ROMAN TEMPLE

Contents

Pagan history and architecture

Fanum

List of Roman temples

See also

Sources and external links

Pagan history and architecture

★ Originally in Roman paganism, a ''templum'' was a cultic building but any ritually marked observation site for natural phenomena believed to allow predictions, such as the flight of birds (see Augurs). Later the word was mainly used for the equivalent of Greek and other temples.

★ The numbers and architecture of 'Roman temples' reflect the city's receptivity to all the religions of the world. The oldest Roman temples reflect Etruscan temples, like the great temple on the Capitoline Hill, dedicated in 509 BC to Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, the Capitoline Triad.

★ Like its Etruscan models the Roman temple was raised on a high ''podium'' and could only be approached by steps across the front of the building in contrast to the common arrangement for Greek temples, whose steps run around all four sides. The facade also differed from Greek models -- the columned porch was deeper than those of most Greek temples: 6 columns deep -- and was only on the front of the building. The interior was divided into several large rooms for the cult statues.

★ The most noteworthy temples of Rome were the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, the father of the Roman divinities, and the Pantheon. The Pantheon was built between AD 117 to 128 by Emperor Hadrian and dedicated to all the gods; this building replaced a smaller temple built by the general and statesman Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. The Pantheon became a Christian church in 607 and is now an Italian national monument, the burial place of Raphael and several of the kings of united Italy.

Fanum

The Romans used the Latin word ''fanum'' meaning "sacred precinct" for other cultic sites that did not contain a temple, such as the early sacred site of the grove of ''Diana Nemorensis'' ("Diana of Nemi") and 'temples' of divinities other than those traditionally revered by their native paganism, the state religion.

★ Like the corresponding Latin adjective, ''fanaticus'', the modern word ''fanatic'' still reflects the disapproval by pious traditional Romans of various exotic religious practices.
Nevertheless under the empire some of the imported cults, mainly from conquered people, such as the Persian Mithras and Egyptian divinities such as the mother-goddess Isis and Serapis (for his fanum the specific term ''serapeum'' was used) would gain great popularity, demonstrated in rich temple cults. The temple of Isis and Serapis in the Campus Martius, built of Egyptian materials and in the Egyptian style to house the Hellenized cult of the Egyptian deity Isis, is typical of the heterogeneity of later Roman religious monuments.

★ The word became part of several Roman place names, notably Fanum Voltumnae (possibly Viterbo or Montefiascone), ''Fanum Martis Famars or Fanum Fortunae (modern Fano)

★ They would only be virtually wiped out together with the Roman paganism after Christianity was officially adopted by the Roman Empire. The word temple would be transferred to its churches, as well as synagogues; occasionally fanum was also used as such, e.g. ''Fanum S. Andreae'' for Santander.

List of Roman temples

;Temples and locations within Rome

★ Temple to All the Gods (Pantheon) - Campus Martinus

★ Temple Antonio and Faustina - Roman Forum

★ Temple of Apollo - Palatine Hill

★ Temple of Apollo Sosianus - Near the Theater of Marcellus

★ Temple of Bellona - Near the Theater of Marcellus

★ Temple of Caesar - Roman Forum

★ Temple of Castor and Pollux - In the Roman Forum

★ Temple of Concord - Roman Forum at the base of the Capitoline

★ Temple of Cybele (Magna Mater) - Palatine Hill

★ Temple of Hadrian - Campus Martius (Built into Chamber of Commerce building)

★ Temple of Hercules Victor

★ Temple of Isis and Serapis - Campus Martius

★ Temple of Juno Moneta - Capitoline Hill

★ Temple of Jupiter (Capitoline Hill) - Capitoline Hill (under Palazzo Conservatori)

★ Temple of Mars Ultor - Forum of Augustus

★ Temple of Minerva - Formerly in the Forum Transitorum

★ Temple of Peace - Forum of Peace (now mostly covered by Via Dei Fori Imperiali)

★ Temple of Portunus - Near Santa Maria in Cosmedan

★ Temple of Romulus - Roman Forum

★ Temple of Saturn - West end of the Roman Forum

★ Temple of Siriaco - Janiculum Hill

★ Temple of Venus and Rome - Northeast corner of the Roman Forum

★ Temple of Venus Genetrix - Forum of Caesar

★ Temple of the Vestals - Roman Forum

★ Temple of Veiovus - Capitoline Hill (Basement of Palazzo Senatorio)
;Locations outside Rome:

★ Maison Carrée - Nimes, Southern France

★ Temple of Rome and Augustus - Pula, Croatia

★ Temple of Bacchus - Baalbek, Lebanon

★ Temple of Vesta - Tivoli

★ Temple of Augusta and Livia - Vienne, France

See also

★ Classical orders

★ Greek temple

★ Temple for other religious traditions

Sources and external links

★ Temple of Hadrian, Rome Quicktime VR

★ The Pantheon, Rome Quicktime VR

★ Garden Shed Converted into a Roman Temple