the Lapis Niger bout halfway the Curia and the Rostra, across the
middle passage of the arch of Septimius Severus, you can admire the most
mysterious remnant of the Roman Forum, the 'lapis niger' or 'black stone'.
The lapis niger was discovered in 1899. For the first time the black
marble floor came out. Underneath a tuff cone was found and the bottom
part of a square pillar. Ever since antiquity it has been a puzzle what
this place should stand for. What might have been the meaning of the tuff
cone? People generally assumed this was the place where the grave of
Romulus, the founder of Rome, had to be located. However, nothing suggests
that it used to be a grave. Of course the tuff cone could represent a
memorial stone, but the pillar seems to exclude this possibility. This
square pillar shows a text, which, according to the latest tentative
research, doesn't seem to have anything to do with a funeral. Scholars
don't want to commit themselves because unriddling the entire text turns
out to be very hard. The first and the last sentence have disintegrated
and disappeared. It is certain that this pillar contains the oldest known
Latin text. It is also the style of writing that supports this idea. The
way they are done reminds of a bullock ploughing a field from right to
left and left to right. The lines run 'boustrofedon', a Greek word that
means 'winding like a bullock'.
|