Jupiter Tonans

Jupiter Tonans was a special way people honored the god Jupiter in ancient Rome. It started when the Roman leader Augustus was almost hit by lightning during a war in a place called Cantabria. To thank the gods for keeping him safe, he promised to build a temple for Jupiter Tonans, which means "Thundering Jove" in Latin. Augustus kept his promise and built the temple on the Capitoline Hill in 22 BCE.

The temple was very important, and special rules were made for how it should look. The architect Vitruvius said that temples for Jupiter Tonans should have open roofs so the sky could be seen. This idea was used in building the temple.

Inside the temple was a special statue of Jupiter made by a famous Greek artist named Leochares. Much later, around the year 90 CE, the Roman emperor Domitian replaced the old statue with a new one. Today, we can see a copy of this statue in the Prado museum in Spain.