Cicero, in discussing whether natural phenomena such as rainbows and clouds should be regarded as divine, notes that the Tempestates had been consecrated as deities by the Roman people.
[1] A temple (aedes or delubrum) was dedicated to the Tempestates (given in the singular by Ovid[2]) by L. Cornelius Scipio in 259 BC,[3] as recorded by his epitaph.
[4] Scipio had been caught in a storm with his fleet off Corsica, and the building of the temple was in fulfillment of a vow made in asking for deliverance.
[5] Ovid gives the dedication day as June 1, but it appears as December 23 in the Fasti Antiates Maiores; this latter date may mark a renovation,[6] or there may have been more than one temple to the Tempestates.
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