Temple of Venus Erycina

Map of Rome showing the two temples of Venus Erycina

The Temple of Venus Erycina (Latin: Aedes Veneris Erycinae) was the name of two temples in ancient Rome dedicated to Venus Erycina, an aspect of the goddess Venus, also venerated in a famous temple at the mountain of Eryx in Sicily.

Capitoline Hill

The Temple of Venus Erycina on the Capitoline Hill was built by the dictator Quintus Fabius Maximus. He was appointed dictator after the disastrous Battle of Trasimeno in 217 BC and promised this temple to Venus after consulting the Sibylline Books, hoping thereby to reverse his fate.Template:Livy 22.9-10, 23.30-31) The temple was inaugurated in 215 BC. Later this temple was probably called the Temple of the Capitoline Venus (Aedes Veneris Capitolinae).

The temple was probably in the Area Capitolina, by the great Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus.

Quirinal Hill

The Temple of Venus Erycina on the Quirinal Hill was built by the consul Lucius Porcius Licinius. He promised the temple to Venus in 184 BC during the war against the Ligurians in the north of Italy. Porcius Licinius (or his younger brother) dedicated the shrine in 181 BC. Perhaps the temple was included in the 1st century BC in the complex of the Gardens of Sallust.

Further Reading

Orlin, Eric. Temples, Religion, and Politics in the Roman Republic

Gruen, Erich. Romans and Others. In Rosenstein and Morstein-Marx "A Companion to the Roman Republic" p. 466.

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