DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44944#0454
392 PISCINA THERMARUM DIOCLETIAN ARUM—POMERIUM
213), but the name clung to the locality (cf. ad piscinam publicam
Hippolyt. philos. ix. 12, p. 552 ; cf. BC 1914, 353), and it was popu-
larly given to Region XII of the city of Augustus. This region was
bounded on the north-east by the via Appia, on the south-east by a
line extending from the junction of the via Appia and the vicus Sulpicius
to the porta Raudusculana, on the south by the line of the Aurelian
wall, and on the west and north-west by the vicus portae Raudusculanae
and the vicus piscinae Publicae, thus including a very small area
inside the line of the Servian wall (BC 1890, 115-137). Piscina Publica
was not an official name for Region XII, and we do not know how early
it came into use (Pr. Reg. 71-72).
Piscina Thermarum Diocletianarum : see Thermae Diocletianae.
Platanonis : a name that occurs but once (Not. Cur.) to designate a
locality on the Aventine in Region XIII. Platanon means a grove of
plane trees and with this genitive zncws is perhaps to be understood.
This cannot be the platanon mentioned by Martial (iii. 19. 2) which was
in the campus Martius near the Hecatostylon (cf. Pr. Reg. 203). There
was probably yet another on the Esquiline, from which the church of
S. Eusebio was called ‘ in platana ’ in the tenth and eleventh centuries
(HCh 251).
Platea Traiani : a street or square mentioned only once (Sym. Ep. vi. 37)
in 398 a.d. It may very probably have been near the forum of Trajan.
Pomerium : the boundary line of the site destined for a city, which site,
according to the rules of augural procedure, was inaugurated as a templum,
or rectangular area, within which auspices could be taken, marked off
from the ager publicus by a line of stones at regular intervals. The
formal founding of a city is thus described by Varro (LL v. 143) oppida
condebant in Latio Etrusco ritu multi, id est iunctis bobus, tauro
et vacca, interiore aratro circumagebant sulcum (hoc faciebant religionis
causa die auspicato), ut fossa et muro essent muniti. terrain unde
exculpserant, fossam vocabant et introrsus iactam murum; post ea
qui fiebat orbis, urbis principium, qui quod erat post murum, post-
moerium dictum, eoque auspicia urbana finiuntur. Thus the furrow
represented the moat ; and the earth thrown up by the plough, the wall
of the city. The line urbis principium or pomerium, behind (i.e. within)
the murus, marked the limit of the inaugurated district within which
auspices could be taken. The word pomerium was soon transferred to
the strip of land between this line and the actual city wall, and was then
used in both senses (Dionys. i. 88) ; while at a later period it seems
to have been still further extended in application and to have been
incorrectly used of the strip on both sides of the wall (Liv. i. 44).
In Rome the first pomerium is that of the Palatine city, the wall of
which must have been built on the slope of the hill; but its line can
only be a matter of conjecture, and that which Tacitus (Ann. xii. 24)
213), but the name clung to the locality (cf. ad piscinam publicam
Hippolyt. philos. ix. 12, p. 552 ; cf. BC 1914, 353), and it was popu-
larly given to Region XII of the city of Augustus. This region was
bounded on the north-east by the via Appia, on the south-east by a
line extending from the junction of the via Appia and the vicus Sulpicius
to the porta Raudusculana, on the south by the line of the Aurelian
wall, and on the west and north-west by the vicus portae Raudusculanae
and the vicus piscinae Publicae, thus including a very small area
inside the line of the Servian wall (BC 1890, 115-137). Piscina Publica
was not an official name for Region XII, and we do not know how early
it came into use (Pr. Reg. 71-72).
Piscina Thermarum Diocletianarum : see Thermae Diocletianae.
Platanonis : a name that occurs but once (Not. Cur.) to designate a
locality on the Aventine in Region XIII. Platanon means a grove of
plane trees and with this genitive zncws is perhaps to be understood.
This cannot be the platanon mentioned by Martial (iii. 19. 2) which was
in the campus Martius near the Hecatostylon (cf. Pr. Reg. 203). There
was probably yet another on the Esquiline, from which the church of
S. Eusebio was called ‘ in platana ’ in the tenth and eleventh centuries
(HCh 251).
Platea Traiani : a street or square mentioned only once (Sym. Ep. vi. 37)
in 398 a.d. It may very probably have been near the forum of Trajan.
Pomerium : the boundary line of the site destined for a city, which site,
according to the rules of augural procedure, was inaugurated as a templum,
or rectangular area, within which auspices could be taken, marked off
from the ager publicus by a line of stones at regular intervals. The
formal founding of a city is thus described by Varro (LL v. 143) oppida
condebant in Latio Etrusco ritu multi, id est iunctis bobus, tauro
et vacca, interiore aratro circumagebant sulcum (hoc faciebant religionis
causa die auspicato), ut fossa et muro essent muniti. terrain unde
exculpserant, fossam vocabant et introrsus iactam murum; post ea
qui fiebat orbis, urbis principium, qui quod erat post murum, post-
moerium dictum, eoque auspicia urbana finiuntur. Thus the furrow
represented the moat ; and the earth thrown up by the plough, the wall
of the city. The line urbis principium or pomerium, behind (i.e. within)
the murus, marked the limit of the inaugurated district within which
auspices could be taken. The word pomerium was soon transferred to
the strip of land between this line and the actual city wall, and was then
used in both senses (Dionys. i. 88) ; while at a later period it seems
to have been still further extended in application and to have been
incorrectly used of the strip on both sides of the wall (Liv. i. 44).
In Rome the first pomerium is that of the Palatine city, the wall of
which must have been built on the slope of the hill; but its line can
only be a matter of conjecture, and that which Tacitus (Ann. xii. 24)