LUNA, AEDES
(templum, Auct. de vir. ill. cit.):
a temple on the Aventine,
ascribed by tradition to Servius Tullius (Tac.
Ann. xv. 41), but first
mentioned in connection with the prodigia of 182 B.C. (
Liv. xl. 2. 2) when
a fierce gale tore off one of its doors and carried it to the rear wall of the
temple of Ceres. This statement, together with certain details in the
accounts of the flight of Gracchus (
Oros. v. 12. 8; Auct. de vir. ill. 65),
makes it probable that the temple stood at the extreme northern point of
the Aventine, just above the porta Trigemina. It was struck by lightning
at the time of Cinna's death (App.
BC i. 78:
τὸ τῆς Σελήνης...ἱερόϝ);
after the destruction of Corinth Mummius dedicated some of the spoils
from that city in this temple (
Vitruv. v. 5. 8); it was burned in the
great fire of Nero (Tac.
Ann. xv. 41); and is not mentioned afterwards.
The day of its dedication was 31st March (Ov.
Fast. iii. 883; Fast.
Caer. Praen. ad pr. Kal. Mart., CIL ia. p. 212, 234, 314). The identification of this temple with that of Sol et Luna is untenable; see
Rosch.
iv. 1140. (For the literature of the discussion as to the site of this
temple, see
Rosch. ii. 2154-2155; Merlin 98-99, 194-195; WR 316;
HJ 160-161;
Gilb. ii. 250-253.)
