2 CARCER TULLIANUM 3 the ancient sources, such as Pliny [Plin, Nat. Hist .VII, 212], who de- scribe him west of the Curia and close to Temple of Concordia. What remains today of the entire complex is the smallest part, per- haps the most internal one, while the rest of the construction is no longer visible. The excavations carried out at the end of the XX century, performed by the Soprintendenza of Rome, have allowed us to investigate FIGURE 1: PART OF THE ROMAN FO- more deeply the complex and to RUM WITH THE EVIDENCE OF THE add new archaeological data. POSITION OF CARCER (COARELLI) Among the new findings, we re- port the discovery of sections of The complex is located, going walls (in square work) belonging from the Roman Forum to the left to the defensive circuit of the Ser- of the road leading to the Clivius vian Wall, that was erected during Argentarius , just after the stairs the king age and was restored that led Gemoniae all'Arx (Figure and enlarged after 390 B.C., the 1 No.4); this area was part of the year in which the Gauls sacked Comitium , a sector in which was and burned Rome. The finding on concentrated the administrative this side of the Capitoline hill, and judicial work, as also reminds which is an indication that the us Vitruvius in De Architectura acropolis was also equipped with "Aerarium, carcer, curia hole coni- own walls, identified below the ungenda sunt, sed ita uti magni- first royal walls, with remains of tude symmetriae hole responde- red tuff and Capitol tuff, dating ant eorum " [Vitr. De Arc. V-1, 2) perhaps at proto-archaic age (VIII Today the complex is visible be- -VII century B.C.). low the church of St. Joseph of The complex consists of four the Carpenters and is the only overlapping circles [Figure 2]: the building, together with the Curia, church, the chapel of the crucifix who remained of the ancient com- and the two structures under- plex political and judiciary; the ground: the carcer (No.3) and the identification is certain, thanks to Tullianum (No.4). 4 Tullianum The Tullianum is a room shaped in three-quarters of a circle, made in a square blocks of lava stone. The stairway, descending from Carcer , was opened in modern times, in part by cutting the curved wall, built in square blocks arranged in rows that shrink pro- gressively upwards; the changes, that took place, are related to the presence on the southwest side of the altar dedicated in 1842 to the Apostles Peter and Paul, while the floor, made of bricks arranged in a herringbone pattern, jut out the ring of the well that collect the water of the spring. On the other hand, the NW coverage, once a low arch is formed by irregular blocks and fragments of tuff, sticked together with iron clamps and interspersed with bricks; the FIGURE 2: SECTION OF THE COM- PLEX, 1. CHURCH OF S. JOSEPH OF circular opening constitutes the THE CARPENTERS , 2. CHAPEL OF SS. point of connection with the over- CRUCIFIED, 3. CARCER, 4. TULLIANUM lying Carcer . It is to be noted a (FROM THE SITE OF SOPRINTENDEN- layer of various materials bonded ZA OF ROME). with mortar of different thickness, that stands over the cover on the tences of prisoners; we remember curved wall, a sign that the two Erennio Siculus, friend of Gaius structures were built at different Gracchus in 123 B.C., Jugurtha, times. King of Numidia in 104 B.C., Len- The Tullianum is mentioned by tulus and Cetego , companions of many ancient authors such as Catiline in 60 B.C. and Vercinget- Livy, Sallust and Calpurnius Flac- orix, King of the Gauls in 46 B.C. cus , who pointed out not only the The building is attributed to Anco location, but also the fact that it Marcio with subsequent renova- was the place of the death sen- tions by Servius Tullius and the 5 ancient sources, that lead to con- not exist in the Roman world); or firm these hypotheses, are both in as a circular tank uncovered to Livy [ Ab Urbe Condita "I, 33" ... protect a spring (Tullus) which within a population so large, came probably came out from a fountain difficult to distinguish good from on the external side towards the evil, and as a result of the prolifer- Forum, similar to Greek o in the ation of crime in the shadows. So archaic period. to deter the increasing lawless- Confirming this archaic function ness, a prison was built in the city are primarily the permanence of center, close to the Forum. "] And spring inside the structure, even Varro [" De Latin Language ", when there was a change of use, Book V, XXXII, 11" (Then there is) which establishes a kind of sa- the Arx, which is the most defen- credness attached to it, and sec- sible place in the city and where ondly, the presence of a drainage they can be easily spotted ene- ditch that drained the water in the mies. The prison is located under- nearby Cloaca Maxima. On the ground and has a place where function of the tank had already you can not get out, the Tullia- talked Borsari at the end of the num, the most interior part, which XIX century. was added by King Servius Tul- Coarelli although emphasizes an lius. “]. immediate function of prison, The function of this room was dif- while other archaeologist, basing ferently interpreted over time, as a on the fact that they have not "jail" for the death sentences it is found significant traces of lime- spoken widely in the ancient stone on the walls of the duct, sources (you must remember that leading to suppose that instead of the imprisonment sentences did a cistern, the original use of the room was an archaic tomb dome, but this is not supported by some source history. Carcer The Carcer , at the current state of the investigation, consists of two adjacent rooms placed on two different levels: the room FIGURE 3: CHANNEL FOR DREINAGE trapezoidal (commonly identified FROM TULLIANUM as the real Carcer ) and the com- 6 The dating is not secure, accord- ing to the Coarelli, however indi- cates that as to be fixed between 39 and 42 B.C. while Hulsen de- fines it as due to the consuls that "had the power under the reign of Tiberius or Caligula (between 20 and 40 A.D.)”, leading to a period broadly consistent with the sec- FIGURE 4: SECTION OF THE CARCER IN ond quarter of the I century. A.D. NORTH-SOUTH DIRECT ION, FACING The facade looks like a massive WEST. wall of ashlar blocks of travertine, placed in front of another wall of partment adjacent to the North limestone blocks of Grotta Oscura front, a rectangular, long and nar- and visible from the inside of row room. Carcer . Outside is longer than the The trapezoidal room has at least inside and also on the right side three construction phases, two of continues up to and including the which fit into a republican age; at room adjacent to the Carcer , a first stage should be reported found in recent excavations. On the SW corner of the south wall this there was the gateway of Ro- while the west wall, together with man times while the current entry the northern one and the cover- is the modern era (it was, howev- age, can be attributed to a second er, already present in 1589 when, phase. The front in travertine to give more light inside, was de- blocks was istead built in the early cided to raise and widen the imperial age, but it remains un- door). clear if the wall where there is the On the side facing the south wall current entrance is referable to is characterized by the oblique the first or second phase. detectable, especially in the first section; on the floor, covered with The inscription over the entrance slabs of modern lava stone, is reads: visible the manhole placed in the vault of the underlying Tullianum . C. VIBIUS C. F. RUFINUS, M. In the south wall is evident the COCCEIUS M. F. NERVA COS. point where the cover leaning on EX S(ENATUS) C(ONSULTO) a wall section that was pre-exist; a staircase leads to the lower lev- el and cut the Tullianum , while in 7 FIGURE 5: PROSPECTUS OF THE SIDE WALL, EAST-WEST SIDE, AND ROOM ADJACENT TO CARCER . the past, the only opening to the is believed to be connected with room below was formed by the the Carcer and has walls in circular hole in the center of the square work of Monteverde tuff or floor; is however to be remem- dell’Aniene tuff, with blocks from bered as this is not the original, slightly dimpled surface. but that was probably built during The north wall border on a wall an ancient restoration. structure of considerable thick- Coarelli points out that along the ness, already identified during the slopes of the Capitol hill the excavations of the 40s of the XX Carcer had to be linked to other century, with the defensive circuit/ rooms, known by the name of construction of the Capitol. It has Lautumiae , because was settled emerged also that the remains of in the ancient quarries of tuff; the a furnace with the brick floor and Hulsen, at the beginning of ‘XX walls in flakes of gray tuff bound century had noted the presence of with mortar and subsequently in- “… other rooms adjoining it is cer- corporated between the structures tain the existence, but none is yet of the convent behind the struc- available." ture.