As shown in the image above: In June 2021, this stone marking the sacred boundaries of the ancient city was discovered near the historic center of Rome.
In the historic center of Rome, construction workers excavated a huge stone that demarcated the boundaries of the ancient Roman holy city about 2,000 years ago.
This stone, known as "Cupid Stone", is nearly 2 meters high and is made of a fine type of limestone called travertine (also known as: hole stone).
In June, workers discovered it when they installed new sewers in the square around the recently restored Tomb of Augustus. Earlier this year, the Augustus Mausoleum was opened as a museum artifact.
It is one of dozens of similar stones that mark the Roman "pomerium". "Pomerium" is a sacred land inside and outside the city walls, where construction or cultivation is prohibited, where the carrying of weapons is prohibited. According to ancient Roman law, anything within pomerium was part of the Roman city, and everything outside of it was merely territory.
As shown in the image above: about 10 stones have been found, marking the limits of the "pomerium" form, but the last one was discovered more than 100 years ago.
In July, Claudio Parisi Presicce, director of the Archaeological Museum of Rome, said at a news conference announcing the discovery: "The founding of the city of Rome began with the realization of this treasure. ”
According to Peter Wiseman, professor emeritus at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, pomerium was first founded by the legendary Roman founder Romulus, who outlined the walls of the city of Rome around the 8th century BC with the plough ditch of the holy oxen.
The legend also introduces that Romulus got angry and killed his twin brother Remus, who had crossed the ravine in derisively.
Wiseman said: "The ditches themselves mark the ancient boundaries of the city, and it is called pomerium, as if it were post moerium, meaning 'inside and outside the city'. ”
The stone will be on display at the Arapathis Museum until the reconstruction work is completed. The museum is built around a nearby monument that the Roman Senate commissioned in 13 BC to commemorate Emperor Augustus.
As shown in the picture above: This stone is one of the symbols of the sacred boundaries of ancient Rome.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > ancient city</h1>
While 10 other gemstones have been discovered before, this is the first time in more than 100 years.
The Latin inscription on this stone indicates that around 49 AD, Emperor Claudius (reigned 41 to 54 AD) was placed on the Avenue of the Holy City during the Roman expansion. It matches another piece of garnet of the time that is now on display at the Vatican Museums.
The city's pomerium has great civic and symbolic significance, and it has been expanded several times throughout ancient Roman history. Wiseman said: "It has traditionally been believed that only local officials who expanded roman territory could expand Rome's territory, so Claudius I seems to have used his conquest of England in 43 AD as a reason.
Claudius I's urban expansion included the Chaplaza de Mars, which was outside the pomerium during the Roman Republic. The Tomb of Augustus is at the northern end of this area.
By the time of claudius I's reign, the area of Champ de Mars outside the walls had developed very grand public buildings: porticoes, temples, theaters, etc., so it was obvious that the pomium had to be expanded to include it.
As shown in the image above: These stone-marked pomiums were the official civic and religious sphere of activity of the ancient city and limited the jurisdiction of many Roman laws.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > sacred city</h1>
Filippo Carlà-Uhink, a professor of ancient history at the University of Potsdam in Germany, said: "The concept of the sacred border around the ancient city of Rome may have originated with the Etruscans, an early people who lived in the area and influenced later Romans. ”
He added: "When Romulus drew the pomium, he basically separated the worlds of civilization and history: cities, wildernesses and remnants of prehistoric worlds. ”
Many of the laws of ancient Rome were related to the boundaries marked by marble, for example, during the Republican period, sheriffs known as "civilian protectors" had only the power to intervene in political affairs within the boundaries of the city. Allied delegations can cross the pomium, but enemy delegations cannot unless they are explicitly authorized by the ruling Senate.
As shown in the image above: The Latin inscription on this stone indicates that it was placed around 49 AD, when Emperor Claudius I was expanding the city.
The carrying of weapons was forbidden inside the pomium, so the Roman army had to be expelled from the city. Although they were exempted from military parades through the city, and this was called triumph, awarded by the Senate to the victorious general.
Pomium is considered sacred, and magistrates consult "city support" whenever they cross the land, presided over by a priest known as the "fortune teller," to predict good or bad luck that would be seen as a potentially mortal threat if they did not consult these predictions.
For example, the Consular Roman writer and statesman Cicero mentions that in 163 BC, the consul Tiberius Gracchus, after he was recalled to the city for a senate meeting, forgot for the second time to get the support of the city, and his defeat led to the sudden death of an electoral official named "rogator".
Filippo said: "This was immediately considered a sign of the wrath of the gods, and when the reason became clear, the Senate decided that the two elected consuls must resign and hold a second election." ”