Templum Iovis Olympii
About
The great peripteral temple on the upper terrace was inaugurated in 162/163 CE, reached by a grand staircase cut into the west face of the older terrace below. Columns nearly 15 metres tall fronted a chamber that stared straight down at the oval plaza. This building postdates the 117 CE snapshot by some 45 years, when the hilltop still carried only the first-century sanctuary. An earthquake later dropped its drums in neat rows where they lie today.
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.
In ancient writing
- Anonymous, Greek building inscription of the Temple of Zeus, Gerasa dated 162/163 CE
Marks the inauguration of the rebuilt temple on the upper terrace.
Sources
Nearby
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →