Tigillum Sororium

The Tigillum Sororium ( "sister bar") was one of the oldest monuments in ancient Rome and recalled the old legends complex to the struggle of horatischen against curiatischen triplets, who in the early Roman period during the reign of Tullus Hostilius to have taken place. The location of the monument that has not been preserved can be roughly determined based on the literary tradition.

legend

The struggle between the triplets should result in 666 BC. The constant war between the Romans and the Sabines was decided. The Horatians stood in for the Romans and the Curiatians for the Sabines. By ruse the only surviving Horatian succeeded in killing the already injured Curiatians one after the other, thus deciding the war in Rome's favor. Horatia, a sister of the Horatier, was engaged to one of the Curiatians and, when her brother returned, mourned the loss of her fiancé. The Horatian who had returned home then killed his sister with the sword.

As a result, the king was charged with the murder of a sister, sentenced, appealed (provocatio ad populum) , examination and acquittal by the people's assembly . However, an atonement rite had to be performed, which provided that the Horatian passed under a yoke with his head covered, and according to Dionysius of Halicarnassus , as one did with prisoners of war, before they were released back home.

shape

The beam serving as a yoke was called tigillum sororium and was constantly restored and preserved at public expense at the time of Livy at the turn of the ages . This also coincides with the description of the Roman lexicographer Sextus Pompeius Festus , who describes the Tigillum Sororium as two bars spanned by a third (duo tigilla tertio superiecto) . According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, this construction was set into the walls of a street. The Tigillum Sororium was connected in terms of space and content with altars for Iuno Soraria and Ianus Curiatius , which are said to have been erected before the atonement ritual was carried out in order to make solemn sacrifices on them.

location

Dionysius of Halicarnassus names the confluence of a path from the Carinae down into the vicus Cyprius as the installation site . The Arvalakten give in Augustan period as indicating a place that Compitum Acili at (Tigillo Soror (io) ad compitum Acili) . Even in the 4th century it is listed in the Notitia and Curiosum of the regional catalog of the city of Rome as belonging to Regio IV templum Pacis . Accordingly, at that time it was located between the Temple of Tellus and Colossus , that is, the statue of Nero , after which the amphitheatrum Flavium bears its colloquial name Colosseum . The Notitia also cite the horrea chartaria , storage rooms for paper, between the Temple of Tellus and Tigillum Sororium .

It remains uncertain whether the monument was discovered during the excavations in 1932 when the building of Via dell'Impero, today Via dei Fori Imperiali , the area between the Imperial Forums and the Colosseum was being archaeologically examined. As part of his research on the Temple of Tellus, Angelo Amoroso recently interpreted two foundation strips, which are marked on the side of a path in this area, as belonging to the Tigillum Sororium.

literature

• Filippo Coarelli : Tigillum Sororium. In: Eva Margareta Steinby (Ed.): Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae . Volume 5. Quasar, Rome 2000, p. 74 f.
• Elisha Ann Dumser: Tigillum Sororium. In: Elisha Ann Dumser (Ed.): Mapping Augustan Rome (= Journal of Roman Archeology . Supplement 50). Portsmouth 2002, p. 246 f. ( Online ).
• Samuel Ball Platner , Thomas Ashby : A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. Oxford University Press, London 1929, p. 538 fsv Tigillum Sororium.
• Lawrence Richardson Jr .: A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1992, p. 400 sv Tigillum Sororium.

Web links

• Elisha Ann Dumser: Tigillum Sororium at Digital Augustan Rome.

Remarks

1. ↑ Detailed description of the legend in Livius 1: 24-26 and Dionysius of Halicarnassus 3: 13-22.
2. ↑ Law Historic case discussion at Detlef Lieb : In front of the judges of Rome, Famous processes of antiquity. CH Beck, Munich 2007, ISBN 9783406562969 , pp. 13-20.
3. ↑ Dionysius of Halicarnassus 3, 22, 7 f.
4. ↑ Livius, f 1,26,13.
5. ↑ Festus 380 ( L ) sv Sororium Tigillum .
6. ↑ Dionysius of Halicarnassus 3:22; compare also the Auctor De viris illustribus 4,8 : quod nunc quoque viae superpositum Sororium appellatur.
7. ↑ Dionysius of Halicarnassus 3:22; Scholia Bobiensia zu Cicero , Pro Milone 7 : constitutis duabus aris Iano Curiatio et Iunoni Sororiae, superque eas iniecto tigillo, Horatius sub iugum traductus est.
8. ↑ Dionysius of Halicarnassus 3:21.
9. ↑ CIL 6, 32482 .
10. ↑ Descriptio XIIII regionum urbis Romae ; to the catalog of regions: Arvast Nordh: Libellus de Regionibus Urbis Romae. Gleerup, Lund 1949.
11. ↑ Antonio Maria Colini: scoperte tra il Foro della Pace e l'anfiteatro. In: Bullettino della Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma. Volume 62, 1933, pp. 79-87.
12. ↑ Angelo Amoroso: Il Tempio di Tellus e il quartiere della Praefectura Urbana. In: Workshop di archeologia classica. Volume 4, 2007, pp. 53–84, here: p. 66 Fig. 2 and more often ( online ); for localization see also Filippo Coarelli: Tigillum Sororium. In: Eva Margareta Steinby (Ed.): Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae . Volume 5. Quasar, Rome 2000, p. 74 f.