Temple of Augustan Piety

Templum Pietatis Augustae

TempleAfrica Proconsularis · Dougga, TunisiaBuilt 150 CE

Not standing in 117 CE

About

Dougga built this small semicircular temple to Pietas Augusta, Imperial Piety, in the 2nd century CE along the street linking the theatre to the Capitol. Two columns and two pilasters framed its curved facade. In 117 CE that stretch of street ran past ordinary houses; the temple was still generations away.

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.