The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus ("Jupiter, greatest and best."), was the great temple on the Capitol. The temple was dedicated in 509 B.C. to Jupiter and his companion deities, Juno and Minerva, the Capitoline Triad. Tarquinius Priscus vowed this temple while battling with the Sabines, and seems to have laid some of its foundations, but a large part of the work was done by Tarquinius Superbus, who is said to have nearly completed it. According to the tradition current in later times, there were shrines of other deities on the site intended for this temple, all of whom allowed themselves to be dispossessed in the proper way except Terminus (q.v.) and Iuventas (q.v.). These shrines were therefore incorporated in the new temple, and the action of Terminus was regarded as a prophecy of the permanence of the cult and of Rome itself (Cic. de rep. ii.36; Liv. i.38.7, 55, 56; Plin. NH iii.70; Dionys. iii.69; iv.61; Tac. Hist. iii.72; Plut. Popl.13‑14). The dedication of the temple on 13th September was ascribed to the first year of the republic, when this honour fell to Horatius Pulvillus by lot (Liv. ii.8; vii.3.8; Polyb. iii.22; Tac. Hist. iii.72; Plut. Popl. 14; cf. Plin. NH xxxiii.19).

The original Temple measured almost 200 feet by 180 feet. The Temple was first burnt down in 83 BC, under the wars during the dictatorship of Sulla. The new temple of Quintus Lutatius Catulus was renovated and repaired by Augustus; it was burnt down during the course of fighting on the hill in AD 69, when Vespasian battled to enter the city as Emperor. The last rebuilding was undertaken by the Emperor Domitian [1].

The Sibylline Books, which were written by classical sibyls, were stored in the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill, Rome. The books were to be guarded and consulted by the Quindecemviri (council of fifteen) on matters of state only on emergencies. The books were lost when the temple burned in 83 BC.

Brutus and the assassins locked themselves inside the Temple of Jupiter after murdering Caesar.

The Temple has been copied around the world including Brittania or Africa

External Links

• Temple of Jupiter