Temple Buildings

The sacred buildings, commonly known as "temples," are almost all inspired by traditional Greek architecture. The architecture of the temples is in fact rather conservative. In spite of the many innovations that the Roman people have brought to engineering and architecture, the temples maintain the shape that the Greeks andthe Etruscans gave them more than one thousand years ago. This model is used in all provinces for the temples built from scratch by the Empire. In the various provinces, however, there are also other types of sacred edifices, which the local traditions have developed during the centuries. The official temples are rectangular buildings, oriented according to the celestial Templum, with the entrance placed on the shorter side, facing west. They're always adorned with magnificent columns and dominated by a triangular pediment on which are placed statues of the god or complex sculptural groups that portray mythological or historical events.
Fully Greek temples rise on a few low steps, are accessible from all sides, and are encircled by columns. Those revised following the Roman taste are raised, are located on a high base, are accessed through a monumental staircase, and they often have columns only on their front side. Inside there is a cell dedicated to the god, and at its center is their monumental statue. The cell is not normally open to the faithful: only the priests have the right to come and go. Some temples, however, arte open to the people one or more times a year, to celebrate the god's festivals.
Many temples have annexed buildings; accomodations for the priests, the janitors, and the servants, warehouses for the sacred items, and sometimes archives and libraries. Some have underground spaces, at times very large, teh entrance of which is known only to the priests. Some extend in a dense network of underground tunnels that come out very far from the actual temple: actual secret passages to enter and exit unseen. There are two substantial variants for this configuration, the temples dedicated to Vesta and those dedicated to the entire council of major gods. The temples dedicated to Vesta are always circular, as they recall teh shape of the ancient huts in which the people lived at the time of Romulus. Vesta's fire always burns at the center, in the most sacred are of the temple, as it burned in the domestic hearths of those ancient families, very long ago. The temples dedicated to all gods, like the Pantheon of Rome, are usually round. In fact, it's necessary to place many niches dedicated for the statues of the gods around the perimeter so that each deity can be equal to all the others. Only the great Jupiter has the right to a larger niche for a more colossal statue, placed right before the entrance.