VOLCANAL
the cult-centre of Vulcan at the foot of the Capitoline at the
north-west corner of the forum, consisting of an uncovered altar of the
god, ascribed by tradition to Titus Tatius (
Dionys. ii. 50. 3;
Varro
v. 74; cf. Fest. 238), and the space, probably enclosed, immediately
around it. The term area Volcani, which was in common use, may have
been synonymous with Volcanal, or perhaps have included some adjacent
ground (
Liv. ix. 46. 6;
xxxix. 46;
xl. 19. 2;
Gell. iv. 5. 4; Fest. 238;
see
GRAECOSTASIS). This area, probably always a locus substructus, was
about 5 metres higher than the comitium (
Gell. iv. 5. 4;
Dionys. ii.
50. 2; Fest. 290), and from it the kings and magistrates of the early
republic, before the rostra was built, addressed the people (
Dionys. ii.
50. 2;
vi. 67. 2;
xi. 39. 1 (
῾Ηφαίστου ἱερόν) ;
vii. 17. 2 (
τὸ ῾Ηφαιστεῖον) ).
On the Volcanal was a statue of Horatius Codes, that had been moved
from the comitium, a locus inferior (
Gell. iv. 5. 4; Auct. de vir. ill. I I. 2 ;
Plut. Popl. 16); a bronze quadriga dedicated to Vulcan, and a statue
of Romulus with a tablet containing a list of his exploits in Greek letters,
both said to have been erected by Romulus (
Dionys. ii. 54. 2); and in
Pliny's time a lotos tree, still growing and said to be as old as the city
(
NH xvi. 236). The Volcanal is mentioned twice in connection with the
prodigium of a shower of blood (
Liv. xxxix. 46;
xl. 19. 2). On 23rd
August, the Volcanalia sacrifice was offered here to Vulcan (Fast. Arv.
ad Kal. Aug., CIL p. i'. 215), as is indicated by the entry in Fast. Ant. ap.
NS 1921, IO9, under this date M[aiae s]upr(a) comi(tium); cf.
Gilb. i.
248-257 for the worship of Maia here; and we are told that live fish were
also brought to the area Volcani to be offered up to the god (Fest. 238).
A pedestal dedicated to Vulcan by Augustus in 9 B.C. has been found
near S. Adriano (
CIL vi. 457), showing that the cult lasted at least down
to the early empire, although the Volcanal must have been diminished in
size by the encroachment of surrounding buildings, and perhaps entirely
covered at last (
Jord. i. 2. 339-341; Gilb. loc. cit.;
Mitt. 1893, 87-88).
Just behind the arch of Severus some early tufa foundations have been
found which probably belonged to the Volcanal, and traces of a sort
of rock platform, 3.95 metres long by 2.80 wide, which had been covered
with cement and painted red. Its upper surface is cut by various
channels, and in front of it are the remains of a drain made of tufa slabs.
This may possibly have been the ara itself. It shows signs of having been
damaged and repaired. In the surface of this rock are cuttings, round
and square, which have some resemblance to graves and are so regarded
by some writers, e.g. Richter,
BRT iv. 15-16, and Von Duhn (Italische
Graberkunde i. 413 sqq.); the latter, in connection with the discoveries of
early cremation tombs in the forum, which he discusses fully, maintains
that the Volcanal was in the earliest days set aside as an area in which
corpses were burnt. The tombs themselves he assigns to the Palatine,
and makes the earliest of them contemporary with the later tombs of the
Alban Hills. See
CR 1902, 94;
BC 1902, 25-26, 125-133;
1903, 159-162;
Mitt. 1902, 10;
1905, 7-9; HC 82-84; HFP 2, 22; Thed. 67-71; DR
229-233; RE
Suppl. iv. 494-495.
