TURRIS MAMILIA
a tower in the Subura on which the inhabitants of that
region, Suburanenses, fastened the tail of the horse which was sacrificed
at the October festival in case they were successful in their annual
contest with the Sacravienses, a contest that dated from the period in
the city's development before that marked by the so-called Servian wall
(Fest. 178; Plut. q.R. 97; Wissowa, Ges. Abh. 248, 249). If another
statement by Fcstus (131:
Mamilia turris intra Suburae regionem a
Mamilio nomen accepit) is true, the construction of this tower is perhaps
to be connected with the settlement of the Mamilii, the principal family
of Tusculum, in this part of the city (cf. the cognomen in C. Mamilius
Turrinus, consul 239 B.C., and the plebeian aedile Q. Mamilius Turrinus
(Liv. xxviii. I) ). The tower was standing in the imperial period
(
CIL vi. 33837:
M. Octavius M. l. Attalus centonar(ius) a turre Mamilia),
but is not mentioned in the Regionary Catalogue (
Gilb. ii. 46-47; HJ
330).
