The Lacus Curtius

You have to remember that the dry floor of the forum which nowadays is well drained was not so in antiquity. Ovid mentions a woman walking along the Via Nova in bare feet during the festival of Vesta, in a ritual dating back to a time when the whole area was marshy.

The Lacus Curtius itself was marshy right up to the reign of Augustus.

Its name is attributed to 3 separate legends which are briefly detailed below.

1 Following the abduction of the Sabine women, the Sabines took possession of the Citadel. The Roman forces gathered in the space between the Capitoline and Palantine Hills. The Sabines, led by a knight called Mettius Curtius, advanced down from the Citadel and forced the Romans back towards the Old Palantine Gate. At the spot where the temple of Jupiter Stator was later built, Romulus dedicated the site, if the Romans would turn and fight. This they did and the Sabines were forced back. Curtius retreated and his horse jumped into the swamp. Curtius struggled out, battle was rejoined, but the Romans were heading for victory when the women interceded pointing out that if the battle continued their sons would have no fathers ot grandfathers. The Romans and Sabines united into a single state under the two kings Romulus and Titus Tatius. The lake was called the Lacus Curtius as recognition of Mettius Curtis' valour.

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2 In 362 BC there was an earthquake or upheaval in the forum which opened up a vast chasm. The Roman people tried filling it by throwing in earth, but that didn't work. The soothsayers declared that "the chief strength of the Roman people ..... must be offered up to the place if they wanted the Republic to endure. Marcus Curtius, a Roman knight, rebuked those who had doubted that Rome had any greater asset than her arms and valour". He then devoted himself to death, mouted a horse, and jumped into the chasm.

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3 In 445 BC Gaius Curtius was consul. He is said by Varro to have consecrated the area after it was struck by lightning. He was also notable for his fight against the intermarriage of plebeians and patricians. and also for the way he incorrectly sited the tent on the Capitoline hill from which the signs from heaven were watched for, thereby invalidating the election of military tribunes with consular powers (he was against the measure incidently).

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The picture on the right shows a small structure close to the Lacus Curtius. It could either be a well head, or more probably a shrine.	probwellbacklc.jpg	lc2.jpg