Temple of Diana
About
Raised around 25 BCE as part of Augustus's monumental spring sanctuary, this vaulted hall got its romantic name centuries later from visitors who mistook its coffered ceiling and wall niches for a shrine to the huntress goddess — no ancient inscription ever confirmed it. Its walls run over a meter thick and still stand two stories tall despite Huguenot troops torching it in 1577. Medieval monks folded it into their monastery, probably the only reason it survived at all. By 117 CE it had anchored the sacred precinct beside the city's founding spring for nearly a century and a half.
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.
Sources
Nearby
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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 →