Iuppiter Optimus Maximus H(eliopolitanus)

A sanctuary dedicated to Iuppiter Optimus Maximus Heliopolitanus (abbreviated on CIL VI 422: I.O.M.H., with VI 30765=ILS 4292; cf. CIL VI 420=ILS 398; VI 421; XIV 24), the chief god of the Syrian solar triad of Heliopolis-Baalbek (Hajjar 213-14), within the limits of the *Lucus Furrinae on the SE slopes of the *Ianiculum (Calzini Gysens, LTUR 138; sometimes referred to as sacellum Deae Suriae, cf. Savage 44-50). The precinct wall was discovered in 1906 and excavated in 1908-9 on the fringes of the present-day Villa Sciarra-Wurts, along the edge of a ravine, right below the curve of Via Dandolo (earlier called Viale Glorioso; Gauckler; Goodhue pl. 1 for a site plan). While the major phase of the temple (with its peculiar eclectic architecture) was dated to the 4th c. A.D., the excavators identified two earlier phases, which were probably not more than open-air precincts with similar layouts (Goodhue 47). The earliest phase was associated only with the remains of a perimeter wall, and was assigned an insecure mid 1st-c. A.D. date based on construction techniques (Gauckler 253). The second phase, a rebuilding by M. Antonius Gaionas, is well dated to A.D. 176-181 by inscriptions (Gauckler 227 ff.). A partial excavation was conducted in 1981-82 to solve these problems of dating and stratigraphy (Calzini Gysens 1982). Below two separate parts of the later temple, much earlier walls of opus reticulatum or mixtum were excavated, and dated from the beginning of the 1st c. A.D. to the mid-2nd c. A.D. (Meneghini 50, with Mele et al. pl. 2, areas A and M). Water conduits, built in opus reticulatum and associated with these earlier levels, are dated from the end of the 1st c. B.C. to the first half of the 1st c. A.D. (Calzini Gysens 1982, 62; id., LTUR 141). Although the dating and architecture of the first phase of the temple remain unclear, there seems to be good reason to assume the presence of the sacred spot and associated cultic activity in the time of Augustus, since both the location of the temple in the *Lucus Furrinae and the cult itself were popular in the late-Republican period (Hajjar; Calzini Gysens 1996).