Temple of Apollo at Cumae
About
Cumae's Temple of Apollo crowned a terrace of the acropolis, rebuilt on a grander scale under Augustus after centuries as a Greek-style shrine. Its cella once ran some 34 meters long, facing out over the coastline toward Ischia. Priests here linked the sanctuary to the Sibyl's cave a short walk downhill, and pilgrims arriving by sea climbed the terraced slope to reach its columned front. The temple was still active in 117 CE, its tufa podium already carrying the marks of a rebuild more than a century old.
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
- Virgil, Aeneid 6.14–33
Describes Daedalus building the temple, its golden doors carved with the story of Minos, Pasiphaë, and the Minotaur.
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 →