Lapis Niger

Lapis Niger

[
thumb|right|Drawing_of_the_excavated_Lapis_Niger,_by_Christian Hülsen, 1906] The Lapis Niger (trans. "Black Stone") is an ancient Roman shrine in Rome, Italy. Mentioned in many ancient descriptions of the Roman Forum dating from the Roman Republic and the early days of the Roman Empire, the shrine lies between the forum and the Comitium. The shrine was lost underground due to a combination of overbuilding during the era of the Roman Empire and the chaos of Rome's fall. The Lapis Niger was rediscovered in the very late 19th century by Italian archaeologist Giacomo Boni. It is the site of the oldest known Latin inscription.

The site dates back to either the Monarchy of Rome, as the inscription refers to a king ("rex"), or to the early Roman Republic, as the same inscription might be in reference to the "rex sacrorum", an early Republic high religious official. At some point, the Romans forgot the original significance of the shrine. This led to several conflicting origin stories for the shrine. Romans believed the Lapis Niger marked the grave of the first king of Rome Romulus; the grave of Hostus Hostilius, father of King Tullus Hostilius; or the location where Faustulus, foster father of Romulus, fell in battle.

Description

The Lapis Niger went through two incarnations. The first version was a traditional ancient style shrine, which was torn down and buried under plates of black marble in the first century, becoming the second incarnation of the site.

The original version of the site consisted of a black marble square stele (the eponymous black stone) inscribed with old Latin inscriptions dedicating the shrine to a "rex" or king, and leveling grave curses at anyone who dares disturb the shrine; and an altar, of which only the base still survives. In front of the altar are two bases. The antiquarian Verrius Flaccus (whose work is preserved only in the epitome of Pompeius Festus), a contemporary of Augustus, described a statue of a resting lion placed on each base, "just as they may be seen today guarding graves".

The inscription on the stele has various interesting features. The lettering is the closest to Greek letters of any known Latin lettering, since it is closer to the original borrowing of the Greek alphabet by peoples of Italy from Greek colonies such as Cumae. Also, the inscription is written boustrophedon, meaning it is written alternating between right to left and left to right. Many of the oldest Latin inscriptions are written in this style.

Archaeological excavations show that various dedicatory items from vase fragments, statues and pieces of animal sacrifices, are found around at the site in a layer of deliberately placed gravel. All these artifacts date from very ancient Rome, between the fifth and seventh century BC.

The second version, placed when the first version was demolished in the first century BC to make way for further development in the forum, is a far simpler shrine. A pavement of black marble was laid over the original site, and was surrounded by a short white wall. The new shrine lay just beside the Rostra, the senatorial speaking platform.

External links

* [http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Article/614653 Forum Romanum: Rostra, Curia, Decennalia Base and Lapis Niger]
* [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/Forum_Romanum/_Texts/Huelsen*/2/17.html LacusCurtius — Lapis Niger and Sepulchrum Romuli (Christian Hülsen, 1906)]
* [http://dlib.etc.ucla.edu:8080/projects/Forum/reconstructions/NigerLapis_1 Digital Roman Forum: Lapis Niger] , a 3D computer recreation of the second incarnation of the Lapis Niger
* [http://www.vroma.org/~forum/lapn.html Plan showing location in the Forum Romanum]


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Lapis niger —   [lateinisch »schwarzer Stein«], in der Nordwestecke des Forum Romanum ins augusteische Travertinpflaster eingelegte, von Schranken aus weißem Marmor umgebene schwarze Marmorplatten, die zusammen fast ein Quadrat bilden. Nach Aussage… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Lapis Niger — Der Lapis Niger (lateinisch „schwarzer Stein“) ist eine quadratische Fläche aus schwarzen Marmorplatten auf dem Forum Romanum in Rom. Laut antiken Quellen ist dies der Ort, an dem Romulus von den Senatoren wegen seines despotischen… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Lapis niger — Надписи на стеле Ляпис нигер (лат. Lapis Niger, «Чёрный камень» }  квадратная поверхность из черного мрамора на форуме в Риме. В античных источниках говорилось, что это место, на котором был убит Ромул …   Википедия

  • LAPIS Niger — vide infra Tumulus …   Hofmann J. Lexicon universale

  • Lapis Niger — « Pierre noire » redirige ici. Pour la pierre de la Mecque, voir Pierre noire (islam) …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Lapis Niger — La Lapis Niger (en latín: piedra negra) es una plancha cuadrangular de mármol negro que cubre un espacio en el Foro Romano, entre la curia y los rostra, bajo la cual se ha hallado un conjunto monumental de época arcaica, consistente en dos… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Lapis Niger — У этого термина существуют и другие значения, см. Чёрный камень. Надписи на стеле Ляпис нигер (лат. Lapis Niger, «Чёрный камень»)  квадратная поверхность из черного мрамора на …   Википедия

  • Lapis Niger —         (лат. черный камень), черная мраморная плита. Считается, что она была установлена на сооружении дорим. времени, в котором был обнаружен ряд археологич. памятников. На плите сделаны надписи лат. буквами …   Словарь античности

  • Lapis — Lapis: Ляпис Философский камень (лат. lapis philosophorum) См. также Lapis Niger В Викисловаре есть статья «lapis» …   Википедия

  • Lapis — Das Wort Lapis (lateinisch) bedeutet „Stein“ und bezeichnet insbesondere: Lapislazuli, ein Mineral Lapis philosophorum, den Stein der Weisen Lapis Niger (schwarzer Stein), eine quadratische Fläche aus schwarzen Marmorplatten auf dem Forum Romanum …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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