1 Earliest Rome

4.9 Sanctuaries of Latium
Sanctuaries of Latium: the temple complex of Fortuna Primigenia
(Primordial Fortune) at Praeneste
From the second half of the second century B.C., the region around Rome
(Latium) saw the development of a series of lavish sanctuaries. These were,
strictly speaking, the achievement of the local towns that sponsored and main­
tained them. But their character was largely determined by a number of factors
which affected Rome and the towns of Latium alike: the increasing wealth that
flowed into all of central Italy as a result of Roman conquests; growing contact
with the architecture (and architects) of the Hellenistic Greek world; the easy
availability of concrete, which made possible some of the most ambitious
architectural schemes. These sites were very much part of the cultural and reli­
gious world of Rome - particularly so after the grant of full Roman citizenship
to the Italians in 90-89 B.C.
The magnificent sanctuary at Praeneste (40 km. south-east of Rome and
today called Palestrina) is a development of the second century B.C., probably
close to the end of the century, though the precise date of construction is still
debated. Before the grand terrace was built, we know that there had been, on
part of the site, a temple of the goddess Fortuna Primigenia (Primordial For­
tune) — according to the local myth the mother of Jupiter and Juno - and, on
another part of it, one of the most famous and wealthy oracles of Italy. The ora­
cle was consulted by sending a child down into a deep pit; the child brought up
wooden tablets (sortes i.e. lots) with mysterious lettering on them; these were
then handed to an expert for interpretation.
The temple, at the top of the hill, was incorporated into a Renaissance
palazzo now the Museum, within which parts of the original building can still
be seen. The terracing, which incorporates the oracular part of the site, was also
built over in medieval times and was only exposed again after the town was
bombed during the Second World War. The upper part of the complex illus­
trated is 113.20 m. wide; the distance from the temple to the oracular shrine,
120 m.; to the basilica (part of the public buildings of the town), 236 m.
See further: Vol. 1, Map 5; on these sanctuaries in general, Boethius (1978)
159-78* (though wrongly dating most of the sanctuaries to the period after 80
B.C.); Gros (1978); Sear (1982) 24-7*; Coarelli (1987); on the sanctuary at
Praeneste, Fasolo and Gullini (1953); and on its cult, Cicero, On Divination
II.85-7; Brendei (1960); Champeaux (1982-7) 1.3-147; an extract from the
surviving inscribed calendar from Praeneste is given above, 3.3b.
97