CLITUMNUS
Temple of Jupiter-Clitumnus, Umbria,
Italy.
On the Clitumnus river ca. 4 km below
Trebiae (Trevi), the most important of the many shrines
to various divinities of the springs and waters that dotted
the river's course. The god was represented not as a fluvial divinity reclining full length but standing in a purplebordered toga praetexta. He gave oracles through leaves
and foretold the future by lots. Votive inscriptions and
symbols of answered prayers covered the temple's walls.
Coins were commonly thrown into the water nearby. A
bridge separated the sacred area from that across the
stream for public use, and no swimming was allowed between it and the source. A special society, the Hispellates,
was entrusted by Augustus with operating an inn and
baths at the site free to all. Several villas were beautifully
situated along the river's banks.
Parts of this major temple seem to be built into a
Christian church of the Savior still standing at the site,
apparently constructed in the 4th or 5th c. A.D.—though
some consider it 8th c. Carolingian. It is in the form of
a small temple in antis with four Corinthian columns,
those on the outer edges contacting the antae. There is
ornate molding on the architrave and pediment. The cella
is lighted by two pairs of windows and contains an altar.
The whole structure is elevated on a platform at the
front, with an arched door beneath the facade, but it fits
into the hillside at the back. There are no stairs along the
front facing the river, but on either side of the cella, a
third of the way back, is a door with enclosed porch and
steps leading down to the ground. Some 7th or 8th c.
frescos of Christ, Saints, and angels are faintly visible on
the niche and altar walls. Most of the structural material
is clearly ancient limestone from the Clitumnus temple.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Verg. G. 2.146-48; Prop. 2.19.25-26;
Stat.
Silv. 1.4.129; Sil. Ital. 4.545-46, 8.451; Juvenal
12.13; Plin.
Ep. 8.8; Suet.
Calig. 43.
H. Holtzinger, “Der Clitumnus-Tempel bei Trevi,”
Zeitschrift Bild. Kunst 16 (1881) 313-18; Pila-Carocci,
Del Tempia e Fiume Clitunno (1895); W. Hoppenstadt,
Die Basilica San Salvatore bei Spoleto und der Clitunnotempel bei Trevi, Halle (1912); A. P. Frutaz, “Ii Tempietto del Clitunno,”
Rivista Arch.Crist. 17 (1941) 245-64;
EAA 2 (1959) 723
I.
R. V. SCHODER
