Situation, Appearance and Structure

The temple was located in the south-western corner of the Palatine HIll, behind the area of the Romulean Huts, within proximity to the archaic huts and at the top of the Scalae Caci, at the north-western aspect of the Domus Liviae. East of the temple was the Temple of Victory (Aedes Victoriae) where the Black Stone of the Magna Mater was initially housed in Rome. Archaeological excavations have cleared the foundations and rests of the podium of the structure.

Here is the podium as we see it nowadays. It is probably the original podium, constructed of pieces of tufa and peperino.

The physical appearance of the first temple in its entirety remains a mystery. But many details of the various aspects of its construction have been ascertained, thanks to the positive outcomes of contemporary archaeology and scholarly historical research.

A bas-relief of the first imperial age reproduces a procession in the front of the temple: it shows six columns on the side of the entrance and a wide staircase before the pronao.

The temple restored by Augustus is the last Roman version of the Temple of the Magna Mater, the ruins of which we can see today. It was created on a high base with large steps. The front was hexastyle and Corinthian; there were no columns on the lates (prostyle).

All of this was contrained within a wide rectangular area. The courtyard was probably used during the theatrical events of the Ludi held in honour of the Goddess. The structure shows there existed great bathtubs for the rituals of the cult, likely used by the priests when they washed the image of the Magna Mater in the sacred waters of the Almon River during the religious festivals .

The great concrete podium, the foundations of which sit directly on the cliff of the Palatine, was 9 meters (29.5 feet) high. With the reconstruction of the temple by use of concrete and the elevation of the courtyard, the squared bathtub and the accessing angled scales were obliterated. A new, large rectangular concrete basin, 16.50 x 3.0 meters (54.13 x 9.8 feet) was built in the western aspect of the podium of the temple. This reconstruction effort reveals that many of the materials from the original structure were also utilized.

The dimensions of the podium are 33.40 x 19.35 meters (110 x 63 feet) . It had a squared cell lying on a high covered base with lava stone blocks.

The walls were 3.84 meters (12.60 feet) thick on the sides and 5.50 meters (18.04 feet) in the rear . The differing thickness of the rear wall is due to the fact that it is of double construction, with an airspace, 1.80 meters (5.91 feet) wide, between the two parts. This wall was faced on the outside with stucco, not with opus quadratum. The walls of the cell were somewhat thinner than those of the podium, forming a smaller rectangle, 32 x 64 meters (105 x 210 feet), lying on a high covered base with lava stone blocks. From the rear wall of the cell projects the base of a pedestal upon which the stone needle probably stood.

On the forehead of the pronao is a terrace, supported by parallel walls on turf-made blocks, dating back to the 3rd Century BC. In subsequent ages, the structure was probably reused to accommodate several shops, placed on a covered inner way, which crossed the area.

Current State of the Ruins

Nowadays all that is visible is a large brick box in a squared work (204 BC) with a staircase in the centre of the frontal side, over which holm-oak trees have grown. The rest of masonry, in opus retuculata, was built after the fire of 111 BC and the columns in lava stone laying beside the podium are of Augustan age.

The building presents its own guideline (Northeast-Southwest) which is different from the previous one of 191 BC. Moreover, a great courtyard occupied a large portion of the front and westerly areas of the temple, while to the east eased a connection with the area of the nearby Temple of Victory.

There are divergent opinions about the date of the podium itself: some attribute it to 110 BC, and believe that its architectural members were given only a new coat of stucco under Augustus. Others assign its date in entirety to the middle of the First Century BC.