Diribitorium

The diribitorium was a large hall in ancient Rome . It was used to separate and count the voting tablets in elections and referendums in the Roman Republic .

Location of the diribitorium according to Coarelli in the map of ancient Rome

history

In the first century BC The Roman Republic passed through various laws ( leges tabellariae ) to written votes. Previously, rogatores appointed by the respective magistrate took the votes and noted them on boards. With the poll, distributed by the servants of the magistrate tablets for fulfillment of the vote were now voting boxes ( cistae ) stored by custodes overseen that you continue habitually rogatores named after their employment but actually diribitores were.

A hall for this activity was built on the Marsfeld by Agrippa and in the year 8 BC. Inaugurated by Augustus . Claudius is said to have watched the fire of the Aemiliana from the roof of the diribitorium . After a fire under Titus in 80 AD, the roof of the building could not be rebuilt. Cassius Dio mentions it in his time (early 3rd century) as uncovered ( Zeitανής ).

Building

The building can no longer be precisely located today. Christian Hülsen came to the conclusion that the diribitorium - probably a large hall - could have formed the upper floor of the sapps , which it is supposed to be near anyway. According to the Severan city map of Rome, the Forma Urbis Romae , the west wall of the Diribitorium formed the extension of the west wall of the Saepta, extending from there further to the east, while its north wall was connected to the Saepta by a corridor. Filippo Coarelli locates it accordingly on the south side of the Saepta in the vicinity of the porticoes of Pompey and the Villa publica .

The diribitorium had an elaborate roof, which was the most widely spanned roof until 230 AD. Trunks of larch were used for this , which were 100 Roman feet long and one and a half feet wide (about 29.6 × 0.45 m) - this is probably why this could not be restored after the fire in 80 AD. A trunk that was not built in was exhibited as a curiosity in the Saepta.

literature

Christian Hülsen : Diribitorium . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume V, 1, Stuttgart 1903, Col. 1168.
Samuel Ball Platner , Thomas Ashby : A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome . Oxford University Press, London 1929, p. 151 sv Diribitorium ( online at LacusCurtius )
Emilio Rodríguez Almeida: Forma Urbis Marmorea. Aggiornamento Generale 1980. Rome 1981, plate 26 Fragments 35 l, p, q, r, gg, hh.
Edoardo Tortorici: L'attività edilizia di Agrippa a Roma . In: Aldo Ceresa-Gastaldo, Michael Grant (ed.): Il bimillenario di Agrippa. XVII Giornate filologiche genovesi, Genova 20-21 febbraio 1989. Dipartimento di archeologia, filologia classica e loro tradizioni, Genua 1990, pp. 19-55, here: pp. 26-28.
Lawrence Richardson Jr .: A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1992, pp. 109-110 sv Diribitorium.
Mario Torelli : Diribitorium. In: Eva Margareta Steinby (Ed.): Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae . Volume 2. Quasar, Rome 1995, pp. 17-18.

Web links

Diribitorium in the Stanford Digital Forma Urbis Romae Project

Individual evidence

^ Wilhelm Liebenam : Diribitores . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume V, 1, Stuttgart 1903, Col. 1167 f. with other sources, including Cicero : pro Cn. Plancio 49; Varro : De re rustica 3.2.
^ Cassius Dio 55.8
^ Suetonius : Claudius 18 .
↑ Cassius Dio 66:24
^ Cassius Dio 55.8.
^ Christian Hülsen: I Saepta ed il Diribitorium. In: Bullettino della Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma 21, 1893, pp. 136-142 ( online ).
^ Emilio Rodríguez Almeida: Forma Urbis Marmorea. Aggiornamento Generale 1980. Rome 1981, plate 26 Fragments 35 l, p, q, r, gg, hh.
^ Mario Torelli: Diribitorium. In: Eva Margareta Steinby (Ed.): Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae . Volume 2. Quasar, Rome 1995, pp. 17-18.
^ Filippo Coarelli : Rome. An archaeological guide. Verlag von Zabern, Mainz 2000, ISBN 3-8053-2685-8 , p. 284.
↑ Cassius Dio 55.8; Samuel Ball Platner , Thomas Ashby : A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome . Oxford University Press, London 1929, p. 151 sv Diribitorium .
↑ Pliny : Naturalis historia 16.200 and 36.102.

[1] Wilhelm Liebenam : Diribitores . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume V, 1, Stuttgart 1903, Col. 1167 f. with other sources, including Cicero : pro Cn. Plancio 49; Varro : De re rustica 3.2.

[2] Cassius Dio 55.8

[3] Suetonius : Claudius 18 .

[4] Cassius Dio 66:24

[5] Cassius Dio 55.8.

[6] Christian Hülsen: I Saepta ed il Diribitorium. In: Bullettino della Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma 21, 1893, pp. 136-142 ( online ).

[7] Emilio Rodríguez Almeida: Forma Urbis Marmorea. Aggiornamento Generale 1980. Rome 1981, plate 26 Fragments 35 l, p, q, r, gg, hh.

[8] Mario Torelli: Diribitorium. In: Eva Margareta Steinby (Ed.): Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae . Volume 2. Quasar, Rome 1995, pp. 17-18.

[9] Filippo Coarelli : Rome. An archaeological guide. Verlag von Zabern, Mainz 2000, ISBN 3-8053-2685-8 , p. 284.

[10] Cassius Dio 55.8; Samuel Ball Platner , Thomas Ashby : A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome . Oxford University Press, London 1929, p. 151 sv Diribitorium .

[11] Pliny : Naturalis historia 16.200 and 36.102.