Lacus Curtius

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The Lacus Curtius is an excavated ancient monument in the Roman Forum in Rome. Originally, it is likely a crevice created by geological processes, a very deep hole or a lake. The origin of the name from the mythological early history of Rome has already led to the emergence of several legends in antiquity , the truth of which can no longer be fathomed today.

View of the current state with a protective roof.
Relief of Marcus Curtius .

investment

At the beginning of the 20th century, to the east of the Rostra and the Comitium and to the north of the Basilica Iulia, a paving from the Caesarean period was uncovered, which is interpreted as the remains of Lacus Curtius. Inside was a dodecagon or irregular trapezoid from Cappellaccio - tuff in the middle of a round pedestal resembling a fountain was replaced. The facility takes up an area of ​​around nine × ten meters. To the west of it were two recesses in the pavement, which were probably intended for two altars mentioned in Ovid .

history

Varro has handed down the three different legends about the creation of Lacus Curtius, which were known in his time:

  • The Sabine Mettius Curtius is said to have got into a swamp with his horse during the fight that followed the robbery of the Sabine women . Before the Cloaca Maxima was built, the forum area was still a partially damp depression. The version is still handed down by Titus Livius , Plutarch and Dionysius of Halicarnassus .
  • In 362 BC A deep gap is said to have broken open here that could not be closed. The soldier Marcus Curtius is said to have thrown himself into the hole with his horse in full armor because of an oracle to sacrifice himself. The version has been confirmed by numerous other writers. In 1553 a relief depicting the scene was found nearby. It probably dates from the Republican times, the inscription on the back was added later. There is a copy on site today.
  • In the third version, the consul Gaius Curtius Philo is said to be in 445 BC. BC have fenced in an area here by resolution of the Senate , where lightning had struck.

While the third version may be based on a city chronicle, the first two agree in the description that Curtius rode into the hole from the northern part of the Capitol . The Lacus Curtius was obviously framed at a later time and preserved in memory of the legend. In Augustan times, the Romans used to throw coins into the hole, similar to today's custom at the Fontana di Trevi .

In the year of the Four Emperors, 69 AD, Emperor Galba was murdered next to the fountain , which is mentioned in the Historiae des Tacitus .

The LacusCurtius website is named after Lacus Curtius , one of the most famous sites on ancient Rome.

literature

Web links

Commons : Lacus Curtius (Rome)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Ovid, Fasti VI 403-4.
  2. Varro: de lingua Latina V 148-150.
  3. Livy I 12-13; Plutarch: Romulus 50; Dionysius II 42-50.
  4. Including Livius VII, 6; Valerius Maximus V, 6; Orosius II, 5th
  5. ^ Tacitus: Historiae I, 41.

Coordinates: 41 ° 53 '32.4 "  N , 12 ° 29' 6.4"  E