The Provincial Forum and Temple of Divus Augustus
About
Tarraco's citizens petitioned Tiberius in 15 CE for permission to build a temple to the deified Augustus, and Rome granted it — the first time any province was allowed to worship a dead emperor, a precedent Tacitus singled out as setting the pattern for the whole empire. The temple stood inside a colonnaded square nearly the size of two football pitches, ringed by a wall nine meters high. Hadrian would rebuild it during a stay in Tarraco in the winter of 122/123 CE, but in 117 CE the century-old temple still stood in its original Tiberian form.
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
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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 →