Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus

291, Lot: 375. Estimate $300. Sold for $800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Vespasian. AD 69-79. Æ As (27mm, 9.93 g, 7h). Lugdunum (Lyon) mint. Struck AD 77-78. Laureate head right, with small globe at truncation / Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus: statues of Jupiter, Minerva, and Juno (the Capitoline Triad) within hexastyle temple with sculptural decoration along roofline and in pediment. RIC II 1239. VF, brown patina.

The temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus (Best and Greatest) sat on the Capitoline Hill at the head of the Roman Forum. Although dedicated to the Capitoline Triad (Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva), the temple became associated with Jupiter alone. The first temple was begun under the last Roman king, Tarquinius Superbus and dedicated in 509 BC, the first year of the new Republic. Burning down in 83 BC, it was rebuilt by Sulla and the consul Q. Lutatius Catulus. While periodically struck by lightning, the building remained intact through most of the next two centuries. In AD 69 this version of the temple was burned when the Capitol was stormed by partisans of Vitellius. In 70 Vespasian ordered the temple's reconstruction; Tacitus (Hist. 4.4) records in great detail the ground breaking ceremonies. Its completion, larger and more magnificent than its predecessors, was a cause for great celebration, evidenced by striking coins like the present example.