Templum Iovis Heliopolitani
About
Colossal peripteral temple of Jupiter Heliopolitanus, its six surviving columns still the tallest in the Roman world. Substantially complete by 117 CE atop the pre-Roman tell.
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
- Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.23.10-20
Macrobius gives a detailed description of the cult of Jupiter Optimus Maximus Heliopolitanus at Heliopolis (Baalbek), including the gold cult statue said to have been brought from Egypt, its iconography, and the statue-borne oracle by which the god's will was divined, citing a 114 CE prediction to Trajan.
Sources
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 →