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p209 Aedes Fidei

Articles on p209 of

Samuel Ball Platner (as completed and revised by Thomas Ashby):
A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome,
London: Oxford University Press, 1929.

Fides, aedes: a temple of Fides, afterwards known as Fides Publica (Val. Max.) or Fides Publica populi Romani (diplomata), on the Capitol. The establishment of the cult and the erection of a shrine (sacrarium, ἱερόν) is ascribed to Numa (Liv. I.21.4; Dionys. II.75; Plut. Numa 16), probably on the site of the later temple. This was dedicated — and presumably built — by A. Atilius Calatinus in 254 or 250 B.C. (Cic. de nat. deor. II.61, cf. Aust. de sacris aedibus 16), and restored and re-dedicated by M. Aemilius Scaurus in 115 B.C. (Cic. loc. cit.). The day of dedication was 1st October (Fast. Arv. Amit. Paul. ad Kal. Oct., CIL I2 p214, 215, 242; Fast. Ant. ap. NS 1921, 114). This temple was in Capitolio (Fast. locc. citt.; Plin. NH XXXV.100), and vicina Iovis optimi maximi (Cato ap. Cic. de off. III.104), and probably inside the area Capitolina, at its south-east corner near the porta Pandana1 (Hülsen, Festschrift an Kiepert 211‑214), rather than outside (Hermes 1883, 115‑116; Rosch. II.709). It was used for meetings of the senate (Val. Max. III.17; App. B. C. 1.16), and on its walls were fastened tablets on which international agreements were probably inscribed (Ann. d. Inst. 1858, 198 ff.). In 43 B.C. a great storm tore off some of these tablets (Cass. Dio XLV.17.3; Obseq. 128). The diplomata of honourably discharged soldiers were also fastened up here (CIL III pp902, 916; Suppl. p2034). The temple contained a painting by Apelles of an old man teaching a youth to play the lyre (Plin. XXXV.100), but nothing is known of its appearance, construction or later history (Jord. I.2.42; RE VI.2281‑2283; Rosch. I.1481‑1483; WR 133‑134).

Fides, templum: a temple of Fides on the Palatine, which, according to Agathocles, περὶ Κυζίκου, as quoted by Festus (269), was dedicated by Rhome, the daughter of Ascanius, who came to Italy with Aeneas. There is no other mention of the temple, and its existence is very doubtful (HJ 46; RE VI.2281; Rosch. I.1482; WR 133).

The Authors' Note:

1 Hülsen conjectures that the legend of Aracoeli (Chron. Min. III.428; cf. Mirabil. 13) arose from a wrong reading of the inscription on an altar: 'Fidei Augustae sacrum' as Filio Dei Augustus sacravit. See his Bilder aus der Geschichte des Kapitols (Rome, 1899, 31); Journ. Brit. and Amer. Arch. Soc. IV.39‑47; HCh 323; Town Planning Review XII. (1927), 162.

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p209 Aedes Fidei

Articles on p209 of

Samuel Ball Platner (as completed and revised by Thomas Ashby): A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, London: Oxford University Press, 1929.

The Authors' Note:

Samuel Ball Platner (as completed and revised by Thomas Ashby):
A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome,
London: Oxford University Press, 1929.