Jupiter Dolichenus
As a result, very little is known about the cult's beliefs and practices from the few clues that can be obtained from the sparse iconographic, archaeological or epigraphic evidence.
At least nineteen temples (including two discovered in 2000) are known to have been built in Rome and the provinces which, while substantial, is far below the popularity enjoyed by the comparable pseudo-oriental cults of Mithras, Isis or Cybele.
Accordingly, in the context of Roman religion, the term 'oriental' no longer carries much weight and is now mostly only used as an archaeological docket tag.
The earliest traces of the cult of Jupiter Dolichenus appear in the early 2nd-century, perhaps as a by-product of contact between Roman and Commagenian troops during the allied Roman-Commagenian campaigns against the Kingdom of Pontus in 64 BC, but perhaps also as a product of greatly embellished (or even freely invented) travel accounts or colportage which circulated around the Mediterranean rim in the Hellenistic and early Roman periods.
[3] The cult is next attested in Rome, during the reign of Marcus Aurelius (r. 161–180) when a temple to Jupiter Dolichenus was built on the Caelian Hill.
Not much later, the cult is attested in Germany where a centurion of Legio VIII Augusta dedicated an altar in 191 at Obernburg in Germania Superior (CIL XIII, 6646).
[4] A large number of dedications then occur under Septimius Severus (r. 193–211) and Caracalla (r. 198–217), which represents the high point of the cult.
A once-held idea that the cult of Jupiter Dolichenus received imperial support, in particular from the Severan dynasts (who were of Syrian-African descent), is no longer followed.
[6] The archaeological record reveals violent destruction of all known Dolichenus temples in the provinces on the Rhine and Danube during the reign of Maximinus Thrax (r.
[6] The Thracian emperor is known to have filled his coffers from sanctuaries, and the cult of Jupiter Dolichenus was an easy target since it was not very widespread.
It appears that with the loss of Dolichenus' ostensible main sanctuary, the god was permanently discredited in terms of his perceived power, and evidence of the cult ceased thereafter.
The cult had tied itself so firmly to the sanctity of Doliche and to the oriental nature of the god that it had never achieved the universality that it needed in order to survive the loss.
In a temple to Jupiter Optimus Maximus at Porolissum, a number of priests are mentioned (Sacerdotes Dei Iovi): Marcus Aurelius Vitalus, a duumvir; Antonius Mavius, a decurion; Acius Flavus; Caius Marcius Vegesius; and one Attonaris Bassus.
In CIL XIV, 110 from Ostia Antica, an inscription from around 186 AD, an entire naval unit – a detachment of the fleet at Misenum – is named as dedicator.
[2] That inscription of the provincial governor Lucius Lucceius Martinus (legatus Augustorum pro praetore provinciae Germaniae inferioris) commemorates the restoration of a temple dedicated to Jupiter Dolichenus in 211/212.
Rather than being distinct members of the pantheon it may be that Apollo and Sol are serving the same function as sun gods, as are Diana and Luna with the moon.
In accord with Roman conventions, Jupiter Dolichenus is also depicted with Phrygian cap and trousers, thus presenting the god as "oriental".
At the temple to Jupiter Dolichenus at the Zugmantel, a Roman cohort post on the Upper Limes Germanicus near present-day Taunusstein, Germany, the altar table was supported by legs carved in the shape of two bulls.
The temples are not in the classical style of a rectangular colonnaded shrine standing on a raised podium with an altar outside in front.
"[24] Archaeological remains of temples or shrines of Jupiter Dolichenus have been found at: With the exception of the sanctuary(ies) in Rome, all sites are Roman frontier settlements.
