The temple of Summanus was dedicated during the
Pyrrhic War c. 278 BCE on June 20. It stood at the west of the
Circus Maximus, perhaps on the slope of the
Aventine. It seems the temple had been dedicated because the statue of the god which stood on the roof of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus had been struck by a lightning bolt. Every June 20, the day before the
summer solstice, round cakes called
summanalia, made of flour, milk, and honey and shaped as wheels, were offered to him as a token of propitiation: the wheel might be a solar symbol. Summanus also received a sacrifice of two black oxen or wethers. Dark
animals were typically offered to
chthonic deities. )
Saint Augustine records that in earlier times Summanus had been more exalted than Jupiter, but with the construction of a temple that was more magnificent than that of Summanus, Jupiter became more honored. Cicero recounts that the clay statue of the god which stood on the roof of the
Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus was struck by a lightning bolt: its head was nowhere to be seen. The
haruspices announced that it had been hurled into the
Tiber River, where indeed it was found on the very spot indicated by them. The temple of Summanus itself was struck by lightning in 197 BCE. ==Summanus and Mount Summano==