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templvm
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Click on a quadrant of the image map to see an enlarged image. The area in blue was assigned to the cælestial powers, while area in tan was assigned to the lesser gods.
The templum was applied in the laying out of Roman cities, whose precincts were assigned according to the rules of the sacred space. The alignment of the principal streets, the cardo and the decumanus, was not merely a convenience for the giving of directions to visitors, but an attempt to make the functions of the city comply with the concepts of the templum. Similarly, the temples of certain gods were supposed to be placed outside of the city, because their influence was believed to be inimical when within the citywalls. Thus the temple of Vulcan should be outside the city limits, lest fires be risked to the houses within the circuit of the walls. See Vitruvius, I.100.7
