Temple of Divine Iulius in the Forum in Rome, July 2012

The Temple of Caesar or Temple of Divus Iulius (Latin Aedes Divi Iuli or Templum Divi Iuli, Italian Tempio del Divo Giulio) also known as Temple of the Deified Julius Caesar, delubrum, heroon or Temple of the Comet Star,[1] is an ancient structure in the Roman Forum of Rome, Italy, located near the Regia and the Temple of Vesta.

It was begun by Augustus in 42 BC after the senate deified Julius Caesar posthumously. Augustus dedicated the prostyle temple (it is still unknown if it was Ionic, Corinthian or Composite) to Caesar (his adoptive father) on August 18, 29 BC, after the Battle of Actium. It stands on the east side of the main square of the Roman Forum (Forum), between the Regia, Temple of Castor and Pollux and the Basilica Aemilia, on the site of Caesar's cremation (Caesar's testament was read at the funeral by Mark Antony).

Caesar was the first resident of Rome to be deified and so honored with a temple.[2] A fourth flamen maior was dedicated to him after 44 BC and Mark Antony was appointed as his flamen.





Commemorative plaque beside Caesar's altar.
The high platform on which the temple was built served as a rostra (Rostra ad divi Iuli) and, like the rostra at the opposite end of the Forum, was decorated with the beaks of ships taken at the battle of Actium.

The Temple of Caesar was the only temple to be entirely dedicated to the cult of a comet (referred to as a 'comet star'). The comet, upon its appearance some time after Caesar's murder (44 BC), was considered to be the soul of the deified Julius Caesar and the symbol of the "new birth" of Augustus as the unique Roman ruler and Emperor. Here the account by Pliny with parts of a public speech delivered by Augustus about the comet, his father Caesar and his own destiny:

The only place in the whole world where a comet is the object of worship is a temple at Rome. [...] His late Majesty Augustus had deemed this comet very propitious to himself; as it had appeared not [...] long after the decease of his father Caesar. [...] People believed that this star signified the soul of Caesar received among the spirits of the immortal gods.

In Greek and Roman culture, comet is an adjective determining the distinctive characteristic of a special star. So "comet star" means "long-haired star", and it was represented this way on coins and monuments.

The "Divine Star" was represented and worshiped on coins and probably in the temple itself, as a "comet star" or as a "simple star": the simple star has been used as a general symbol of Divinity since 44 BC [see 44 BC coins series]; after the appearance of the comet, the simple star was transformed into a comet by adding the tail to one of the rays of the simple star [see 37-34 BC, 19-18 BC and 17 BC coins series].

According to Appian the place near the Regia and probably part of the Main Square of the Roman Forum was a second choice, because the first intention of the Roman people was to bury Caesar on the Capitoline Hill among the other Gods of Rome. However, the Roman priests prevented them from doing so (in fact, the cremation was considered not safe due to the many wooden structures there) and the corpse of Caesar was carried back to the Forum near the Regia, being the Regia the personal headquarters of Caesar as Pontifex Maximus: this is the reason why, after a violent quarrel about the funeral pyre and the destiny of the ashes of Caesar, the Roman people, the men of Caesar's party and the men of Caesar's family decided to build the pyre in that place. It seems that in that very place at that time there was probably a tribunal which, after the funeral of Caesar and the building of the Temple, was then moved in front of the Temple of Caesar, probably in the location of the so called Rostra Diocletiani. The tribunal was a tribunal praetoris sub divo with gradus and was known as tribunal Aurelium, a structure built by C. Aurelius Cotta around 80 BC, near the so-called Puteal Libonis, a bidental used for the sacred oath before the trials.

The corpse of