Tempio di Apollo Palatino (Temple of Palatine Apollo), Rome

Back in its heyday, the Temple of Palatine Apollo was a celebrity mansion with the velvet-rope entrance. Conceived by Augustus — Rome’s first emperor — this was no ordinary temple. It was built after a lightning bolt dramatically struck the emperor's property. Today, most people would have called an electrician to fix the damage, but Augustus erected a marble temple instead and declared it divine destiny.

He dedicated it to Apollo, his patron deity. The temple was officially opened on October 9, 28 BC, with the emperor’s private home conveniently connected to it — the ultimate “en-suite temple” experience...

For years, archaeologists thought its ruins belonged to the temple of Jupiter Victor, until in 1956, excavations revealed the truth: these were the remains of Augustus’s showpiece to Apollo. Clad in Carrara marble, the temple was a cultural campus. The precinct area, known as Apollinis, included a grand (70-by-30-meter) terrace, decorated altars, and a star gallery of ancient art. The northern part of the terrace elevated the temple on a high podium constructed with tufa and travertine blocks in load-bearing sections and cement elsewhere.

Among the finds here were colorful terracotta reliefs packed with mythological drama — ancient Rome’s version of premium wall décor... Attached to the temple was the Library of Apollo Palatinus, a posh twin-hall where Rome’s finest minds gathered to read, debate, and probably judge each other’s scroll-choices.

Ancient sources indicate that the temple had ivory doors and contained numerous sculptures. The real scene-stealer was the portico of the Danaids with golden-hued columns, black marble statues of the fifty infamous sisters, their sword-wielding father Danaos, and equestrian statues of Egypt’s royal sons. If you ever needed proof that the ancient world loved dramatic storytelling as much as we do, this temple’s décor alone could win an award...