Tarpeian Rock

[Gladius Hispaniensis]

Ave

I was reading up on the Tarpeian Rock and the source in Wiki says it was used as a place of execution in Republican times. I'm assuming that means its use was discontinued after the Principate. Is that correct, and if so is there a reason it was discontinued? Thanks in advance.

[D B Campbell]

I'm assuming that means its use was discontinued after the Principate.

Tiberius was still using it. Sejanus was thrown from here.

[MARCvSVIBIvSMAvRINvS]

High enough me thinks

M.VIB.M.

[S. Marcer]

Tacitus, Annales, Liber VI (32-37 C.E. Tiberius)

[6.19] Post quos Sex. Marius Hispaniarum ditissimus defertur incestasse filiam et saxo Tarpeio deicitur. ac ne dubium haberetur magnitudinem pecuniae malo vertisse, aurariasque eius, quamquam publicarentur, sibimet Tiberius seposuit. inritatusque suppliciis cunctos qui carcere attinebantur accusati societatis cum Seiano necari iubet [...]

Sextus Marius, the richest man in Spain, was next accused of incest with his daughter, and thrown headlong from the Tarpeian rock. To remove any doubt that the vastness of his wealth had proved the man's ruin, Tiberius kept his gold-mines for himself, though they were forfeited to the State. Executions were now a stimulus to his fury, and he ordered the death of all who were lying in prison under accusation of complicity with Sejanus [...]

[Nathan Ross]

Sejanus was thrown from here.

Wasn't he thrown down the Gemonian Steps?

Actually, I was wondering a while ago whether the Tarpeian Rock and the Gemonian Steps were more or less the same place... The Tarpeian is usually assumed to be the south-west point of the Capitoline (as shown on this plan from Platner & Ashby) - but the ancient sources don't actually say where it was. There are a couple of notes in Dionysius that the rock 'overlooked the Forum' - but the assumed location doesn't, really; you'd have to be standing on top of a basilica to see it very clearly, I'd say...

The Gemonian steps, on the other hand, are usually assumed to climb up to the Arx from behind the Carcer - and so very much did overlook the Forum. The Steps come into vogue as a place of execution (or display of bodies - criminals were first strangled, I believe) around the same time that the Rock falls out of use. If we suppose instead that the Rock was the southern cliff of the Arx, then the Gemonian steps would have scaled the side of it - a body thrown down the steps would therefore end up in the traditional place at the foot of the Rock, there to be mauled by dogs, exposed to the insults of the rude populace, etc.

I also wondered how people might have been killed at the Tarpeian - died from the fall, we would assume. But even at the height of the current exposed summit, the fall would not be certainly fatal. And throwing a live - and presumably desperate and struggling - person from a high rock would be rather difficult, I'd think. Might the malefactor have been strangled on top of the rock, and then the corpse flung down? This was the routine later on the Gemonian steps, and secret strangulation was the method in the Carcer. The ignominy would therefore lie in the public nature of the death, rather than the spectacular fall... :eek:

[Alexand96]

I also wondered how people might have been killed at the Tarpeian - died from the fall, we would assume. But even at the height of the current exposed summit, the fall would not be certainly fatal. And throwing a live - and presumably desperate and struggling - person from a high rock would be rather difficult, I'd think. Might the malefactor have been strangled on top of the rock, and then the corpse flung down? This was the routine later on the Gemonian steps, and secret strangulation was the method in the Carcer. The ignominy would therefore lie in the public nature of the death, rather than the spectacular fall...

For some reason, I feel like they couldn't care less if you survived the fall, only to flap around in a bloody mess on the ground until someone could come and finish the job.

We are talking about the Romans here - greatest showmen executioners in human history. :?

[MARCvSVIBIvSMAvRINvS]

At least a lot quicker than being sown into a sack with a dog, an ape, a snake and a rooster.... projectio in profluentem

M.VIB.M.

[Nathan Ross]

At least a lot quicker than being sown into a sack with a dog, an ape, a snake and a rooster.... projectio in profluentem

Well that is true... the ape in particular would present a number of practical challenges :wink: