Temple of Jupiter
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The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus ("Jupiter, greatest and best"; also known as the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus), was the great temple on the Capitoline Hill in Ancient Rome.
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[edit] History
[edit] First building
The Temple of Jupiter was dedicated in 509 BC to Jupiter and his companion deities, Juno and Minerva, forming the Capitoline Triad. Lucius Tarquinius Priscus vowed this temple while battling with the Sabines, and seems to have laid some of its foundations; a large part of the work, however, was done by Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, who is said to have nearly completed it.
According to the tradition current in later times, there were shrines of other deities on the site intended for this temple, all of whom allowed themselves to be dispossessed in the proper way except Terminus and Iuventas. Each deity had a separate cella, with Juno Regina on the left, Minerva on the right, and Jupiter Optimus Maximus in the middle. These shrines were incorporated in the new temple, and the action of Terminus was regarded as a prophecy of the permanence of the cult and of Rome itself. The dedication of the temple on September 13 was ascribed to the first year of the republic when this honor fell to Horatius Pulvillus by lot.
The original Temple measured almost 60 x 24 m.
[edit] Second building
The first Temple was first burnt down in 83 BC, under the wars during the dictatorship of Sulla. Also lost in this fire were the Sibylline Books, which were written by classical sibyls, and stored in the Temple (to be guarded and consulted by the Quindecemviri (council of fifteen) on matters of state only on emergencies). Brutus and the assassins locked themselves inside it after murdering Caesar. The new temple of Quintus Lutatius Catulus was renovated and repaired by Augustus
[edit] Third building
The second building burnt down during the course of fighting on the hill in AD 69, when Vespasian battled to enter the city as Emperor in the Year of the Four Emperors. It was replaced by the Emperors Vespasian, Titus and Domitian [1]. Ancient sources tell us Domitian used at least twelve thousands talents of gold for the guilding of the bronze roof tiles alone. In keeping with previous versions, elaborate relief sculpture adorned the pediment. A Renaissance drawing of a damaged relief in the Louvre Museum shows a four-horse chariot (quadriga) beside a two-horse chariot (biga) to the right of the latter at the highest point of the pediment, the two statues serving as the central acroterion, and statues of the god Mars and goddess Venus surmounting the corners of the cornice, serving as acroteria.
On the face of the pediment the god Jupiter was flanked by Juno and Minerva, seated on thrones. Below was an eagle with wings spread out. A biga driven by the sun god and a biga driven by the moon were depicted either side of the three gods.
The temple completed by Domitian is thought to have lasted more or less intact for over four hundred years, until the fifth century depradations of Stilicho, Genseric, and Narses.
[edit] Copies
The various version of the Temple of Jupiter were copied in many provinces of the Roman Empire, including Britannia, Pompeii and Africa.
[edit] Sources
- Richardson, Lawrence. A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. Johns Hopkins University Press.
- Stamper, John W. The Architecture of Roman Temples: The Republic to the Middle Empire. Cambridge University Press.
