A Podcast about Rome. Part 2: The Lapis Niger and the Heart of Government

Welcome to Part 2 of my podcast which seeks to follow a thread of Rome’s history through individual buildings, works of art, and artefacts.

The Roman Forum seen from the Palatine Hill on 16 February 2022. The Lapis Niger, and the sacred area it marks, is under the low, modern protective shelter with the sloping roof which has been in place for perhaps a decade so far. In this photograph it is visible beyond the three columns of the temple of Castor and Pollux and in front of the Arch of Septimius Severus. The tall brick Curia building is to the right of the area marked by the Lapis Niger.

Last month in Episode 1 I spoke of the Temple of Hercules Victor in the Forum Boarium. I spoke of a temple built around the time of the birth of Julius Caesar but rooted in the profound Roman belief in some of the most ancient legends concerning the origins of the city. That eminently solid temple is built upon those quicksands of legend, and so it is with our subject today: the Lapis Niger, the “black stone”.

A fragment of the “black stone” with which this area of the Forum was paved to emphasise its importance. From the excellent exhibition “Giacomo Boni: l’alba della modernità” courtesy of Parco Archeologico del Colosseo.

It marks a place of very ancient religious significance. That which lies beneath sees our story begin to emerge from the hazy realm of legend into the nuts and bolts of history in a sacred space which is home to (possibly) the oldest Latin inscription in existence.

A photograph of part of the sacred area beneath the Lapis Niger in the Roman Forum. Image from the exhibition “Giacomo Boni: l’alba della modernità” courtesy of Parco Archeologico del Colosseo.

Buon ascolto, let me know what you think!

A cast of the 6th c BCE cippus found below the Lapis Niger in excavations which began on 10 January 1903. Here shown surrounded by votive offerings found at the site in the current exhibition at the Parco Archeologico del Colosseo. February 2022. The cast is usually found at the Museo Nazionale Romano: Terme di Diocleziano