in hired halls. But they did not build temples of their own, and they
considered this one of the characteristics which distinguished them from
their pagan neighbors. Over and over the early Christians wrote that
they had no temples except the community of the faithful, the ecclesia
which was the assembly of God327. When the groups of Christians in the
cities of the first and second centuries did meet as a community, for the
breaking of bread and prayer, they met in the homes of members. These
would usually have been quite simple328, although we know of an elaborate
one in the home of a wealthy citizen of Antioch329.
By the third century the Christian communities had grown in numbers
and wealth so that special meeting houses were created, but the old
tradition persisted in that they were called 'houses* of the church, domus
ecclesiae330. The word domus carried connotations of 'household' and stressed
the community rather than the building in which it met. It also avoided
the other word for 'house', aedes, which had long since been appropriated
by the pagan gods. These houses served as places of worship but also —
in the manner of the collégial temples — as social centers, with dining rooms
for the agapefeast and facilities for dispensing food and money to the
poorer members of the group and — in the manner of the synagogues — as
places for learning the doctrine of the group and gaining initiation into it.
The clearest picture of such a house church, located on the edge of town
in a residential area near the Jewish synagogue is found at Dura-Europos331.
827 Minucius Felix, Octavius 32. 1: deiubra et aras non habemus. Tertullian, De Spec. 13. 4:
nec minus templa, quam monumenta despuimus: neuiram aram novimus, neutram effigiem
adoramus, non sacrificamus, non parentamus. Lactantius, Div. Inst. I V . 13. 26: domus
quam aedificavit non est fidem consecuta sicut ecclesia, quae est verum templum Dei, quod
non in parietibus est, sed in corde ac fide hominum qui credunt in eum ac vocantur fidèles.
S Í S Acts 2. 46: καθ' ήμέραν τε ττροσκαρτερούντες όμοθυμαδόν έν τ ω Ιερω, κλώντές τε κατ'
οίκον δρτον, μετελάμβανον τροφής êv άγαλλιάσει καί άφελότητι καρδίας. Acts 20: 7—8:
Έ ν δέ τΐ) μιφ των σαββάτων συνηγμένων ήμών κλάσαι δρτον ό Παύλος διελέγΐτο αύτοϊς
μέλλων έξιέναι τ ή Ιτταύριον, παρέτεινέν τε τόν λόγον μέχρι μεσονυκτίου, ήσαν δέ λαμπάδες
ΙκαναΙ έν τ ω ύττερφω οΰ ή μεν συνηγμένοι. On the ύττερωον see R . KRAUTHEIMER, Early
Christian and Byzantine Architecture 2 (Harmondsworth 1975), p. 28.
32 * Pseudo-Clement, Recognitiones X . 71. 2: ut omni aviditatis desiderio Tkeofilus, qui erat
cunctis in civitate sublimior, domus suae ingentem basilicam ecclesiae nomine consecraret,
in qua Petro apostolo constituía est ab omni populo cathedra, et omnis multitude cotidie ad
audiendum verbum conveniens, credebant sanae doctrinae.
330 Gaudentius of Brescia, Serm. 4 (Migne, Patr. Lat. X X . 868 B) : qui sumus in domo ecclesiae
congregati. Hippolytus of Rome, Comm. in Daniel I. 20. 3 (Migne, Patr. Gr. X . 693 D):
μήτε των έκκλησιών τούς οίκους καθελών. Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. V i l i . 13. 13: οίκους
έκκλησιών οίκοδομεΐν.
331 C. Η. KRAELING, The Christian Building, The Excavations at Dura Europos V I I I , 2,
(New Haven 1967).

Authenticated
It consisted of rooms around a central courtyard: one for the Eucharistie

celebration, a sacristy, a meeting room for the agape, a room for instruction,
a baptistery with a basin for emersion. (Figure 6.) The furnishings of such a
house church are known from the inventory made during confiscation pro-
ceedings against a congregation at Cirta in Africa during the great persecu-
tion of A.D. 303332. Included are the scriptures, chalices and dishes of gold and
silver, torches and lamps, tunics, veils and slippers. Such houses were owned
by the congregations (either as a funerary collegium with permission to own
a meeting place or in the name of some member of the group333) by the
middle of the third century — the evidence is in the order of the emperor
Gallienus who, in stopping the persecution of 260, provided that the places
of worship that had been confiscated from the Christians be restored to
them384.
In Rome itself, these house churches were known as tituli, and by the
early second century the city had been divided into parishes organized
332
KRAUTHEIMER, op. cit., p. 482, n. 27; G. Dix, The Shape of the Liturgy (London 1945),
pp. 24—26.
333
K R A U T H E I M E R , op. cit., pp. 2 5 — 2 6 . Lactantius, De Mort. Pers. 4 8 . 9 : et quoniam idem
Christians non ea loca tantum ad quae convenire consuerunt, sed alia etiam habuisse noscuntur
ad ius corporis eorum id est ecclesiarum, non hominum singulorum, pertinentia, ea omnia
lege quam superius comprehendimus, cifra ullam prorsus ambiguitatem vel controversiam
isdem Christianis id est corpori et conventiculis eorum reddi iubebis.
334
Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. VII. 13. 1: προσέταξα, δπω$ άττό τ ω ν τ ό π ω ν τ ω ν θρησκευσίμων
άττοχωρήσωσιν (sc. the non-Christians).

Authenticated
around them 335 . Archaeological remains indicate that the houses used by
the Christians were large, the homes of wealthy people, located in industrial
neighborhoods away from the monumental center of the city336. In one of
them, the titulus of Pammachius (also known as that of Byzas) on the
Caelian, a large assembly room was added to an upper story in the third
century, and ground-floor shops were converted into living or reception
rooms decorated with Christian paintings in the fourth century 337 .
The Christians had one other type of 'temple', the shrines of the martyrs.
As early as Clement, bishop of Rome from A.D. 88 to 97, the relics were
(at least according to tradition) diligently gathered up338, and by the
time of Constantine there were enclosed precincts outfitted for memorial
banquets around the martyr's graves339. These graves were along
the highways leading to Rome, the standard burial place in the
ancient city. Funerary banquets were common among pagans as well,
and in times of persecution the grave precincts may have offered a
less conspicuous place to conduct Christian worship. The second-
century martyr shrine under the altar of Saint Peter's basilica is the
earliest example known, with a wall marking it out from the surrounding
graveyard (tombs of the second century A.D., of prosperous devotees of
several oriental cults) and its pedimented aedicula over an humble first-
century grave340. The martyrium of Saint Sebastian on the Via Appia took
the form in the third century of a dining hall for funeral banquets, scarcely
distinguishable from a pagan tomb 341 . The sanctity of the soil in which
the martyrs were buried seems to be reflected in the term, area martyrum,
used for the precinct: area can mean any enclosed space, yet (in spite of
the reluctance of the Christians to use the words temflum and aedes) the
connotation of a 'sacred space' may well have been present, borrowed
from pagan usage.
As a result of the more relaxed attitudes towards Christians between
260 and 303, there was widespread building activity throughout the
385
There were twenty-five tituli in the early fourth century. Liber Pontificalis (ed. DU-
C H E S N E ) I, p. 126: Evaristus . . . títulos in urbe Roma dividit presbiteris et VII diáconos
ordinavit qui custodirent episcopum praedicantem, propter stilum veritatis. Ibid., I, p. 164:
Marcellus . . . XXV títulos in urbe Roma constituit, quasi diócesis, propter baptismum et
paenitentiam et sepulturas martyrum. On the tituli, see J. P. K I R S C H , Die Römischen Titel-
kirchen im Altertum (Bonn 1918); R . V I E I L L A R D , Recherches sur les Origines de la
Rome Chrétienne (Rome 1959); J . M. P E T E R S E N , House-churches in Rome, Vigiliae Chris-
tianae 23 (1969), 264—272.
887
838
P E T E R S E N , op. cit., pp. 268—269. K R A U T H E I M E R , op. cit., pp. 29—30.
338
Liber Pontificalis (ed. D U C H E S N E ) I, p. 123: Clemens, natione Romanus, de regione Celio-
monte . . . Hic fecit VII regiones, dividit notariis fidelibus ecclesiae, qui gestas martyrum
sollicite et curiose, unusquisque per regionem suam diligenter perquireret.
838
CIL V I L I . 9585, from Mauretania Caesariensis: Aream et sepulchra cultor Verbi contulit
et cellam struxit suis cunctis sumptibus: ecclesiae sanctae hanc reliquit memoriam. Sálvete,
fratres puro corde et simplici Euelpius vos saflujto sancto spiritu.
840
A. A. D E M A R C O , The Tomb of Saint Peter, A Representative and Annotated Bibliography
of the Excavations (Leiden 1964).
841
KRAUTHEIMER, op. cit., p . 35.

Authenticated
empire342. In Rome itself, however, the earliest known building specifically

and conspicuously intended as a place of Christian worship is an aisleless
hall flanked by a portico in the Transtiber section, the church of Saint
Chrysogonus, dating from the first years of the fourth century 343 . Only
under Constantine, after the Edict of Milan in 313, were proper Christian
churches built. Rome's contributions to early Christian architecture began
with the cathedral of Saint John Lateran, the palace church of the Holy
Cross, the martyr memorial churches of Saint Peter, Saint Sebastian,
Saint Lawrence and Saints Marcellinus and Peter.
All these Christian churches were different from pagan temples in that
they were primarily places to gather rather than houses for the god. But
they shared certain characteristics with their non-Christian predecessors
and contemporaries. They served the needs of religious ritual, of course,
but they also served as community centers for social, charitable and
educational purposes, and they served to define the group, to protect it
from outside interference and to make a political statement to the believers
of the need to exult in their common identity and to be ready to die in
witness to their common faith. When Constantine began to build official
monuments to the Christian religion, the political functions of Christian
churches changed to reflect the new realities, and the dedicatory inscription
became as rich a political statement as had been the case with those that
adorned the temples of the traditional gods of Rome.
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Authenticated
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Authenticated
List of Illustrations
I. Plates
I. Sacrifice in front of the temple of Mars Ultor, relief from the Ara Pietatis (Foto-
teca Unione 4365 F).
II. Rectangular temple in the Forum Boarium (Fototeca Unione 11746 F).
I I I . A. Temple of Concordia on a sesterce of Tiberius (Fototeca Unione 3549 F).
Β. Pronaos of the temple of Veiovis on the Capitoline, showing small altar (Archivio
Fotografico del Museo di Roma).
IV. A. Temple of Venus and Rome, showing interior of cella of Venus (Fototeca Unione214).
Β. Se verán Marble Plan: The aedes of Hercules Musarum and the Porticus Octaviae
with the aedes of Juppiter and the aedes of Juno (Fototeca Unione 6144 F).
V. Temple of Divus Claudius, from the model of imperial Rome at the Museo della
Civiltà Romana.
VI. Sanctuary of Juppiter Dolichenus on the Aventine, model in the Musei Capitolini
(Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Rom 54.32).
VII. A. Severan Marble Plan: The Serapeum in the Campus Martius (Fototeca Unione
4729 F).
Β. The Mithraeum under the church of S. Prisca (Fototeca Unione 5284 F).
VILI. A. Underground Basilica a t the Porta Maggiore (Fototeca Unione 5939 F).
Β. The lararium near the church of S. Martino ai Monti (after VISCONTI).
II. Text Figures
1. (p. 568) Cosa, the Tuscan-style temples on the arx, 175—150 B.C. (American Academy
in Rome).
2. (p. 572) Plan of the Republican sanctuary a t Gabii (after DELBRÜCK).
3. (P. 590) Schola of the builders' collegium a t Ostia (after MEIGGS).
4. (p. 594) Sanctuary of the Syrian gods on the Janiculum (after NASH).
5. (p. 601) The Synagogue a t Ostia (after FLORIANI SQUARCIAPINO).
6. (p. 603) The House-Church a t Dura-Europos (after HOPKINS).

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The Functions of Roman Temples

by JOHN E. STAMBAUGH, Williamstown, Mass.

Introduction. The Temple of Mars Ultor 654

Introduction. The Temple of Mars Ultor

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I. Construction and Maintenance of Temples

1. Construction and Dedication

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penal family27, to mark an emperor's birthplace, his return from wars or

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55 See list in K. LATTE, Römische Religionsgeschichte, Handbuch der Altertumswiss. V 4

The actual practice of Augustus and his subordinates in locating temples

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Romulus laying out the temple of Juppiter Feretrius on the Capitoline by

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commission to let the contract and supervise the construction75. The

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Outside Rome, a temple might be erected at the expense of the Emperor

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The dedication was also celebrated, as in the case of Pliny's temple

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converted to use as a latrine96 ; and the shrine of Mutinus Titinus, destroyed

2. The Sanctuary and its Parts

The essential furnishings of a Roman sanctuary were a fence or wall to

•5 Dio X L V I I . 19. 1; Suetonius, Caesar 88.

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was surrounded by other dedications of many different types. There might

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an example of an aedes full of dedications of many sorts: statues by Greek

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burned, as well as the cakes and incense offered independently or in connec-

Fig. 2. Plan of the Republican sanctuary at Gabii

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3. Maintenance and Personnel. The aedituus

The temples of the state were, to a large extent, maintained at state

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II. Religious Rites and Ceremonies

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III. Political Functions of Temples

The intimate relationship between the Roman state and religion is

1. Meetings of Official Bodies

The Roman Senate could meet only in an enclosed space and in a

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of a soldier's honorable discharge from military service was also displayed —

3. Temples as Political Propaganda

Because the temples were so thoroughly enmeshed in the political

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221 Velleius I. 11. 3—5.

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temples and altars to commemorate the Emperor's virtues229, the erection