SEMO SANCUS, AEDES
a temple on the Quirinal of this deity under his
full name, Semo Sancus Dius Fidius,
1 or its variants, Semo Sancus Fidius,
Deus or Dius Fidius (Ov.
Fast. vi. 213-216; Varro,
LL v. 52, 66). This
Sabine cult is said to have been introduced into Rome by Titus Tatius
(Tert. ad nat. ii. g; Ov.
Fast. vi. 217-218;
Prop. iv. 9. 74), but the
construction of the temple is generally ascribed to the last Tarquin,
although it was dedicated by Sp. Postumius many years later, 5th June,
466 B.C. (
Dionys. ix. 60; Ov.
Fast. vi. 213; Fast. Ven. ad Non. Iun.,
CIL i². p. 220, 319; Fast. Ant. ap.
NS 1921, 98). It contained a bronze
statue of Tanaquil, her distaff and spindle (Plut. q. Rom. 30; Plin.
NH
viii. 194), and a wooden shield covered with ox-hide, which was a memorial
of the league between Rome and Gabii (
Dionys. iv. 58), and, after the
destruction of Privernum in 329 B.C., bronze wheels made of the proceeds
of the confiscated property of Vitruvius (
Liv. viii. 20. 8).
Besides aedes (Grk.
ἱερὸν), the temple was called templum (Pliny),
fanum (Tert.) and sacellum (Livy). Although small aedes were sometimes
called sacella, the use of this term by Livy may perhaps be explained on
the hypothesis that the shrine of this deity was open to the sky (cf.
Varro
v. 66; Becker, Top. 576). It stood on the Collis Mucialis (p. 437), near
and probably a little north of the porta Sanqualis, which was named from
the temple (Fest. 345:
Sanqualis porta appellatur proxima aedi Sanci2),
on the ridge of the hill (Ov.
Fast. vi. 218;
Liv. viii. 20. 8:
versus aedem
Quirini). This site lies in the angle between the modern Vie Nazionale
and Quirinale, where, in the gardens of S. Silvestro dcgli Arcioni, was
found in the sixteenth century a travertine base dedicated to Semo
Sancus (
CIL vi. 568; cf. 30994, of unknown provenance ),
3 and near by
in more recent times, some lead pipes inscribed with the name of the
same collegium
4 that dedicated the base (
BC 1887, 8). Three fragments
of concrete foundations have also been found that may belong to this
temple (
RhM 1894, 409;
BC 1881, 5;
Mitt. 1889, 274; see in general
HJ 400-402;
Gilb. i. 275-280;
iii. 370-371;
Rosch. iv. 317-318; Besnier
279-282; WR 130-132; Mem. Am.
Acad. ii. 61-62; RE i. A. 2254).
