The Temple of the Three Gauls

Abstract

Almost nothing is known of the provincial temple at Lugdunum beyond the bare fact of its existence within the federal sanctuary. For this information we are dependent upon the titles of the provincialsacerdotes, which at some undetermined period begin to define the high priesthood asad templum; until then the priest had servedad aram: that is, at the celebrated altar dedicated by Drusus in 12 B.C. at the confluence of the Rhone and the Saône. Apparently the temple stood in the near vicinity of the altar, for inscriptions from the turn of the second century now give the priestly title asad aram … apud templum …or a variant. But confirmation depends in the long run upon archaeological exploration, which has so far been precluded by the circumstance that the presumed site of the temple now lies beneath an area of dense habitation. The only other possible evidence is a medallion from the Rhone Valley that depicts games (avenatio) in progress around a centralpodium, bearing a small round temple, a larger gabled temple, and a column supporting a statue. Alföldi stresses the abstract nature of this composition and has suggested that the complex may represent provincial monuments at Lugdunum. If this identification is correct, the medallion would appear to confirm the existence of these structures under Hadrian or very shortly after.