FAUNUS, AEDES
So far as is known the only temple of Faunus in Rome,
situated at the north end of the island in the Tiber (Ovid.
Fast. ii. 193-194:
Idibus agrestis fumant altaria Fauni / Hic ubi discretas insula rumpit
Aquas). It was vowed in 196 B.C. by the aediles Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus and C. Scribonius Curio, who built it out of fines collected from
three pecuarii who had been convicted of cheating (
Liv. xxxiii. 42. 10).
Two years later it was dedicated by Domitius (
Liv. xxxiv. 53. 4) on the
Ides of February (Ovid. loc. cit. Hemerol. Esq. ad Id. Feb., CIL i².
p. 210=vi. 2302 ; Fast. Ant. ap.
NS 1921, 87). Vitruvius cites it as an
example of a prostyle temple (iii. 2.3). It was built on the island probably
because of the non-urban character of the god. There are no references
to it later than those of the calendar, and no traces have been found
(HJ 637; Jordan in comment. in honor. Mommsen 359; and esp.
Besnier, 290-303 and literature cited).
