Campus Martius Research Articles

Discoveries in the Campus Martius, Region of the Circus Flaminius

Discoveries in the Campus Martius, Region of the Circus Flaminius

A new Epithet of Juno

An inscription found in 1912 near Praeneste,1 and now easily accessible in the new edition of Vol. I. of the Corpus of Latin inscriptions (CIL. I. pars 2, fasc. 1, 1918, No. 2439), records a dedication in honour of Juno PALOS-CARIA(e) (dat. sg.), an epithet previously unknown, and not yet, I believe, satisfactorily explained. Rosenberg's attempted explanation (palus -i sens, obsc.—an extremely rare meaning, it should be observed—and stigare in the sense of ‘instigare,’ referring to Juno as the goddess of motherhood) will not secure many adherents, while that of Lommatzsch (CIL. l.c.), who would connect the word with palus -udis, and see an allusion to the ‘paludes Pomptinae,’ involves us in serious, though not insuperable, phonetic and morphological difficulties. If we were reduced to accepting the derivation from palus ‘marsh,’ I should prefer to see rather a reference to the festival of Juno on the Nonae Caprotinae (July 7), which took place near the Caprae (or Caprea) palus in the Campus Martius. There would then be at least a definite connexion of the goddess with the palus, whereas there is no such connexion, so far as I know, of Juno with the Pomptine Marshes.

The Obelisks of Augustus at Rome

Among the monuments erected by Augustus at Rome were two obelisks, about which the elder Pliny gives fairly full information. They had originally been erected in Egypt by two different monarchs, and, when Augustus had them transported to Rome, the one was placed in the Circus Maximus, the other in the Campus Martius. Moreover, the latter was put to practical use by being an essential part of the large solarium erected by the Emperor. Somewhat earlier in the same book Pliny attributes the setting up of the first obelisk to Mespheres at Heliopolis. The king had been warned to do this in a dream. In his chapter on obelisks Isidore also attributes the institution of this form of monument to this king, whom he calls Mesfres. He further gives more precise reasons for the dedication, and then passes on to the obelisk in the middle of the Circus; though his description is somewhat obscure, it is implied that the obelisk was used for a sun-dial. This passage from Isidore is reproduced in the Liber Glossarum, together with a sentence which is not in the MSS. of Isidore, and which occurs between sections 1 and 2 of the chapter in question:– ‘unum quippe fecit pedibus septuaginta quinque, alterum septuaginta sex quos Augustus ab ultima Aegypto deportatos alterum ex his Circo, alterum in Campo Martio posuit.’

The Ara Martis

Previous articleNext article FreeThe Ara MartisSamuel Ball PlatnerSamuel Ball Platner Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Classical Philology Volume 3, Number 1Jan., 1908 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/359119 PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

The Origin and Growth of the Tradition 'Ecce Tiber! Ecce Campus Martius!' as applied to the Tay and the Inches of Perth

The Origin and Growth of the Tradition 'Ecce Tiber! Ecce Campus Martius!' as applied to the Tay and the Inches of Perth