In
front of the centre of the Tabularium stands the Temple of Vespasian
and Titus. The discovery of the inscription on the temple led to great
controversy as originally it had been thought that this was a temple
to Jupiter. It was completed during the reign of Domitius and restored
during the reigns of Septimus Severus and Caracalla. On the architrave
are
depictions of a patera (bowl), knife, axe, amphora, spiked helmet, aspergillum
(water sprinkler), and bucranium(a sculptured represention of an ox
skull adorned with wreaths); these were sacrificial instruments.
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