After being deposed by his son Jupiter and being banned from the Hellas, he was housed by Janus on the Italian land where he reigned until the death of his host.He taught men the secrets of farming, bringing them a period of wealth and social stability. The myth tells that in order to thank him for this prosperous period, the citizens built a statue in his honour on the Capitoline Hill, depicting him in chains, so that he could never leave the city.Standing below the Tabularium next to the Temple of Vespasian and Titus are the remains of this beloved god’s Temple. 8 huge Ionic columns in grey granite hold an architrave probably built by the Senate after the 283 A.D. fire. During the Republican period the Temple took on an important role. It was the symbol of wealth and justice. Seat of the Roman Aerarium where all the metal supply was stored, it hosted a scale to weigh metal, the Roman Law emanated by the “comitia centuriata” and  engraved in bronze tables, and the totality of the Senate decrees. If it hadn’t gone lost, this enormous archive could have been an immeasurable heritage for the jurists of all times.

But the most peculiar happening of this wealthy and peaceful time, where neither work nor war existed, were the “Saturnalia”, a festival that lasted a whole week between 17^th and 24^th December. They celebrated the pause from the job in the fields, the freedom from tiredness, moral conventions and social constrictions. Masters wore slaves’ clothes and vice-versa to propitiate the fertility of the soil and the benevolence of the gods: a sort of “ante litteram” Carnival where freedom, joy and jokes restored the people from a hard-working season.    

Giuseppe Rosselli