Lapis Niger

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Drawing of the excavated Lapis Niger, by Christian Hülsen, 1906

The Lapis Niger (trans. Black Stone) is an ancient Roman shrine in Rome, Italy. Mentioned in many ancient descriptions of the Roman Forum dating from the Roman Republic and the early days of the Roman Empire, the shrine lies between the forum and the Comitium. The shrine was lost underground due to a combination of overbuilding during the era of the Roman Empire and the chaos of Rome's fall. The Lapis Niger was rediscovered in the early 20th century by Italian archaeologist Giacomo Boni. It is the site of the oldest known Latin inscription.

The site dates back to either the Monarchy of Rome, as the inscription refers to a king (rex), or to the early Roman Republic, as the same inscription might be in reference to the rex sacrorum, an early Republic high religious official. At some point, the Romans forgot the original significance of the shrine. This led to several conflicting origin stories for the shrine. Romans believed the Lapis Niger marked the grave of the first king of Rome Romulus; the grave of Hostus Hostilius, father of King Tullus Hostilius; or the location where Faustulus, foster father of Romulus, fell in battle.

[edit] Description

Oldest known Latin inscriptions, found in excavations of the Lapis Niger

The Lapis Niger went through two incarnations. The first version was a traditional ancient style shrine, which was torn down and buried under plates of black marble in the first century BC, becoming the second incarnation of the site.

Dedicatory statues found at the Lapis Niger site

The original version of the site consisted of a black marble square stele (the eponymous black stone) inscribed with old Latin inscriptions dedicating the shrine to a rex or king, and leveling grave curses at anyone who dares disturb the shrine; and an altar, of which only the base still survives. In front of the altar are two bases. The antiquarian Verrius Flaccus (whose work is preserved only in the epitome of Pompeius Festus), a contemporary of Augustus, described a statue of a resting lion placed on each base, "just as they may be seen today guarding graves".

The inscription on the stele has various interesting features. The lettering is the closest to Greek letters of any known Latin lettering, since it is closer to the original borrowing of the Greek alphabet by peoples of Italy from Greek colonies such as Cumae. Also, the inscription is written boustrophedon, meaning it is written alternating between right to left and left to right. Many of the oldest Latin inscriptions are written in this style.

Archaeological excavations show that various dedicatory items from vase fragments, statues and pieces of animal sacrifices, are found around at the site in a layer of deliberately placed gravel. All these artifacts date from very ancient Rome, between the fifth and seventh century.

The second version, placed when the first version was demolished in the first century BC to make way for further development in the forum, is a far simpler shrine. A pavement of black marble was laid over the original site, and was surrounded by a short white wall. The new shrine lay just beside the Rostra, the senatorial speaking platform.