CERES LIBER LIBERAQUE, AEDES
a temple on the slope
of the Aventine
hill, near the west end of the circus Maximus. According
to tradition
there was a famine in Rome in 496 B.C., and the dictator
L. Postumius,
after consulting the Sibylline books, vowed a temple to
Demeter, Dionysus,
and Kore if they would bring abundance again to the city.
The temple
was built, and dedicated in 493 B.C. by the consul Sp.
Cassius (
Dionys.
vi. 17, 94) to Ceres, Liber, and Libera, with whom the
Greek deities
were identified. Beloch (Rom. Gesch. 329) assigns it to
the fourth
century B.C.
It was araeostyle, with columns of the Tuscan order,
and the fastigium
was decorated with statues of gilded bronze or terracotta
of Etruscan
workmanship (
Vitr. iii. 3. 5). The walls of the cella were
decorated with
frescoes and reliefs by two Greek artists, Gorgasus and
Damophilus,
1 and
there was a Greek inscription stating how much had been
done by each
(Plin.
NH xxxv. 154; see Merlin 153-155). This temple,
called by
Cicero (
Verr. iv. 108)
pulcherrimum et
Magnificentissimum, was enriched
by many works of art, such as golden bowls and statues,
from the fines
levied by plebeian magistrates (
Liv. x. 23. 13;
xxvii. 6. 19,
36. 9;
xxxiii.
25. 3). It contained a bronze statue of Ceres, said to have
been the first
made in Rome, which was paid for out of the confiscated
property of
Sp. Cassius (
Liv. ii. 41. 10; Plin.
NH xxxiv. 15); and a
painting of Bacchus
(and Ariadne ?) that was brought from Corinth by
Mummius (Plin.
NH
xxxv. 24, 99;
Strabo viii. 381; cf. Merlin 162). Twice it
was struck
by lightning (
Liv. xxviii. 11. 4; App.
BC i. 78), and twice it
is mentioned
in connection with prodigies (
Liv. xl. 2. 2;
xli. 28. 2). It
was burned
down in 31 B.C., restored by Augustus, and dedicated by
Tiberius in
17 A.D. (Cass. Dio 1. 10; Tac.
Ann. ii. 49; Merlin, 366-
367;
CIL vi.
9969), and was standing in the fourth century (Not. Reg.
XI). The
site of the temple was near the west end of the circus on
the Aventine
side, but how far up the slope is not certain-perhaps near
the junction
of the modern Vicolo di S. Sabina and Via S. Maria in
Cosmedin
(
Dionys. vi. 94;
Liv. xl. 2. 1; DAP 2. vi. 238-239; Merlin
93-95, and
literature cited there;
BC 1914, 115), but no traces of it
have been
found.
The worship of Ceres was essentially plebeian, and the
political
importance of this temple was very great. It was the
headquarters
of the plebeian aediles, the repository of their archives, and
the treasury
in which was placed the property of those who had been
found guilty
of assaulting plebeian magistrates (
Dionys. vi. 89;
x. 42 ;
Liv. iii. 55. 7).
Copies of senatus consulta were also deposited here after
449 B.C. (
Liv.
iii. 55. 13; Mommsen,
Staatsr. ii. 476-477, 490). The
temple possessed
the right of asylum (Varr. ap. Non. 44: asylum Cereris),
and was a centre
of distribution of food to the poor. It was regularly called
aedes, but
delubrum once by Pliny (
NH xxxv. 24), and in Greek
Δημητρεῖον (
Strabo
viii. 381),
Δημήτριον (Cass. Dio 1. 10), and
Δήμητρος ἱερόν (App.
BC i. 78).
In ordinary usage the official title was abbreviated to aedes
Cereris (see
Merlin, passim; HJ 115-117;
RE iii. 1974-1975;
xiii. 70-73;
Gilb. ii.
242-250). For a
sacerdos Cereris publica p.r.q. (i.e. a
slave), see CIL i².
974=vi. 2182 =ILS 3347 (cf. vi. 2181 =32443=ILS 3343).
