Deo optimo maximo

{{Short description|Latin phrase}}

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File:Deo Opt Max. Castellania Malta.jpeg, Valletta]]

Deo optimo maximo, often abbreviated D.O.M. or Deo Opt. Max., is a Latin phrase which means "to the greatest and best god", or "to God, most good, most great".{{cite book|last1=Morana|first1=Martin|title=Bejn Kliem u Storja|date=2011|publisher=Books Distributors Limited|location=Malta|isbn=978-99957-0137-6|url=https://sites.google.com/site/kliemustorja/home/titlu/introduzzjoni/dwar-l-awtur/a/b/c/c/d|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20161005162338/https://sites.google.com/site/kliemustorja/home/titlu/introduzzjoni/dwar-l-awtur/a/b/c/c/d|archivedate=5 October 2016|language=Maltese|oclc=908059040}} It was originally used as a pagan formula addressed to Jupiter.{{cite book|title=The Concise Oxford Definitionary of the Christian Faith|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780198614425|doi=10.1093/acref/9780198614425.001.0001|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095725538|date=2006|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816140430/http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095725538|archivedate=16 August 2016}}{{cite book|last1=Ovason|first1=David|title=The Secrets Of Nostradamus: The Medieval Code of the Master Revealed in the Age of Computer Science|date=2012|publisher=Random House|page=61|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XUqlMf6-LRkC|isbn=978-1448108794}}

File:Testaferrata Gate inscription.jpeg, Gżira]]

Its usage while the Roman Empire was a polytheistic state referred to Jupiter, the chief god of the Roman pantheon polytheists: Iovi Optimo Maximo (I.O.M.). When the Roman Empire adopted monotheism in the form of Christianity as the state religion, the phrase was used in reference to the Christian God. Its use continued long after the fall of the Roman Empire as Latin remained the ecclesiastical and scholarly language in the West.

Thus the phrase, or its abbreviation, can be found on many Renaissance-era churches and other buildings, especially over sarcophagi, particularly in Italy and Malta.{{cite book|last=Munro|first=Dane|date=2005|title=Memento Mori|url=http://www.owenwebhosting.com/owd/photocity/mjpublishers/other/textpg54.pdf|publisher=M. J. Publications|volume=2|page=54|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701030323/http://www.owenwebhosting.com/owd/photocity/mjpublishers/other/textpg54.pdf|archive-date=1 July 2017|isbn=9789993290117|url-status=dead}}

It is also inscribed on bottles of Bénédictine liqueur.