ProQuest Dissertations - Historia Antigua

propitiate. 113Yet, C. Marius was allowed to dedicate just such a temple not a centurylater. 114Clearly, there was more going on in Marcellus' case than just a concern with theinterpretation of prodigies. Furthermore, in his epitaph, L. Scipio mentioned the templeof Tempestates, which he dedicated in 259; this indicates it was as important to theepitaph audience, i.e. the people of Rome, that the deceased had dedicated temples as thathe had held high offices. 115The best way to advertise the dedication of a temple was through prominentplacement; according to Muccigrosso, temple locations in the forum and circus areas oralong major roads targeted the greatest potential voting base for the vowing general. 116In Rome, there was such freedom of location because no apparent master plan of sacraltopography existed, according to Rupke, except for specific border or crossroads ritualssuch as the Terminalia or Compitalia. 117Moreover, the choice of deity was also left to11 St •the whim of the vowing general or aedile.Perhaps this freedom of choice arose fromthe spontaneous nature of vows made in battle: it is nearly impossible to determine ifthese vows were premeditated as a rule. It seems that the recipient deity of the vows wasnot dictated by a predefined set of senate-approved or even traditional gods, so the temple113 Val. Max. 1.1.8. Cf. Ando (2003), p. 12 who notes that "the need to respond precisely drove pontiffs torequire, and architects and urban planners alike to produce, cities in which divine messages in the terrestriallandscape would be as clear as possible." I think this comment does not imply that a team of architectscreated an initial, coherent, and unified city plan for Rome or for colonies, but that there was a case-by-caseevaluation of the suitability of each proposed temple's dedication and location.,14 Orlin(1997),p. 131.115 CIL I 2 .8-9. Cf. Muccigrosso (2006), p. 186.116 Muccigrosso (2006), p. 187. Muccigrosso urges those who study temple placement in Rome to set asidethe temples of Jupiter Optimus Maximus and Aventine Diana as comparanda for later Roman Republicantemple locations. These temples are clearly archaic and may have had no bearing on temple placementpatterns in later periods.117 Rupke (2004), p. 191. There also seemed to be no designated locations for gods of different origins, e.g.the temple to Aesculapius was outside the pomerium while the temple of Magna Mater was located on thePalatine.118 Muccigrosso (2006), p.191.34