Roman temple

Fanum

The Romans used the Latin word fanum for the temples of all other divinities then those traditionally revered by their native paganism, the state cult.

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• As the corresponding adjective is fanaticus, the modern word fanatic still reflects the disapproval by devote traditional Romans of various exotic religious practices.

Nevertheless under the empire some of the imported cults, mainly from conquered people, such as the Persian Mithras and Egyptian divinities such as the mother-goddess Isis and Serapis (for his fanum the specific term serapium was used) would gain great popularity, demonstrated in rich temple cults. The temple of Isis and Serapis in the Campus Martius, built of Egyptian materials and in the Egyptian style to house the Hellenized cult of the Egyptian deity Isis, is typical of the heterogeneity of later Roman religious monuments.

Related Topics:
Isis - Serapis - Campus Martius - Egypt

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• They would only be virtually wiped out together with the Roman paganism after Christianity had become the new, less tolerant, imperial state religion. The word temple would be trensferred to its churches.