OPS, AEDES, TEMPLUM
a temple on the Capitol, probably in the area
Capitolina (Hulsen, Festschrift fur H. Kiepert, 214), which is first mentioned as being struck by lightning in 186 B.C. (
Liv. xxxix. 22. 4; and
probably Obseq. 3). In the latter part of the second century B.C.
L. Caecilius Metellus Delmaticus dedicated a temple to Opifera, probably
Ops Opifera (cf. Fast. Arv. ad x Kal. Sept., CIL i². p. 215: Opi Opifer(ae),
pp. 326-337), which may refer to a restoration of the existing temple on the
Capitol, or less probably to a new one. If it was a new one, it may perhaps
have been in the forum, and referred to in the calendar (Fast. Amit.
ad xiv Kal. Ian., CIL i². p. 245:
Opalia feriae Opi. Opi ad Forum; Fowler,
Roman Festivals 273). The temple of Ops on the Capitol was famous
as the place where Caesar stored the state treasure of 700,000,000
sesterces (Cic. ad
Att. xiv. 14. 5;
xvi. 14. 4;
Phil. i. 17;
ii. 35, 93;
viii. 26;
Veil. ii. 60. 4; cf. Obseq. 68).
It is also mentioned incidentally by Cicero (ad Att. vi. I. 17) and in
the Schol. Veron. of Vergil (
Aen. ii. 714). At the celebration of the
ludi saeculares in 17 B.C. the matronae assembled in this temple
(
CIL vi. 32323. 75;
EE viii. 254), and the Arval Brethren in 80 A.D. (
CIL
vi. 2059. II). Military diplomas were fastened on its walls (dipl. hon.
miss. xv a. 83, CIL iii. Suppl. p. 1962;
EE v. 613), and it is possible
that standard weights were also kept here (cf. a bronze weight with the
inscription:
templ(um) Opis aug(ustae), Ann. d.
Inst. 1881, 182 f.;
ILS 8637 a, b). The day of dedication of this temple was the festival of
the Opiconsivia on 25th August (
Jord. i. 2. 43;
EE iii. 64-73;
Rosch.
iii. 933-934; WR 203).
