Pomerium
Encyclopedia
The pomerium or pomoerium (Latin
, from post + moerium > murum, "wall"), was the sacred boundary of the city of Rome
. In legal terms, Rome existed only within the pomerium; everything beyond it was simply territory (ager) belonging to Rome.
maintained that it was the original line ploughed by Romulus
around the walls of the original city, and that it was inaugurated by Servius Tullius
.
Livy
writes that the pomerium was in fact an area of ground both on the inner and outer sides of the walls. He says that the pomerium was a tradition from Etruria
, and that the Etruscans consecrated the area by augury
which in part had the purpose of preventing houses from being built on the inside of the wall (although he writes that in his time houses were in fact built against the wall) and to keep the area on the outer side free from human occupation. He also writes that it was not lawful to inhabit or to farm the area of the pomerium.
It did not follow the line of the Servian walls, although it remained unchanged until the Dictator
Lucius Cornelius Sulla
, in a demonstration of his absolute power, expanded it in 80 BC
. Several white cippi stones commissioned by Claudius
have been found in situ and several have been found away from their original location. These stones mark the boundaries and relative dimensions of the pomerium extension by Claudius
. This extension is recorded in Tacitus. Aulus Gellius
also reports extensions by Caesar Augustus, Nero
, and Trajan
, but no other written or archaeological evidence supports this.
The pomerium was not a walled area (unlike the Chinese Forbidden City
), but rather a legally and religiously defined one marked by cippi: It encompassed neither the entire metropolitan area nor even all the proverbial Seven Hills (the Palatine Hill
was within the pomerium, but the Capitoline
and Aventine
Hills were not). The Curia Hostilia and the well of the Comitium
in the Forum Romanum, two extremely important locations in the government of the city-state
and its empire, were located within the pomerium. The temple of Bellona
was beyond the pomerium.
Pompey's Theater, where Julius Caesar was murdered, was also outside the pomerium and included a Senate chamber where the Senate could meet with the attendance of individual senators who were forbidden to cross the pomerium and thus would not have been able to meet in the Curia Hostilia.
Weapons were also banned inside the pomerium for religious and traditional reasons. Praetorian guards were allowed in only in civilian dress (toga), and were then called collectively cohors togata. But it was possible to sneak in daggers (the proverbial weapon for political violence, see sicarius
). Since Julius Caesar's assassination occurred outside this boundary, the senatorial conspirators could not be charged with blasphemy for carrying weapons inside the sacred city.
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, from post + moerium > murum, "wall"), was the sacred boundary of the city of Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. In legal terms, Rome existed only within the pomerium; everything beyond it was simply territory (ager) belonging to Rome.
Location and extensions
TraditionTradition
A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...
maintained that it was the original line ploughed by Romulus
Romulus
- People:* Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of Rome* Romulus Augustulus, the last Western Roman Emperor* Valerius Romulus , deified son of the Roman emperor Maxentius* Romulus , son of the Western Roman emperor Anthemius...
around the walls of the original city, and that it was inaugurated by Servius Tullius
Servius Tullius
Servius Tullius was the legendary sixth king of ancient Rome, and the second of its Etruscan dynasty. He reigned 578-535 BC. Roman and Greek sources describe his servile origins and later marriage to a daughter of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, Rome's first Etruscan king, who was assassinated in 579 BC...
.
Livy
Livy
Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
writes that the pomerium was in fact an area of ground both on the inner and outer sides of the walls. He says that the pomerium was a tradition from Etruria
Etruria
Etruria—usually referred to in Greek and Latin source texts as Tyrrhenia—was a region of Central Italy, an area that covered part of what now are Tuscany, Latium, Emilia-Romagna, and Umbria. A particularly noteworthy work dealing with Etruscan locations is D. H...
, and that the Etruscans consecrated the area by augury
Augur
The augur was a priest and official in the classical world, especially ancient Rome and Etruria. His main role was to interpret the will of the gods by studying the flight of birds: whether they are flying in groups/alone, what noises they make as they fly, direction of flight and what kind of...
which in part had the purpose of preventing houses from being built on the inside of the wall (although he writes that in his time houses were in fact built against the wall) and to keep the area on the outer side free from human occupation. He also writes that it was not lawful to inhabit or to farm the area of the pomerium.
It did not follow the line of the Servian walls, although it remained unchanged until the Dictator
Dictator
A dictator is a ruler who assumes sole and absolute power but without hereditary ascension such as an absolute monarch. When other states call the head of state of a particular state a dictator, that state is called a dictatorship...
Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix , known commonly as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He had the rare distinction of holding the office of consul twice, as well as that of dictator...
, in a demonstration of his absolute power, expanded it in 80 BC
80 BC
Year 80 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sulla and Metellus...
. Several white cippi stones commissioned by Claudius
Claudius
Claudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...
have been found in situ and several have been found away from their original location. These stones mark the boundaries and relative dimensions of the pomerium extension by Claudius
Claudius
Claudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...
. This extension is recorded in Tacitus. Aulus Gellius
Aulus Gellius
Aulus Gellius , was a Latin author and grammarian, who was probably born and certainly brought up in Rome. He was educated in Athens, after which he returned to Rome, where he held a judicial office...
also reports extensions by Caesar Augustus, Nero
Nero
Nero , was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death....
, and Trajan
Trajan
Trajan , was Roman Emperor from 98 to 117 AD. Born into a non-patrician family in the province of Hispania Baetica, in Spain Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian. Serving as a legatus legionis in Hispania Tarraconensis, in Spain, in 89 Trajan supported the emperor against...
, but no other written or archaeological evidence supports this.
The pomerium was not a walled area (unlike the Chinese Forbidden City
Forbidden City
The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum...
), but rather a legally and religiously defined one marked by cippi: It encompassed neither the entire metropolitan area nor even all the proverbial Seven Hills (the Palatine Hill
Palatine Hill
The Palatine Hill is the centermost of the Seven Hills of Rome and is one of the most ancient parts of the city...
was within the pomerium, but the Capitoline
Capitoline Hill
The Capitoline Hill , between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the seven hills of Rome. It was the citadel of the earliest Romans. By the 16th century, Capitolinus had become Capitolino in Italian, with the alternative Campidoglio stemming from Capitolium. The English word capitol...
and Aventine
Aventine Hill
The Aventine Hill is one of the seven hills on which ancient Rome was built. It belongs to Ripa, the twelfth rione, or ward, of Rome.-Location and boundaries:The Aventine hill is the southernmost of Rome's seven hills...
Hills were not). The Curia Hostilia and the well of the Comitium
Comitium
The Comitium in Rome is the location of the original founding of the city. The area is marked by a number of shrines, temples, altars and churches today from throughout its history. The location was lost due to the cities growth and development over a thousand years, but was excavated at the turn...
in the Forum Romanum, two extremely important locations in the government of the city-state
City-state
A city-state is an independent or autonomous entity whose territory consists of a city which is not administered as a part of another local government.-Historical city-states:...
and its empire, were located within the pomerium. The temple of Bellona
Bellona (goddess)
Bellona was an Ancient Roman goddess of war, similar to the Ancient Greek Enyo. Bellona's attribute is a sword and she is depicted wearing a helmet and armed with a spear and a torch....
was beyond the pomerium.
Associated restrictions
- The magistrates who held imperiumImperiumImperium is a Latin word which, in a broad sense, translates roughly as 'power to command'. In ancient Rome, different kinds of power or authority were distinguished by different terms. Imperium, referred to the sovereignty of the state over the individual...
did not have full power inside the pomerium. They could have a citizen beaten, but not sentenced to death. This was symbolised by removing the axes from the fascesFascesFasces are a bundle of wooden sticks with an axe blade emerging from the center, which is an image that traditionally symbolizes summary power and jurisdiction, and/or "strength through unity"...
carried by the magistrate's lictorLictorThe lictor was a member of a special class of Roman civil servant, with special tasks of attending and guarding magistrates of the Roman Republic and Empire who held imperium, the right and power to command; essentially, a bodyguard...
s. Only the dictator's lictors could carry fasces containing axes.
- Religious and political constraints forbade any anointed sovereign from entering the pomerium. As a result, visits of state were somewhat awkward; CleopatraCleopatra VII of EgyptCleopatra VII Philopator was the last pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.She was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a family of Greek origin that ruled Egypt after Alexander the Great's death during the Hellenistic period...
, for example, never actually entered the city of Rome when she came to visit Julius CaesarJulius CaesarGaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
.
- It was forbidden to bury the dead inside the pomerium. During his life, Julius Caesar received in advance the right to a tomb inside the pomerium, but his ashes were actually placed in his family tomb. However, TrajanTrajanTrajan , was Roman Emperor from 98 to 117 AD. Born into a non-patrician family in the province of Hispania Baetica, in Spain Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian. Serving as a legatus legionis in Hispania Tarraconensis, in Spain, in 89 Trajan supported the emperor against...
's ashes were interred after his death in AD 117 at the foot of his ColumnTrajan's ColumnTrajan's Column is a Roman triumphal column in Rome, Italy, which commemorates Roman emperor Trajan's victory in the Dacian Wars. It was probably constructed under the supervision of the architect Apollodorus of Damascus at the order of the Roman Senate. It is located in Trajan's Forum, built near...
, which was within the pomerium.
- Furthermore, (provincial) promagistrates and generals were forbidden from entering it, and resigned their imperiumImperiumImperium is a Latin word which, in a broad sense, translates roughly as 'power to command'. In ancient Rome, different kinds of power or authority were distinguished by different terms. Imperium, referred to the sovereignty of the state over the individual...
immediately upon crossing it (as it was the superlative form of the ban on armies entering Italy). As a result, a general waiting to celebrate a triumph with his victorious troops was required to wait outside the pomerium until his triumph. Under the Republic, soldiers also lost their status when entering, becoming citizens. The soldiers when they participated in their general's triumph wore their civilian outfits. The Comitia Centuriata, one of the Roman assembliesRoman assembliesThe Legislative Assemblies of the Roman Republic were political institutions in the ancient Roman Republic. According to the contemporary historian Polybius, it was the people who had the final say regarding the election of magistrates, the enactment of new statutes, the carrying out of capital...
, consisting of centuriaCenturiaCenturia is a Latin substantive from the stem centum , denoting units consisting of 100 men. It also denotes a Roman unit of land area: 1 centuria = 100 heredia...
e (voting units, but originally military battalions within the legions), was required to meet on the Campus MartiusCampus MartiusThe Campus Martius , was a publicly owned area of ancient Rome about in extent. In the Middle Ages, it was the most populous area of Rome...
outside the pomerium.
Pompey's Theater, where Julius Caesar was murdered, was also outside the pomerium and included a Senate chamber where the Senate could meet with the attendance of individual senators who were forbidden to cross the pomerium and thus would not have been able to meet in the Curia Hostilia.
Weapons were also banned inside the pomerium for religious and traditional reasons. Praetorian guards were allowed in only in civilian dress (toga), and were then called collectively cohors togata. But it was possible to sneak in daggers (the proverbial weapon for political violence, see sicarius
Sicarius
Sicarius was a Latin word for "assassin", and by extension sometimes used to mean a concealed dagger , and a personal name...
). Since Julius Caesar's assassination occurred outside this boundary, the senatorial conspirators could not be charged with blasphemy for carrying weapons inside the sacred city.
External links
- Samuel Ball Platner, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome: Pomerium
- Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities: Pomoerium
- Transactions of the American Philological Association Alternate etymology: pro-murium