Terminus- Roman GodDeity"God of Boundaries"

The Shrine on the Capitol

When King Tarquinius Superbus prepared to build the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline, augurs asked the gods already worshipped there for permission to relocate their shrines. All consented. Terminus did not. His stone stayed where it was.

The builders raised Jupiter's temple around it. Terminus kept his place inside the walls, with an opening cut in the roof above his shrine so he could see the sky. Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus both record the story. Because Terminus would not yield, Romans believed their boundaries would never contract. The empire might grow, but it would not shrink.

Sacred Boundary Stones

Every terminus stone marking a property line was sacred to the god. Setting one required ceremony: a pit was dug, offerings of incense, grain, honey, and wine were placed inside, and the stone was set on top. Earth was mounded around it. From that point on, the stone was consecrated.

Moving one was sacrilege. The Twelve Tables, Rome's earliest law code, prescribed that anyone who disturbed a boundary stone should be "sacer," devoted to the gods. Anyone could kill him without penalty.

The Terminalia

On February 23, the last day of the old Roman year, property owners gathered at their boundary stones for the Terminalia. Ovid described the scene: neighbors met at the shared boundary, garlanded the stone with flowers, and built a small altar. They offered grain and honeycomb. A lamb or a pig was slaughtered, and the blood went onto the stone. Then both families ate together at the boundary, and the children sang.