906 sacred sites: Rome be read Hence the word templum does not correspond to the modern concept of a temple, though it does have a religious connotation The concept of the templum was very broad It covered areas where magistrates could exercise power and therefore included a wide range of government buildings, such as the Curia (Senate house), as well as open spaces of official public assembly on the Roman Forum The templum could also refer to the city as a whole In this case it was defi ned by the pomerium, a ritual boundary that divided Roman cities from the world beyond Since the area within the pomerium was consecrated space, cremations, burials, military exercises, and other activities deemed inappropriate for a sacred site had to take place beyond it The authority of a magistrate was no longer valid once he left the sacred space within the pomerium, emphasizing the strong bond between Rome’s state religion and its political authority Another type of sacred site was an aedes This word was applied to any place where a god was believed to dwell, whether an enclosed space or an outdoor area such as a forest, spring, mountain, or lake An aedes did not have to be large or the god a major one Many Romans kept small altars in their homes to venerate household divinities, and these altars were considered aedes Minor deities, such as the female nature divinities known as nymphs, were believed to inhabit Roman gold ring bought by a pilgrim and showing the Temple of Aphrodite at Palaepaphos (ca 150–250 c.e.), made in Cyprus and found near Koskieni, Rhodes (© The Trustees of the British Museum) countless outdoor settings For instance, the nymph Albunea was worshipped at a sulfurous spring near Tivoli The legendary she-wolf that suckled Romulus and Remus as babies was worshipped at a cave on the Palatine Hill During Rome’s republican era (ca 509–27 b.c.e.) and through much of the existence of the Western Roman Empire (27 b.c.e.–476 c.e.), temples and altars were erected to divinities throughout Roman territory, often replacing the outdoor settings of archaic traditions The layout of major religious and ritual sites evolved during the course of Rome’s history The earliest evidence for sacred sites on the Roman Forum and the Palatine and Capitoline Hills are terra-cotta votive offerings left at a sacred place A dearth of archaeological evidence makes it difficult to determine the precise layout of these places During the republican and imperial eras proper temples begin to populate cities, frequently replacing older sacred areas Contacts with Greece, Etruria, and Carthage influenced Roman temple architecture The development of religious structures in Rome began in the sixth century b.c.e with the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill According to legend the king Tarquinius Priscus (r 616–578 b.c.e.) located it on a site deemed appropriate by the augurs Its style and decoration were heavily influenced by Etruscan architecture, and it in turn influenced early republican temple design During the mid- to late republic Rome increased its contact with Greece through alliances and conquest and began to assimilate Greek gods into the state religion Consequently Roman temples emulated Greek architecture During the republic private individuals such as victorious generals or politicians commissioned temples Accordingly, these structures were less majestic in scale than the imperial structures that followed them During the empire the Roman state and the imperial family commissioned sacred sites in monumental dimensions The aedes of the empire served not just as holy places but also as symbols of Rome’s power and the relationship between the gods and the state With the growth of Christianity in Rome and its empire new ideas about sacred places and sites emerged In the fourth century c.e the importance of Rome’s traditional sacred sites diminished as Christianity spread and ultimately replaced the older state religion To Christians pagan temples were not sacred areas, and with the end of the old religion the pomerium was no longer respected, and templum and aedes were pillaged, turned to other uses, and neglected For Christians sacred areas included sites of martyrdom and pilgrimage, the locations of holy relics such as saints’ bones, and the burial sites of saints and martyrs During the first to fourth centuries worship, catechism, and baptism took place in small community centers, often apartment buildings or converted villas, rather than in large churches Even in such rudimentary sanctuaries as these, however, some delineation of sacred and nonsacred space existed For example, since unbaptized individuals could not enter the places of worship, baptister-