mother Latona; originally separate works of art by three different classical Greek artists,
the statues were now combined into one cult image (Plin. Nat.35.5.24 – 5, 32).
Searching for a political message to compensate for the impression of an arbitrary,
eclectic array of compositional art in the cult precinct, scholars have often pointed
to the leitmotif of transgression and retribution, which gives a mythical dimension
to the civil war situation: the Danaids of the south portico, who are suffering for
the murder of their brothers; Hercules’ seizing of Apollo’s tripod on a decorative
clay relief; and, finally, the repelling of the Celts’ assault on Delphi and a mourning
Niobe on the temple doors. However, this poses the question whether such an intended
statement would not have been diluted by the multitude of myths and materials,
and the mingling of styles among the works of art, and whether perhaps it might
not be more persuasive to see in the visual decor a multi-layered semantics, which
contains the thoroughly ambivalent qualities of the god: apart from his role as the
relentless avenger and gifted musician, the Palatine Apollo also appears as a wise
oracle-giver. This aspect is not only demonstrated by the monumental tripod at
the portal of the temple doors, but is also crucially reflected in the representative,
administrative, and religious functions that are cumulated in the cult precinct. In its
gradual change, throughout the Augustan era, from a symbolic to the factual power
center of the capital, the original occasion for the dedication of the Apollo sanctu-
ary fades into the background: the monument commemorating a victory becomes
the administrative center of the princeps, which in turn has an impact on the cult
organization at the sanctuary.
The development can be traced in the textual and visual testimonies: even if no
other Augustan cult complex has enjoyed literary prominence approaching that of
the temple of Apollo Palatinus (Virg. Aen.8.714 –28; Hor. Odes1.31; Propertius
2.31, 4.6; Ov. Trist.3.1.33– 68), at first the cult was overshadowed by the civic
reality of an enormous triumphal and representative building in the center of the
city. Roman citizens, in their day-to-day lives, may indeed have frequented the
porticos, courtyards, and libraries more often than the temple itself. As an eminent
cult center the Apollo temple is first presented within the context of the Secular Games
(17 bc): in the inscribed records of the games (CIL6.32323), the Apollo temple,
now a public site for cult and sacrifice, is granted the same status as the temples
of Juno and the Capitoline Jupiter. The festival was conducted in person by the
princeps, who was the magisterof the quindecimviri, the priestly college in charge
of the Sibylline Books.
However, Augustus did not implement any radical topographical reforms until he
took on the office of pontifex maximusin 12 bc. Contrary to the religious traditions
which required that the high priest live in the house next to the Vesta sanctuary,
Augustus had a shrine to Vesta installed in his residence on the Palatine, thus tying
one of the most prominent “state cults” – famously, the priestesses of Vesta tended
the sacred fire and the venerable cult image of Athena, the Trojan guardian god-
dess, saved by Aeneas from her burning city – to the person and the household of
the princeps(Ov. Fast.6.417– 60). At the same time the Sibylline oracles, which had
been housed in the temple of Capitoline Jupiter, the highest deity of the Roman
state, were moved to the Apollo sanctuary and, after having been thoroughly
Roman Cult Sites 217