Roman temple

The Temple of Hercules Victor, in the Forum Boarium in Rome (a Greek-style Roman temple)

Ancient Roman temples are among the most visible archaeological remains of Roman culture, and are a significant source for Roman architecture. Their construction and maintenance was a major part of ancient Roman religion. The main room (cella) housed the cult image of the deity to whom the temple was dedicated, and often a small altar for incense or libations. Behind the cella was a room or rooms used by temple attendants for storage of equipment and offerings.

The English word "temple" derives from Latin templum, which was originally not the building itself, but a sacred space surveyed and plotted ritually. The Roman architect Vitruvius always uses the word templum to refer to the sacred precinct, and not to the building. The more common Latin words for a temple or shrine were aedes, delubrum, and fanum (in this article, the English word "temple" refers to any of these buildings, and the Latin templum to the sacred precinct).

Public religious ceremonies took place outdoors, and not within the temple building. Some ceremonies were processions that started at, visited, or ended with a temple or shrine, where a ritual object might be stored and brought out for use, or where an offering would be deposited. Sacrifices, chiefly of animals, would take place at an open-air altar within the templum.

Origins and development

The Roman temple architecture style was derived from the Etruscan model, an indigenous Italian race which was at its peak in the seventh century BC. In turn, the Etruscans had adopted other styles into their temples, of which Greek architecture was the main influence. Therefore Roman temples were distinct but also based on both Etruscan and Greek plans.^[1]

Roman temples emphasised the front of the building, which consisted of a portico with columns, a pronaos. This departs from the Greek model of having equal emphasis all around the temple, where it could be viewed and approached from all directions.

List of Roman temples

Within the city of Rome

• Temple to All the Gods, known as the Pantheon - Campus Martius
• Temple of Antoninus and Faustina - Roman Forum
• Temple of Apollo Palatinus - Palatine Hill
• Temple of Apollo Sosianus - Near the Theater of Marcellus
• Temple of Bellona (Rome) - Near the Theater of Marcellus
• Temple of Bona Dea - Aventine Hill
• 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 Diana - Aventine Hill
• Temple of Divus Augustus behind Basilica Julia
• Temple of Hadrian - Campus Martius (Built into Chamber of Commerce building)
• Temple of Hercules Victor
• Temple of Isis and Serapis - Campus Martius
• Temple of Janus (Roman Forum)
• Temple of Janus (Forum Holitorium)
• Temple of Juno Moneta - Capitoline Hill
• Temple of Jupiter (Capitoline Hill) - Capitoline Hill (under Palazzo Conservatori)
• Temple of Mars Ultor - Forum of Augustus
• Nymphaeum often called (erroneously) a Temple of Minerva Medica, formerly in the Forum Transitorum
• Temple of Minerva Medica, named in literary sources but no longer extant
• Temple of Peace - Forum of Peace (now mostly covered by Via dei Fori Imperiali)
• Temple of Portunus - Near Santa Maria in Cosmedin
• Temple of Romulus - Roman Forum
• Temple of Saturn - West end of the Roman Forum
• Temple of Siriaco - Janiculum Hill
• Temple of Venus and Roma - Northeast corner of the Roman Forum
• Temple of Venus Genetrix - Forum of Caesar
• Temple of Vespasian and Titus
• Temple of Vesta - Roman Forum
• Temple of Veiovis - Capitoline Hill (Basement of Palazzo Senatorio)

Italian peninsula

• Temple of Apollo (Pompeii)
• Temple of Bellona (Ostia)
• Temple of Vesta - Tivoli

Europe

• Temple of Claudius, Colchester, England,^[2][3]
• Arthur's O'on, Stenhousemuir, Scotland
• Pagans Hill Roman Temple, Somerset, England
• Roman Baths (Bath) and Temple of Sulis Minerva, Bath, Somerset, England
• London Mithraeum, Londinium, modern London
• Temple of Augustus (Pula) - Pula, Croatia
• Temple of Augustus in Ancyra - Ankara, Turkey
• Roman Temple of Évora - Évora, Portugal
• Temple of Augustus in Barcelona - Barcelona, Spain
• Roman temple of Alcántara, Spain
• Roman temple of Vic, Spain
• Roman temple of Córdoba, Spain
• Maison Carrée - Nîmes, Southern France
• Temple of Augusta and Livia - Vienne, France

Africa and the Near East

• Temple of Bacchus - Baalbek, Lebanon
• Temple of Artemis (Jerash)
• Donuktas Roman Temple - Tarsus [3]
• Umayyad Mosque, Damascus, Syria
• Ain Harcha, Lebanon
• Kfar Qouq, Lebanon
• Aaiha, Lebanon
• Deir El Aachayer, Lebanon
• Yanta, Lebanon

See also

• Classical orders
• Greek temple
• Temple for other religious traditions
• List of Greco-Roman roofs
• Architecture of ancient Rome

Sources and external links

• Temple of Hadrian, Rome Quicktime VR
• The Pantheon, Rome Quicktime VR
• Garden Shed Converted into a Roman Temple

1. ^ Campbell, Jonathan. Roman Art and Architecture - from Augustus to Constantine. Pearson Education New Zealand. ISBN 9780582739840. 
2. ^ [1](Colchester Museums).
3. ^ [2](Roman-Britain).