SCALAE GEMONIAE
a flight of steps leading up the Capitoline past the
career, on which the bodies of certain criminals, who had been executed,
were thrown and left exposed for a time-a frequent practice during
the empire. They are often mentioned, first under Tiberius, and are
called scalae Gemoniae (Val.
Max. vi. 3. 3, 9. 13; Aur. Vict. 8. 6,
33. 31; Ep. 8. 4; Oros. vii..8. 8), Gemoniae (Suet. Tib. 53, 61, 75;
Vit. 17; Tac.
Ann. iii. 14;
vi. 4, 31;
Hist. iii. 74, 85; Sid.
Apoll. i. 7. 12),
ava(acuol (Cass. Dio Iviii. I, 5, II;
lxv. 21), gradus gemitorii (Plin.
NH viii. 145), and as gradus Gemonii (Tert. adv. Val. 36). Only two
of these passages give any topographical information (Val.
Max. vi. 9. 13;
Cass.
Dio lviii. 5), but that does not determine the course of these steps
with precision. It is probable, however, that it coincided approximately
with the present Via di S. Pietro in carcere (HF iv.;
Gilb. i. 327;
iii. 164;
Jord. i. 2. 324-325; Richter,
Hermes 1883, 125; Top. 119;
RE vii.
1115-1116; Rodocanachi, Le Capitole 17). It is possible that the
GRADUS MONETAE (q.v.), mentioned by Ovid (
Fast. i. 638), may have
connected in some way with these steps. Gemoniae was undoubtedly
connected in the popular mind with gemo, 'I groan' (cf.
GRADUS GEMITORII; Tert. loc. cit.) but incorrectly. It is rather derived from the
proper name Gemonius (Schulze, Zur Gesch. latein. Eigennamen 108
and add.), but the reason for its use is unknown.
