Besides its religious function, during the Republic, the temple also housed the public treasury ( aerarium), a role it kept, albeit in a more limited function, through the Imperial period. This structure was itself replaced in the 4th century CE by the Temple of Saturn, eight majestic columns of which still stand at the site today. 497 BCE built by the dictator Titus Tatius. The first shrine to the god was the Ara Saturni. The focal point of the Saturnalia festival was the temple dedicated to Saturn in the north-west corner of the Forum of Rome. He was thought to have ruled when the world enjoyed a Golden Age of prosperity and happiness, hence the general frivolity of his festival. With links to indigenous Italian deities and perhaps, too, a version of the Greek god Kronos, he was regarded as a primordial deity who had taught humanity important agricultural skills. Depictions of the god in surviving art have him wearing a veil and brandishing either a sickle or a pruning knife suggesting a close relation with agriculture and especially seed-growing or seed-corn. The focus of the Saturnalia and the god who gave his name to the festival was Saturn (or Saturnus), who is something of a mysterious figure in Roman religion. The similarities of some of its features and the timing - pushed later into December over time - suggest a strong influence on the Christian celebration of Christmas. Originating from archaic agricultural rituals the Roman festivities came to include a general round of gift-giving, merrymaking, and role-reversals so that it became one of the most popular celebrations in the calendar and certainly the jolliest. The Saturnalia was an enduring Roman festival dedicated to the agricultural god Saturn which was held between the 17th and 23rd of December each year during the winter solstice.
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