Tempio di Giove Toro

The excavated remains of a Roman temple rise from Canosa di Puglia: a peripteros of six by ten columns on a high brick podium. Its association with Jupiter comes from a statue of the god found nearby; excavations that exposed the full plan began in 1978.

Why it matters

The Temple of Jupiter Toro is among the most imposing remains of Roman Canusium. The building dates to the Antonine period, in the second half of the second century AD, and is attributed to the munificence of the senator Herodes Atticus. Canosa had acquired Roman colonial status during the second century AD. The temple’s monumental scale reflects the city’s prosperity under the empire.

What to notice

The temple was a peripteros, with six columns on its short sides and ten along its long sides. An east-facing staircase led to the podium, whose brick facing rests on a platform of tufa blocks and brick courses. Traces of the cella remain on the podium, along with later pit tombs. The building once had a lavish marble finish: surviving fragments include Asianic Corinthian capitals, granite shafts from the Troad, and sculpted architraves and cornices. The sanctuary stood within a large porticoed enclosure, probably entered through a propylon.

Context and history

The temple’s association with Jupiter followed the discovery of a statue of the god in the area in 1902; the statue is now in the National Archaeological Museum of Taranto. The epithet “Toro” has been explained as a reference either to the raised ground or to the monument’s height. In 1796, archaeologist Emanuele Mola described the ruin as a low brick building used as stables, without deciding whether it had been a temple, house or prison. Nunzio Jacobone later argued for its identification as a temple of Jupiter. Excavations begun in 1978 by the University of Bari for the archaeological superintendency exposed the peripteral plan.