This large terra-cotta temple lamp with two wicks was clearly designed for use in a “Capitolium,” a temple dedicated to the tutelary deities of the Roman state: Jupiter Optimus Maximus, Juno Regina, and Minerva. This trio of deities was apparently worshipped as early as the period of Etruscan Kings in Rome, because tradition states that the Tarquins first built a temple to these deities on the Capitoline Hill in Rome.
Cities all over the Roman world dedicated temples to these three deities; such temples were called Capitolia in imitation of the great temple in Rome. The presence of a Capitolium called attention to a city's link with Rome, either as a proud proclamation of Roman citizenship status or as an attempt to acquire such status. An example can be found at the city of Thugga (modern Dougga) in Tunisia, not far from Carthage:
The name for the Roman hill and thus the temples comes from the Latin word for “head” (caput), and such temples clearly symbolized the dominance of Rome. In English, the word Capitol came to designate a building which houses a legislative body, such as our Capitol building in Washington. Though Roman Capitolia were essentially religious buildings, this particular kind of temple had very strong links with government and Roman civic power.
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