Temple of Jupiter Anxur

Last updated
External corridor of the terrace on which the temple once stood Terracina - Tempio di Giove Anxur - 2024-09-02 13-00-45 001.jpeg
External corridor of the terrace on which the temple once stood

The Temple of Jupiter Anxur (Italian: Tempio di Giove Anxur) is an Ancient Roman temple that is located in Terracina, Italy. [1]

Contents

The temple was built between the mid-second and mid-first century BC and is dedicated to Jupiter, who was the protector of Anxur. [2] It was located along the Via Appia which passed through the city of Terracina and is situated atop Mount Sant’Angelo. The site is erected on top of a terraced platform that uses opus incertum. The largest temple is dedicated to Jupiter while a smaller temple dedicated to Venus Obsequens ("Indulgent Venus") sat next to it. After the Roman period, the sanctuary was destroyed. [3] The remains were known in the medieval times as “Theodoric’s palace,” and in the early Middle Ages, a monastery dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel occupied the smaller temple. The interior was transformed into a church, and 9th-century frescos can still be found inside. The first excavations of the temple date to 1894 by Pio Capponi. [4]

Architecture

Reconstruction of the sanctuary Reconstruction of the so-called Sanctuary of Jupiter Anxur, Terracina, Italy (15223171445).jpg
Reconstruction of the sanctuary
Modern day view Terracina 2012 by-RaBoe 070.jpg
Modern day view

The temple was built on a previous place of worship. The complex consists of three terraces: the upper terrace, the middle terrace, and the lower terrace. The upper terrace is characterized by a long corridor that borders the square on three sides and opens to the south. The middle terrace houses the main temples of worship, and the base is made by a succession of twelve arches in opus incertum that is transversely connected to each other to create the illusion of a long corridor, which is still well preserved today. To the east of the cryptoporticus is an access to a small cave that probably connected with the oracular sanctuary. The large temple stood on a high podium and is oriented almost perfectly along the north–south axis with six Corinthian columns lining the front of the building and four on each side. The pronaos is almost as deep as the cella. Located behind the temple is a portico where traces of frescos can still be seen. Recently, the attribution of the temple to Jupiter has been questioned due to a few dedicatory inscriptions probably to Venus Obsequens. [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capitoline Hill</span> One of the seven hills of Rome, Italy

The Capitolium or Capitoline Hill, between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feronia (mythology)</span> Italic goddess of wilderness and liberty

In Etruscan and Sabine religion, Feronia was a goddess associated with wildlife, fertility, health, and abundance, also venerated by the Faliscans and later adopted into ancient Roman religion. As the goddess who granted freedom to slaves or civil rights to the most humble part of society, she was especially honored among plebeians and freedmen. Her festival, the Feroniae, was November 13 during the Ludi Plebeii, in conjunction with Fortuna Primigenia; both were goddesses of Praeneste.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus</span> Temple on the Capitoline Hill of Ancient Rome

The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, also known as the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, was the most important temple in Ancient Rome, located on the Capitoline Hill. It was surrounded by the Area Capitolina, a precinct where numerous shrines, altars, statues and victory trophies were displayed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terracina</span> Comune in Lazio, Italy

Terracina is an Italian city and comune of the province of Latina, located on the coast 56 km (35 mi) southeast of Rome on the Via Appia. The site has been continuously occupied since antiquity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cupra Marittima</span> Municipality in Marche, Italy

Cupra Marittima is in the Province of Ascoli Piceno in the Italian region Marche, located about 70 km (43 mi) southeast of Ancona and about 30 km (19 mi) northeast of Ascoli Piceno.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple of Jupiter Stator (3rd century BC)</span> Ancient Roman temple at the Palatine hill

The Temple of Jupiter Stator was a sanctuary at the foot of the Palatine Hill in Rome. In Roman legend, it was founded by the first king of Rome, Romulus, honoring a pledge he had made during a battle between the Romans and the Sabines. However, no temple seems to have been built on the site until the early 3rd century BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capo Colonna</span> Cape in Calabria, Italy

Capo Colonna is a cape in Calabria located near Crotone. In ancient Roman times the promontory was called Promunturium Lacinium. The modern name derives from the remaining column of the Temple of Hera Lacinia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Circeii</span> Ancient Roman city

Circeii was an ancient Roman city on the site of modern San Felice Circeo and near Mount Circeo, the mountain promontory on the southwest coast of Italy. The area around Circeii and Mount Circeo was thickly populated with Roman villas and other buildings, of which the remains of many can still be seen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple of Clitumnus</span> Medieval church in Campello sul Clitunno, Italy

The so-called Temple of Clitumnus is a small early medieval church that sits along the banks of the Clitunno river in the town of Pissignano near Campello sul Clitunno, Umbria, Italy. In 2011, it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of a group of seven such sites that mark the presence of Longobards in Italy: Places of Power.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archaeological Park of Urbs Salvia</span> Archaeological site in Urbisaglia, Italy

The Archaeological Park of Urbs Salvia is situated in the comune of Urbisaglia, in the Marches, Italy. It is the largest archaeological park in the region.

The Sacro Monte di Graglia is one of the numerous devotional places around the Italian Alps and it houses the Santuario di Nostra Signora di Loreto, one of the four major sanctuaries of the Biellese territory. Set in the Valle Elvo at 690 m on the sea level, the sanctuary is built near the Lauretana water industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple of Jupiter Custos</span>

The Temple of Jupiter Custos was a minor temple in Rome, probably on the Capitoline Hill. It was built by Domitian in memory of his narrow escape from the Capitol during Vitellius' siege. Its site is uncertain – some scholars place it on the rectangular podium in opus caementicium with basalt chips discovered in the 19th century during the construction of via del Tempio di Giove. However, that rectangular plan does not seem compatible with a temple, which a relief in the Palazzo dei Conservatori places to the right of the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shrine of Hercules Curinus</span>

The sanctuary or Shrine of Hercules Curinus was an Italic and later Roman sanctuary, the ruins of which are located in the comune of Sulmona, in the province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuragic sanctuary of Santa Vittoria</span> Archaeological site in Italy

The Nuragic sanctuary of Santa Vittoria is an archaeological site located in the municipality of Serri, Sardinia – Italy. The name refers to the Romanesque style church built over a place of Roman worship which rises at the westernmost tip of the site. The Santa Vittoria site was frequented starting from the first phase of the Nuragic civilization corresponding to Middle Bronze Age. Subsequently, from the late Bronze Age to the early Iron Age, the place became one of the most important expressions of the Nuragic civilization and today it constitutes the most important Nuragic complex so far excavated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santuario del Noce</span> Catholic chapel in Camposampiero, Italy

The Santuario del Noce is a 15th-century Roman Catholic chapel or place of worship dedicated to Anthony of Padua in Camposampiero, Veneto, Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sanctuary of Hercules Victor (Tivoli)</span> Ancient Roman religious site

The Sanctuary of Hercules Victor in Tivoli (Italy) was one of the major complexes of the Roman Republican era built on the wave of the Hellenistic cultural influence after the final Roman conquest of Greece. It was built just outside the ancient city of Tibur and is the largest of Italic sanctuaries dedicated to Hercules, and the second in the whole Mediterranean after that of Cádiz in Spain. It was built between about 120 and 82 BC and was a masterpiece of Roman engineering with many innovations. Further building was done in the Augustan period especially in the theatre area. Augustus administered justice here on numerous occasions, under the arcades of the sanctuary.

The ancient Sanctuary of Venus at Hispellum was a grandiose theatre-temple-amphitheatre complex, today located partially in the grounds of the Villa Fidelia to the northwest of the city. It was located outside the walls of the ancient city on a slope near the bottom of the Spello hill facing west as part of an impressive monumental layout.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Rotonda</span> Sanctuary in Albano Laziale, Italy

The sanctuary of Maria Santissima della Rotonda, formerly known as Santa Maria Maggiore, is an important Marian sanctuary in Lazio, located in the city of Albano Laziale, in the province of Rome, in the Roman Castles area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple of Minerva (Marano di Valpolicella)</span>

The temple of Minerva is an archaeological area located on Mount Castelon, in the municipality of Marano di Valpolicella, in the province of Verona. The site, popular as a sanctuary at least since the 6th century BC, became a place of worship dedicated to Minerva in the 2nd century BC.

References

  1. Becker, J., T. Elliott (24 May 2022). "Places: 867719962 (Temple of Jupiter Anxur)". Pleiades. Retrieved November 11, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. Santuario di Giove Anxur
  3. Temple of Jupiter Anxur
  4. Il Tempio de Giove Anxur a Terracina
  5. Gabellone, 2013

41°17′28″N13°15′35″E / 41.29111°N 13.25972°E / 41.29111; 13.25972