DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44944#0580
TARENTUM
5θδ
north-east side of the Tabularium were two stories of rooms fronting
on the way up to the arx. Those of the first story opened into each
other, and were connected by a stairway with the corridor of the sub-
struction. Part of the wall of the south-west side is still standing, with
a large rectangular niche opening on the clivus Capitolinus, which is
now used as the entrance ; while a small piece of the travertine plinth
of the north-west fagade is preserved in the cellars of the Palazzo del
Senatore (JRS 1919, 192).
The masonry of the Tabularium shows the best republican workman-
ship. It is wholly of opus quadratum, with blocks uniformly two Roman
feet in height and width, and averaging four in length. They are laid
in alternate courses of headers and stretchers (emplecton), with a thin
layer of cement. The outer walls are of sperone (Gabine stone), the
bases and capitals of the half-columns and the imposts of the arches
of travertine, and the inner walls of Anio tufa ; while most of the vaults
are of concrete. The building was once used as a storehouse for salt
and the inner walls have suffered much from corrosion. For a complete
description of the Tabularium and its literature, see Delbrueck,
Hellenistische Bauten in Latium, 1907, i. 23-46, pls. 3-9 ; ii. pl. 3 ; also
Middleton, Ancient Rome i2. 372-377 ; Jord. i. 1. 135-154 ; LR 295-298 ;
LS ii. 70; D’Esp. Mon. i. 125, 126; TF 49-51 ; ZA 30-33; Mem. L.
5. xvii. 505 ; ASA 18, 19, 21.
Tarentum : a section of the most westerly part of the campus Martius—
in extremo Martio campo (Fest. 329 ; Zos. ii. 3)—where it is enclosed
by the great bend of the Tiber. Its precise limits are not known, but it
surrounded the Ditis Patris et Proserpinae ara (q.v.), which was
discovered in 1888 between the Chiesa Nuova and the Piazza Sforza-
Cesarini, and presumably it extended to the river (Vai. Max. ii. 4. 5 ;
Fest. 350, 351 ; Ov. Fast. i. 501 ; Censorin. 17. 18; Liv. Epit. 49).
Hot springs and other traces of volcanic action led to the belief that here
was an entrance to the lower world, and to the establishment of the cult
of Dis pater and Proserpina. The legend of the discovery of the altar
of Dis twenty feet below the surface of the ground by a Sabine Valerius
is given by Valerius Maximus (loc. cit. ; Fest. 329). The Tarentum is
usually mentioned in connection with the ludi saeculares, when sacrifices
were offered to Dis (see references cited, and Statius Silv. i. 4. 18 ; iv. I. 38 ;
Mart. i. 69. 2 ; iv. 1.8; x. 63. 3 ; Auson. Idyll. 16. 34 ; CIL vi. 32328,
15, acta lud. saec. Sev.). The usual and correct form is Tarentum, but
Terentum occurs now and then with false etymologies (Fest. 350 : Teren-
tum locus in campo Martio dicitur quod eo loco ara Ditis patris terra
occultaretur ; 351 : Terentum in campo Martio lo(cum Verrius ait ab
eo) dicendum fuisse quod t(erra ibi per ludos) secularis Ditis patris (aram
occulens tera)tur ab equis quadrigari(s) 1; Serv. Aen. viii. 65 : Terentum
[Tarentum, codd.] dicitur eo quod ripas terat). No explanation of the
1 These supplements, which are those of Ursinus, are not accepted by Lindsay (478, 479)·
5θδ
north-east side of the Tabularium were two stories of rooms fronting
on the way up to the arx. Those of the first story opened into each
other, and were connected by a stairway with the corridor of the sub-
struction. Part of the wall of the south-west side is still standing, with
a large rectangular niche opening on the clivus Capitolinus, which is
now used as the entrance ; while a small piece of the travertine plinth
of the north-west fagade is preserved in the cellars of the Palazzo del
Senatore (JRS 1919, 192).
The masonry of the Tabularium shows the best republican workman-
ship. It is wholly of opus quadratum, with blocks uniformly two Roman
feet in height and width, and averaging four in length. They are laid
in alternate courses of headers and stretchers (emplecton), with a thin
layer of cement. The outer walls are of sperone (Gabine stone), the
bases and capitals of the half-columns and the imposts of the arches
of travertine, and the inner walls of Anio tufa ; while most of the vaults
are of concrete. The building was once used as a storehouse for salt
and the inner walls have suffered much from corrosion. For a complete
description of the Tabularium and its literature, see Delbrueck,
Hellenistische Bauten in Latium, 1907, i. 23-46, pls. 3-9 ; ii. pl. 3 ; also
Middleton, Ancient Rome i2. 372-377 ; Jord. i. 1. 135-154 ; LR 295-298 ;
LS ii. 70; D’Esp. Mon. i. 125, 126; TF 49-51 ; ZA 30-33; Mem. L.
5. xvii. 505 ; ASA 18, 19, 21.
Tarentum : a section of the most westerly part of the campus Martius—
in extremo Martio campo (Fest. 329 ; Zos. ii. 3)—where it is enclosed
by the great bend of the Tiber. Its precise limits are not known, but it
surrounded the Ditis Patris et Proserpinae ara (q.v.), which was
discovered in 1888 between the Chiesa Nuova and the Piazza Sforza-
Cesarini, and presumably it extended to the river (Vai. Max. ii. 4. 5 ;
Fest. 350, 351 ; Ov. Fast. i. 501 ; Censorin. 17. 18; Liv. Epit. 49).
Hot springs and other traces of volcanic action led to the belief that here
was an entrance to the lower world, and to the establishment of the cult
of Dis pater and Proserpina. The legend of the discovery of the altar
of Dis twenty feet below the surface of the ground by a Sabine Valerius
is given by Valerius Maximus (loc. cit. ; Fest. 329). The Tarentum is
usually mentioned in connection with the ludi saeculares, when sacrifices
were offered to Dis (see references cited, and Statius Silv. i. 4. 18 ; iv. I. 38 ;
Mart. i. 69. 2 ; iv. 1.8; x. 63. 3 ; Auson. Idyll. 16. 34 ; CIL vi. 32328,
15, acta lud. saec. Sev.). The usual and correct form is Tarentum, but
Terentum occurs now and then with false etymologies (Fest. 350 : Teren-
tum locus in campo Martio dicitur quod eo loco ara Ditis patris terra
occultaretur ; 351 : Terentum in campo Martio lo(cum Verrius ait ab
eo) dicendum fuisse quod t(erra ibi per ludos) secularis Ditis patris (aram
occulens tera)tur ab equis quadrigari(s) 1; Serv. Aen. viii. 65 : Terentum
[Tarentum, codd.] dicitur eo quod ripas terat). No explanation of the
1 These supplements, which are those of Ursinus, are not accepted by Lindsay (478, 479)·