DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18096#0223
Africa under Marcus Aurelius 159
to assume, from the absence of titles, that the above inscription
was added at the beginning of the joint reign of these two
Emperors.1 Fifty years ago this temple of the Doric order, with
its lateral chapels and surroundings, formed an interesting group
of monumental buildings. The four columns of the tetrastyle
portico of the central edifice, sketched by De la Mare in 1846,
have long since been overthrown, and now there is little re-
maining except the lower parts of the walls of the cella, and
a confused mass of stone slabs, both moulded and plain. Fortu-
nately, the inscriptions in the subsidiary chapels are still legible,
that on the left being dedicated to Jupiter Valens, and the one
on the right to Silvanus. In front of the buildings was a large
paved court of semicircular form, which still remains in good
condition. Each temple was approached by a flight of steps,
and a curved colonnade bound together the side-chapels with
the central sanctuary. The approach was by a broad avenue,
bordered at a later date by a number of shrines dedicated to
various deities, many of them being faced with slabs of marble
and paved with mosaics. Some of the mosaic patterns are
interesting, especially one seen and described by Leon Renier,
bearing the following inscription :
BONVS • INTRA ■ MELIOR ■ EXI
Strange to say, the slab of mosaic bearing these words has been
lost. The remains of other memorials are better studied on
the spot, and the sculptures and other remains, including fine
statues of yEsculapius and his daughter Hygeia, are attractive
objects in the local museum. The worship of yEsculapius was
very popular in North Africa, and, according to Pausanias, sick
persons desirous of supplicating the deity or his daughter were
required to spend one or more nights in his sanctuary for the
purpose of observing certain rites ordained by the priests
attached to the temple. The remedies were usually revealed
to supplicants in a dream. At Lambaesis special provision
appears to have been made for such visitors, there being clear
indications of a series of buildings grouped round the temples
1 M. R. Cagnat says that the date of this edifice is A.D. 162, and that the lateral
chapels were added successively during the reigns of the P^mperors M. Aurelius
Commodus and Septimius Severus. Everything appears to have been completed
A.D. 211.
to assume, from the absence of titles, that the above inscription
was added at the beginning of the joint reign of these two
Emperors.1 Fifty years ago this temple of the Doric order, with
its lateral chapels and surroundings, formed an interesting group
of monumental buildings. The four columns of the tetrastyle
portico of the central edifice, sketched by De la Mare in 1846,
have long since been overthrown, and now there is little re-
maining except the lower parts of the walls of the cella, and
a confused mass of stone slabs, both moulded and plain. Fortu-
nately, the inscriptions in the subsidiary chapels are still legible,
that on the left being dedicated to Jupiter Valens, and the one
on the right to Silvanus. In front of the buildings was a large
paved court of semicircular form, which still remains in good
condition. Each temple was approached by a flight of steps,
and a curved colonnade bound together the side-chapels with
the central sanctuary. The approach was by a broad avenue,
bordered at a later date by a number of shrines dedicated to
various deities, many of them being faced with slabs of marble
and paved with mosaics. Some of the mosaic patterns are
interesting, especially one seen and described by Leon Renier,
bearing the following inscription :
BONVS • INTRA ■ MELIOR ■ EXI
Strange to say, the slab of mosaic bearing these words has been
lost. The remains of other memorials are better studied on
the spot, and the sculptures and other remains, including fine
statues of yEsculapius and his daughter Hygeia, are attractive
objects in the local museum. The worship of yEsculapius was
very popular in North Africa, and, according to Pausanias, sick
persons desirous of supplicating the deity or his daughter were
required to spend one or more nights in his sanctuary for the
purpose of observing certain rites ordained by the priests
attached to the temple. The remedies were usually revealed
to supplicants in a dream. At Lambaesis special provision
appears to have been made for such visitors, there being clear
indications of a series of buildings grouped round the temples
1 M. R. Cagnat says that the date of this edifice is A.D. 162, and that the lateral
chapels were added successively during the reigns of the P^mperors M. Aurelius
Commodus and Septimius Severus. Everything appears to have been completed
A.D. 211.