Temple of Mercury
About
A round temple ringed by a peristyle and closed off by four apses honored Mercury, patron of the merchants who passed through Thuburbo Maius on the inland road linking Carthage to Numidia. It rose next to the Capitol under Marcus Aurelius, in the second half of the 2nd century CE. Its circular plan set inside a square precinct is almost unique among Roman temples in Africa. In 117 CE the site was open ground; Mercury's temple was still decades from being built.
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 →