Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/789

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

EO.MA. hisovn. (Plut. Popl. 15; Suet. Caes. 15; Dion Cass, sxxvii. 44 ; Cic. Verr. iv. 31, &c.) Oa this occa- sion Sulla followed the Roman fashion of despoilint^' Greece of her works of art, and adorned the temple with columns taken from that of the Olympian Zeus at Athens. (Plin. ssxvi. 5.) After its de- struction by the Vitellians, Vespasian restored it as soon as possible, but still on the original plan, the haruspices allowing no alteration except a slight increase of its height. CTac. Hist. iv. 53; Suet. E05IA. 769 vesp.S; Dion Cass. kvi. 10, &c.) The new build- ing, however, stood but for a very short period. It was again destroyed soon after Vespasian's death in a great fire which particularly desolated the 9th Kegion, and was rebuilt by Domitian with a splendour hitherto unequalled. (Suet. Dom. 15; Dion Cass. Ixvi. 24.) Nothing further is accurately known of its history ; but Doniitian's structure seems to have lasted till a veiy late period of the Empire. TEMPLE OF JUPITEK CAPITOLINUS RESTORED. The Area Capitolina, as we have already seen, was frequently used for meetings or contiones; but besides these, regular comitia were frequently holden upon it. (Liv. xsv. 3, xsxiv. 53, xliii. 16, xlv. 36 ; Plut. Paul. Aem. 30 ; App. B. C. i. 15, &c.) Here stood the Curlv Calabra, in which on the Calends the pontifices declared whether the Nones would fall on the fifth or the seventh day of the month. (Varr. L.L. vi. § 27, Miill.; Macrob. Sat. i. 15.) Here also was a Casa Eomuli, of which there were two, the other being in the 10th Region on the Palatine; though Becker {Handb. p. 401 and note) denies the existence of the former in i^ice of the ex- press testimony of Slacrobius (I. c.) Seneca (Cow<?'ot;. 9) ; Vitruvius (ii. 1) ; Martial (viii. 80) ; Conon {Narrat. 48), &c. (v. Preller in Schneidewin's Phi- lologiis, i. p. 83). It seems to have been a little hut or cottage, thatched with straw, commemorative of the lowly and pastoral life of the founder of Rome. The area had also rostra, which are mentioned by Cicero (ad Brut. 3). Besides these, there were several temples and sacella on the NE. summit. Among them was the small temple of Jupiter Feretrius, one of the most ancient in Rome, in which spolia opima were dedicated first by Romulus, then by Cossus, and lastly by Marcellus (Liv. i. 10; Plut Marcell. 8; Dinnys. ii. 34, &c.) The last writer, in whose time only the foundations remained, gives its dimensions at 10 feet by 5. It appears, however, to have been subsequently restored by Augustus. (Liv. iv. 20; Man. Ancijr.') The temple of Fides, which stood close to the great temple, was also very ancient, having been built by Numa, and afterwards restored by JI. Aemi- lius Scaurus. (Liv. i. 21 ; Cic. N. D. ii. 23, Off. lii. 29, &c.) It was roomy enough for assemblies of the senate. (Val. Max. iii. 2. § 17; App. B. C. i. 16.) The two small temples of Mens and of Venus Ekycina stood close together, separated only by a VOI-. II. trench. They had both been vovi'ed after the battle at the Trasimene lake and were consecrated two years afterwards by Q. Fabius Maximus and T. Otacilius Crassus. (Liv. xxii. 10, xxiii. 51; Cic. N. B. ii. 23.) A temple of Venus Capitolina and Venus ViCTRix are also mentioned, but it is not clear whether they were separate edifices. (Suet. Cal. 7, Gulb. 18; Fast. Amit. VIII. Id. Oct.) We also hear of two temples of Jupiter (Liv. xxxv. 41), and a temple of Ops (xxxix. 22). It by no means follows, however, that all these temples were on the Capitol, properly so called, and some of them might have been on the other summit, Capitolium being used generally as the name of the hill. This seems to have been the case with the temple of Fortune, respecting which we have already cited an ancient inscription when discussing the site of the temples of Concord and Jupiter Tonans. It is perhaps the temple of Fortuna Primigenia mentioned by Plutarch {Fort. Rom. 10) as having been built by Servius on the Capitoline, and alluded to apparently by Clemens. {Protrept. iv. 51. p. 15. Sylb.) The temple of HoNOS AND Virtus, built by C. Marius, certainly could not have been on the northern eiiiineiice, since we learn from Festus (p. 34, Miill.) that he was compelled to build it low lest it should interfere with the prospect of the augurs, and he should thus bo ordered to demolish it. Indeed Propertius (iv. 11. 45) mentions it as being on the Tarpeian rock, or southern summit: — " Foedaque Tarpeio conopia tendere saxo Jura dare et statuas inter et arma Jlari." Whence we discover another indication that the auguraculnm could not possibly have been on tho NE. height ; for in that case, with the huge temple of Jupiter before it, there would have been little cause to quarrel with this bagatelle erected by Ma- rius. It must have stood on a lower point of the 3d