 Speculative model of the first Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, 509 BC | |
  Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus Shown in ancient Rome | |
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| Coordinates | 41°53′32″N12°28′54″E / 41.89222°N 12.48167°E /41.89222; 12.48167 |
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TheTemple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, also known as theTemple of Jupiter Capitolinus (Latin:Aedes Iovis Optimi Maximi Capitolini;Italian:Tempio di Giove Ottimo Massimo;lit. 'Temple ofJupiter, the Best and Greatest'), was the most important temple inAncient Rome, located on theCapitoline Hill. It was surrounded by theArea Capitolina, a precinct where numerous shrines, altars, statues and victory trophies were displayed.
Traditionally dedicated in 509 BC,[1] the first building was the oldest large temple in Rome. Like many temples in central Italy, it shared features withEtruscan architecture; sources report that Etruscan specialists were brought in for various aspects of its construction, including the making and painting ofantefixes and other terracotta decorations.[2] Built of wood, this temple was destroyed by fire in 83 BC. Its reconstruction employed craftsmen summoned from Greece, and the new building is presumed to have been essentiallyGreek in style, though like otherRoman temples it retained many elements of Etruscan form. The second iteration of the temple was completed in 69 BC. Fires in the ensuing centuries necessitated two further reconstructions, evidently following contemporary Roman architectural style, although of exceptional size.
The first version is the largest Etruscan-style temple recorded,[3] and much larger than other Roman temples for centuries after. However, its size remains heavily disputed by specialists; based on an ancient visitor it has been claimed to have been almost 60 m × 60 m (200 ft × 200 ft), not far short of the largest Greek temples.[4] Whatever its size, its influence on other early Roman temples was significant and long-lasting.[5] Reconstructions usually show very wide eaves, and a wide colonnade stretching down the sides, though not round the back wall as it would have done in a typical Greek temple.[6] A crude image on a coin of 78 BC shows only four columns, and a very busy roofline.[7]
With two further fires, the third temple only lasted five years, to 80 AD, but the fourth survived until the fall of the empire. Remains of the last temple survived to be pillaged forspolia in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, but now only elements of the foundations and podium or base survive; as the subsequent temples apparently reused these, they may partly date to the first building. Much about the various buildings remains uncertain.
Much of what is known of the first Temple of Jupiter is from later Roman tradition.KingLucius Tarquinius Priscus vowed this temple while battling with theSabines[8] and, according toDionysius of Halicarnassus, began the terracing necessary to support the foundations of the temple.[9] Much of theCappellacciotufa which forms the foundation of the Temple was probably mined directly from the site when it was excavated and levelled for the structure.[10] Modern coring on the Capitoline has confirmed the extensive work needed just to create a level building site.[11] According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus andLivy, the foundations and most of the superstructure of the temple were completed byLucius Tarquinius Superbus, the lastKing of Rome.[12]
Livy also records that before the temple's construction, shrines to other gods occupied the site. When theaugurs carried out the rites seeking permission to remove them, onlyTerminus andJuventas were believed to have refused. Their shrines were therefore incorporated into the new structure. Because he was the god of boundaries, Terminus's refusal to be moved was interpreted as a favorable omen for the future of the Roman state. A second portent was the appearance of the head of a man to workmen digging the foundations of the temple. This was said by the augurs (including augurs brought especially fromEtruria) to mean that Rome was to be the head of a great empire.[13]
Livy reports that the Temple was dedicated on September 13 in the year theRoman Republic replaced theRoman Kingdom,[14] which is 509 BC assuming theVarronian chronology.Cassius Dio andPlutarch agree with Livy's account. According toDionysius of Halicarnassus, it was consecrated two years later, in 507 BC;Tacitus agrees with this interpretation.[citation needed] Dedication of the temple was the responsibility of the new joint heads of state, the twoconsuls that had been elected for that year. They allocated the duty bydrawing lots; it fell toMarcus Horatius Pulvillus.[15] Horatius was consul in both 509 and 507 BC, which is the origin of the disagreement over the date of consecration. Livy records that in 495 BC theLatins, as a mark of gratitude to the Romans for the release of 6,000 Latin prisoners, delivered a crown of gold to the temple.[16]
The original temple may have measured almost 60 m × 60 m (200 ft × 200 ft), though this estimate is hotly disputed by some specialists.[17] It was certainly considered the most important religious temple of the whole state of Rome. Each deity of the Triad had a separatecella, with Juno Regina on the left, Minerva on the right, and Jupiter Optimus Maximus in the middle. The first temple was decorated with manyterra cotta sculptures. The most famous of these was of Jupiter driving aquadriga, a chariot drawn by four horses, which was on top of the roof as anacroterion. This sculpture, as well as the cult statue of Jupiter in the main cella, was said to have been the work ofEtruscan artisanVulca ofVeii.[18] An image ofSummanus, a thunder god, was among the pedimental statues.[19] The cult statue of Jupiter showed the god standing and wielding a thunderbolt, dressed in atunica palmata (atunic decorated with images of palm leaves), and thetoga picta, dyed purple and bearing designs in gold thread. This costume became the standard dress for victorious generals celebrating a triumph.[10]
The original temple decoration was discovered in 2014. The findings allowed the archaeologists to reconstruct for the first time the real appearance of the temple in the earliest phase.[20] The wooden elements of the roof and lintels were lined with terracotta revetment plaques and other elements of exceptional size and richly decorated with painted reliefs, following the so-called Second Phase model (referring to the decorative systems of Etruscan and Latin temples), that had its first expression precisely with the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus. The temple, which immediately rose to fame, established a new model for sacred architecture that was adopted in the terracotta decorations of many temples in Italy up to the 2nd century BC. The original elements were partially replaced with other elements in different style in the early 4th century BC and anew at the end of the 3rd – early 2nd century BC. The removed material was dumped into the layers forming the square in front of the temple, the so-calledArea Capitolina, in the middle years the 2nd century BC.[21]
Repairs and improvements were undertaken over the course of the temple's lifetime, including the re-stuccoing of the columns and walls in 179 BC, the addition of mosaic flooring in the cella after theThird Punic War, and the gilding of the coffered ceiling inside the cella in 142 BC. Over the years the temple accrued countless statues and trophies dedicated by victorious generals, and in 179 some of these attached to the columns were removed to lessen the clutter.[10]
The plan and exact dimensions of the temple have been heavily debated.[22] Five different plans of the temple have been published following recent excavations on the Capitoline Hill that revealed portions of the archaic foundations.[23] According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, the same plan and foundations were used for later rebuildings of the temple,[24] but there is disagreement over what the dimensions he mentions referred to (the building itself or the podium).
The first temple burned in 83 BC, during the civil wars under the dictatorship ofSulla. Also lost in this fire were theSibylline Books, which were said to have been written by classicalsibyls, and stored in the temple (to be guarded and consulted by thequindecimviri (council of fifteen) on matters of state only in emergencies.[citation needed]
During Lucius Cornelius Sulla's sack ofAthens in 86 BC, while looting the city, Sulla seized some of the gigantic incomplete columns from theTemple of Zeus and transported them back to Rome, where they were re-used in the Temple of Jupiter. Whether Sulla actually used the entire columns in the temple is not confirmed, the columns from the Temple of Zeus were extraordinarily long and so may have been inappropriate for the Temple of Jupiter.[25] Therefore, it is suggested that either just the capitals were used or the columns off the archaic Peisistratid Temple to Zeus.[26] Sulla hoped to live until the temple was rebuilt, butQuintus Lutatius Catulus Capitolinus had the honor of dedicating the new structure in 69 BC.[27] The new temple was built to the same plan on the same foundations, but with more expensive materials for the superstructure. Literary sources indicate that the temple was not entirely completed until the late 60s BC.[28] Around 65 AD the three new cult statues were completed. Thechryselephantine statue of Jupiter was sculpted by Apollonius of Athens; its appearance is generally known from replicas created for other temples of Jupiter in the Roman colonies.[29] It featured Jupiter seated with a thunderbolt and scepter in either hand, and possibly an image of the goddessRoma in one hand as well.[30]
Brutus and the other assassins locked themselves inside it after murderingCaesar. The new temple ofQuintus Lutatius Catulus was renovated and repaired byAugustus.[30] The second building burnt down during the course of fighting on the hill on 19 December of 69 AD, when an army loyal toVespasian battled to enter the city in theYear of the Four Emperors.[31]
The new emperor, Vespasian, rapidly rebuilt the temple on the same foundations but with a lavish superstructure. It was taller than the previous structures, with aCorinthian order and statuary including aquadriga atop the gable andbigae driven by figures ofVictory on either side at the base of the roof.[30] The third temple of Jupiter was dedicated in 75 AD.[32] The third temple burned during the reign ofTitus in 80 AD.[citation needed]
Domitian immediately began rebuilding the temple, again on the same foundations, but with the most lavish superstructure yet. According toPlutarch, Domitian used at least twelve thousandtalents of gold for the gilding of the bronze roof tiles alone.[33] Elaboratesculpture adorned thepediment. ARenaissance drawing of a damaged relief in theLouvre 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 centralacroterion, and statues of the godMars and goddessVenus surmounting the corners of thecornice, serving as acroteria. It was completed in 82 AD.[34]In the centre of the pediment the god Jupiter was flanked by Juno andMinerva, 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.[citation needed]
The temple completed by Domitian is thought to have lasted more or less intact for over three hundred years, until all pagan temples were closed by EmperorTheodosius I in 392 during thepersecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire. In the 4th century,Ammianus Marcellinus referred to the temple as "the Capitolium, with which revered Rome elevates herself to eternity, the whole world beholds nothing more magnificent."[35][36] During the 5th century the temple was damaged byStilicho (who according toZosimus removed the gold that adorned the doors).Procopius states that theVandals plundered the temple during thesack of Rome in 455, stripping away half of the gilded bronze tiles.[35] Despite this, in the early 6th centuryCassiodorus described the temple as one of the wonders of the world.[35][37] In 571,Narses removed many of the statues and ornaments.[citation needed] The ruins were still well preserved in 1447 when the 15th-century humanistPoggio Bracciolini visited Rome. The remaining ruins were destroyed in the 16th century, whenGiovanni Pietro Caffarelli built a palace (Palazzo Caffarelli) on the site.[35]
Today, portions of the temple podium and foundations can be seen behind thePalazzo dei Conservatori, in an exhibition area built in the Caffarelli Garden, and within theMusei Capitolini.[38] A part of the eastern corner is also visible in the via del Tempio di Giove.[39]
The secondMedici lion was sculpted in the late 16th century byFlaminio Vacca from acapital from the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus.[40]
TheArea Capitolina was the precinct on the southern part of the Capitoline that surrounded the Temple of Jupiter, enclosing it with irregular retaining walls following the hillside contours.[41] The precinct was enlarged in 388 BC,[42] to about 3,000m2.[43] TheClivus Capitolinus ended at the main entrance in the center of the southeast side, and thePorta Pandana seems to have been a secondary entrance; these gates were closed at night. The sacred geese of Juno, said to have sounded the alarm during theGallic siege of Rome, were kept in theArea,[44] which was guarded during the Imperial period by dogs kept by a temple attendant.Domitian hid in the dog handler's living quarters when the forces ofVitellius overtook the Capitoline.[45]
Underground chambers calledfavissae held damaged building materials, oldvotive offerings, and dedicated objects that were not suitable for display. It was religiously prohibited to disturb these. The precinct held numerous shrines, altars, statues, and victory trophies.[46] Someplebeian andtribal assemblies met there.[47] In late antiquity, it was a market for luxury goods, and continued as such into the medieval period: in a letter from468,Sidonius Apollinaris describes a shopper negotiating over the price of gems, silk, and fine fabrics.[48]
| Capitoline Hill plan |
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 Iseum Temple of Concord (?) Altar Centus Gradus Porta Pandana Inter duos lucos Temple of Fides (?) Temple of Ops(?) |
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