be read. Hence the word templum does not correspond to the
modern concept of a temple, though it does have a religious
connotation.
Th e concept of the templum was very broad. It covered
areas where magistrates could exercise power and therefore
included a wide range of government buildings, such as the
Curia (Senate house), as well as open spaces of offi cial public
assembly on the Roman Forum. Th e templum could also refer
to the city as a whole. In this case it was defi ned by the pome-
rium, a ritual boundary that divided Roman cities from the
world beyond. Since the area within the pomerium was con-
secrated space, cremations, burials, military exercises, and
other activities deemed inappropriate for a sacred site had to
take place beyond it. Th e authority of a magistrate was no lon-
ger valid once he left the sacred space within the pomerium,
emphasizing the strong bond between Rome’s state religion
and its political authority.
Another type of sacred site was an aedes. Th is word
was applied to any place where a god was believed to dwell,
whether an enclosed space or an outdoor area such as a forest,
spring, mountain, or lake. An aedes did not have to be large
or the god a major one. Many Romans kept small altars in
their homes to venerate household divinities, and these al-
tars were considered aedes. Minor deities, such as the female
nature divinities known as nymphs, were believed to inhabitcountless outdoor settings. For instance, the nymph Albunea
was worshipped at a sulfurous spring near Tivoli. Th e legend-
ary she-wolf that suckled Romulus and Remus as babies was
worshipped at a cave on the Palatine Hill. During Rome’s
republican era (ca. 509–27 b.c.e.) and through much of the
existence of the Western Roman Empire (27 b.c.e.–476 c.e.),
temples and altars were erected to divinities throughout Ro-
man territory, oft en replacing the outdoor settings of archaic
traditions.
Th e layout of major religious and ritual sites evolved
during the course of Rome’s history. Th e earliest evidence
for sacred sites on the Roman Forum and the Palatine and
Capitoline Hills are terra-cotta votive off erings left at a sacred
place. A dearth of archaeological evidence makes it diffi cult
to determine the precise layout of these places. During the re-
publican and imperial eras proper temples begin to populate
cities, frequently replacing older sacred areas. Contacts with
Greece, Etruria, and Carthage infl uenced Roman temple ar-
chitecture.
Th e development of religious structures in Rome began
in the sixth century b.c.e. with the Temple of Jupiter Opti-
mus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill. According to legend
the king Tarquinius Priscus (r. 616–578 b.c.e.) located it on
a site deemed appropriate by the augurs. Its style and deco-
ration were heavily infl uenced by Etruscan architecture, and
it in turn infl uenced early republican temple design. Dur-
ing the mid- to late republic Rome increased its contact with
Greece through alliances and conquest and began to assimi-
late Greek gods into the state religion. Consequently Roman
temples emulated Greek architecture.
During the republic private individuals such as victorious
generals or politicians commissioned temples. Accordingly,
these structures were less majestic in scale than the imperial
structures that followed them. During the empire the Roman
state and the imperial family commissioned sacred sites in
monumental dimensions. Th e aedes of the empire served not
just as holy places but also as symbols of Rome’s power and
the relationship between the gods and the state.
With the growth of Christianity in Rome and its empire
new ideas about sacred places and sites emerged. In the fourth
century c.e. the importance of Rome’s traditional sacred sites
diminished as Christianity spread and ultimately replaced
the older state religion. To Christians pagan temples were not
sacred areas, and with the end of the old religion the pome-
rium was no longer respected, and templum and aedes were
pillaged, turned to other uses, and neglected. For Christians
sacred areas included sites of martyrdom and pilgrimage, the
locations of holy relics such as saints’ bones, and the burial
sites of saints and martyrs. During the fi rst to fourth cen-
turies worship, catechism, and baptism took place in small
community centers, oft en apartment buildings or converted
villas, rather than in large churches. Even in such rudimen-
tar y sanctuaries as these, however, some delineation of sacred
and nonsacred space existed. For example, since unbaptized
individuals could not enter the places of worship, baptister-Roman gold ring bought by a pilgrim and showing the Temple of
Aphrodite at Palaepaphos (ca. 150–250 c.e.), made in Cyprus and
found near Koskieni, Rhodes (© Th e Trustees of the British Museum)906 sacred sites: Rome0895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i906 906 10/10/07 2:30:23 PM