Templum Dionysi

Temple of Dionysos

TempleArabia Petraea · Jerash, JordanBuilt 150 CE · Destroyed 375 CE

Not standing in 117 CE

About

A Roman temple to Dionysos crowned this terrace above the Cardo from the mid-second century CE, taking over a spot sacred to the Nabataean god Dushara. Christians cut it down to the podium in the fourth century and reused its columns in the basilica now called the Cathedral. The temple postdates the 117 CE snapshot; in 117 the Nabataean shrine still held the ground. A triple-arched gateway on the Cardo marks the old approach.

What happened here

The building itself is a house for the god, and most people never go inside. Everything public happens on the steps and at the altar in front: an animal led up, examined, killed cleanly, its organs read, the meat divided and eaten. The priest covers his head and a flute player keeps up a noise so no ill-omened word is heard. Worshippers leave what they can afford — a terracotta figure, a coin, a model of the body part they want healed — and the accumulated clutter is periodically cleared and buried on site. On festival days the doors are opened and the cult statue is dressed, garlanded, and sometimes carried out through the streets. The temple also holds money, which is why towns keep their treasury in one.