Temple of Jupiter Tonans

Temple of Jupiter Tonans
Aedes Iovis Tonantis
Photograph of a Roman coin: a man's head, facing right, on the obverse, with a temple with a god's statue on the reverse.
A denarius of Augustus (c. 19 BCE) showing a hexastyle temple with the label IOV TON (Iovis Tonantis, lit.'Of Jupiter the Thunderer')
Map of ancient Rome, with approximate location of the Temple of Jupiter Tonans shown on the Capitoline Hill in the city centre.
Map of ancient Rome, with approximate location of the Temple of Jupiter Tonans shown on the Capitoline Hill in the city centre.
Temple of Jupiter Tonans
Approximate location of the temple within ancient Rome
LocationArea Capitolina, Capitoline Hill, Rome
Coordinates41°53′31″N 12°29′1″E / 41.89194°N 12.48361°E / 41.89194; 12.48361
History
BuilderAugustus Caesar
Founded22 BCE
PeriodsRoman Empire
Site notes
Excavation dates1811–1812
Archaeologists
ConditionRuined


The Temple of Jupiter Tonans (Latin: Aedes Iovis Tonantis, lit.'Temple of Jupiter the Thunderer') was a small temple in Rome, dedicated by Augustus Caesar in 22 BCE to Jupiter, the chief god of ancient Rome. It was probably situated at the entrance to the Area Capitolina, the sanctuary of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill, near the much older and larger Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus. The temple was considered among Augustus's most impressive archaeological projects, and played an important role in the Secular Games, a religious and artistic festival that he revived in 17 BCE. It was also noted by Roman authors for the artworks, particularly statues, displayed in and around it.

Much of the temple's history is unclear, though it was mentioned in a fourth-century CE panegyric and may have been restored around the beginning of the second century CE. Nothing, except perhaps a small part of its foundations, survives of the temple. From 1555 until the nineteenth century, the Temple of Vespasian and Titus in the Roman Forum was misidentified as the Temple of Jupiter Tonans, but the Italian archaeologist Luigi Canina correctly identified the former temple during excavations in 1844.