TARPEIUS, MONS
the earliest name of the Capitoline hill, if we are to
believe the statements of Roman and Greek writers (Varro,
LL v. 41:
hic mons ante Tarpeius dictus a virgine Vestali Tarpeia, quae ibi ab
Sabini necata armis et sepulta, cuius nominis monimentum relictum
quod etiam nunc eus rupes Tarpeium appellatur saxum;
Prop. iv.
4. 93;
Dionys. iii. 69. 4; Plut. Rom. 18; Steph. Byz. 355). It is also
used of the whole hill, apparently, in Not. app. (montes VII . . Tarpeius)
and in Auct. de vir. ill. (ii. 7), while in other passages it might refer to the
whole hill or, more probably, only to the Capitolium (
Liv. i. 55; Suet.
Iul. 44; cf. ad
Her. iv. 43;
denominatio est quae ab rebus propinquis
et Onitimis trahit orationem, qua possit intelligi res quae non suo vocabulo
sit appellata. id aut ab inventione conficitur ut si quis de Tarpeio
loquens eum Capitolium nominet). The corresponding Greek name was
Ταρπήιος λόφος, which occurs with some frequency (
Dionys. iii. 69. 4;
iv. 60.3,4; 61. I;
vii. 35. 4; Plut. Rom. 18, Numa 7; Steph. Byz. 355),
or
ὄρος (Cas. Dio, fr. vii. I . 5; Steph. Byz. 604; Lyd. de mens. iv. 155).
From the precipitous cliffs of this hill criminals, convicted of capital
crimes, were hurled to their death (
Gell. xi. 18. 8; xx. I. 53), and these
cliffs were regularly called Tarpeium saxum (Varro,
LL v. 41;
Liv.
vi. 20. 12; Fest. 340; cf. ib. 343; Tac. Ann. vi. (19) 25; de vir. ill. xxiv.
6;
lxvi. 8;
Ampel. xxvii. 4;
Prop. iii. 11, 45), saxum alone (
Liv.
xxv. 7. 13; Sen. contr. i. 3. 3, 4) or Tarpeium alone (Plin.
NH vii. 143).
Twice Tarpeius is used alone, with reference to other things than executions, where mons is probably to be supplied (Plin.
NH xxviii. 15; Tert.
de spect. 5). Other variants in Latin poetry are arx Tarpeia (Verg.
Aen. viii. 652-654;
Prop. iv. 4. 29-30), and Tarpeia sedes (Verg.
Aen.
viii. 347 and cf. supra, 55, 97).
The alleged tradition that the Capitoline was first called mons Tarpeius
was probably only an invention of the Roman antiquarians, and
Tarpeius was most probably, according to the general rule in such cases,
derived from that of a gens Tarpeia, some of whom lived in the immediate
neighbourhood, and one of whose women was the heroine of the myth
of Tarpeia which circulated in so many versions.
1 For some discussion of
this question and references to the abundant literature, see Sanders,
Univ. of Michigan Studies, i. I-47; Pais, Anc. Legends 96-108; Storia 12.
430, 538; Rev. Arch. 1908, i. 64-74;
Rosch. v. 111-116.
That Tarpeius mons continued in use to some extent is shown by
an inscription of 259 A.D. (
NS 1892, 407;
CIL vi. 37170: deae Virgini
Caelestis praesentissimo numini loci montis Tarpei), and there seems
to be no doubt that it was sometimes applied to the whole Capitoline
hill, but, like Capitolinus, that it was also used of the southern summit
alone.
Rupes Tarpeia is clearly identified by Varro (LL, v. 41) with saxum
Tarpeium, but nowhere in extant Latin literature is this name found in
connection with the execution of criminals. In several passages it is
closely connected with the cult of Jupiter (Sil.
Ital. iii. 623;
x. 360;
Prop. iv. I. 7; Claud. 28. 45; Firm. Mat. math. i. 10. 17), once with the
temple of Saturn (
Lucan iii. 154), once it occurs with no topographical
indication (
Liv. vi. 17. 4), while Tacitus (
Hist. iii. 71) connects it with
the centum gradus, of which nothing further is known. The equivalent
of rupes in Greek seems to be
κρημνός (
Dionys. vii. 35. 4;
viii. 78, 5), or
πέτρα (Plut. Rom. 18).
There has been much divergence of opinion as to the position of this
saxum from which criminals were thrown, but the unequivocal statement
that it overhung the forum (
Dionys. vii. 35. 4;
viii. 78. 5), and that
executions could be seen by all the people assembled there, together with
the close connection between rupes Tarpeia and the temple of Jupiter,
point clearly to the cliffs at the south-west corner of the hill, over the
ancient vicus Iugarius and the modern Piazza della Consolazione.
2 A
recent attempt to locate the saxum on the arx (Pais, Anc. Legends
109-127) is unsuccessful, and takes no account of Suetonius (Iul. 44),
where Tarpeius mons at any rate could not possibly mean the arx overlooking the forum. For further discussion and literature, see
Jord. i. 2.
127-131, and
CAPITOLINUS MONS.
