SALUS, AEDES
(templum, Not.):
a temple on that part of the Quirinal hill
that was known as the collis Salutaris (see
QUIRINALIS COLLIS). This
indicates that the cult was localised here at an early date, but this temple
is said to have been vowed in 311 B.C. by C. Junius Bubulcus when
consul, begun in his censorship in 306, and dedicated by him when
dictator in 303 (
Liv. ix. 43. 25; x. I. 9; cf. Babelon,
Monnaies ii. 108,
Nos. 17-18).
1 The day of dedication was 5th August (Fast. Vall. Amit.
Ant. Philoc. ad Non. Aug., CIL i². p. 240, 244, 248, 270, 324; Men. Rust.
ib. 281; Fast. Ant. ap.
NS 1921, 105; Cic. ad Att. iv. I. 4; pro Sest.
131). It was struck by lightning in 276 and 206 B.C. (
Oros. iv. 4. I;
Liv. xxviii. II. 4; cf. also Obseq. 12, 43
2), and burned in the reign of
Claudius (Plin.
NH xxxv. 19), but afterwards restored, for it was standing
in the fourth century (Not. Reg. VI). In it was a statue of Cato, set up
by the senate in his honour (Plut. Cat. mai. 19:
ναὸς τῆς ῾Ψγιείας).
The temple of Bubulcus was decorated with frescoes which, in spite
of the injuries of 276 and 206 B.C., were preserved until the building
was burned in the time of Claudius (Plin. loc. cit.). These frescoes
were said to have been painted by a member of the gens Fabia, a C. Fabius
who signed his name to his work, and won for himself and his family
the cognomen Pictor (Val.
Max. viii. 14. 6; Plin. loc. cit.;
RE vi. 1835;
BC 1889, 340; HF 967; Cons. 206). Later this Fabius was confused
with his descendant Q. Fabius Pictor, the annalist (Hier. Ep. 60. 12
(i. 340 Vallarsi, i. 596, Migne):
nobilem virum Q. Fabium miratur antiquitas qui etiam Romanae scriptor historiae est sed magis ex pictura
quam ex litteris nomen invenit). This story has been vigorously attacked
(see A. Reinach,
SR ii. 1914, 233-256;
AJA 1915, 480), but the evidence
against it is not yet convincing.
No traces of the temple have been found, but it was near the temple
of Quirinus and the house of Atticus (Cic. ad Att. iv. I. 4;
xii. 45. 3),
and probably on or near the
CLIVUS SALUTIS (q.v.), that is, near the west
end of the present royal palace (HJ 403-405;
Rosch. iv. 296; RE
i. A. 2057).
