Campidoglio - 1 - An Ancient Alarm System

The Campidoglio, despite not being the the place of the most ancient Roman settlements, is the most sacred of the Seven Hills of Rome. Home to the temples dedicated to the most revered among the Gods, and the destination of the Triumphs, which saw here the highest point of the celebration, it is also the setting for one of the most famous legends of ancient Rome, one of those who manage merging history and legend with a blurred border, and which is one of those who contributed the most to the building of the Roman national pride.

The occasion was the Gaul invasion of 390 B.C., when the Roman garrison was defeated, and the few citizens who decided not to flee Rome retired atop the sacred hill as their last stand. 


The Romans were resisting well, despite being outnumbered by the enemies, but help was desperately needed: messengers were sent to recall to Rome the Army commander Marcus Furius Camillus. The general was temporarily exiled in the coast town of Ardea, due to his anti-democratic political positions, but promptly organized forces to go to the rescue of his compatriots. The messenger, however was followed by the Gauls on his was back to the Campidoglio, thus revealing a way to break into the Roman fortifications. Armed with this piece of intelligence, The Gauls made their attempt at night, while the defending Romans were sleeping, feeling safe on top of the hill, catching them unprepared for the defense. 


Here the Romans' devotion to the Gods paid off: the Geese who lived in Juno's temple, and who were spared despite the food shortage as they were sacred to the Goddess, started making so much noise that they woke up the defenders. The Romans, led by the former Consul Marcus Manlius, managed to hold on until the arrive of the Army from Ardea. For his bravery, Marcus Manlius acquired the prestigious "Cognomen" of Capitolinus. Here the legend merges with that of Furius Camillus vs. the Brennus the Gaul, to which I will dedicate a new post soon. Stay tuned! :)

Isola Tiberina - 1 - The Legend of Rome's Island

The Tiber only has one island in the urban section of its course: it's a small accumulation of alluvional sediments, and despite being far smaller than the similar one on the river Seine in Paris, it's still  packed with story, legends, mysteries and interesting aspects. This first post is about its legendary origin.

The legend about the origin of the island, called in Latin Insula Tiberina or Insula Tiberis (Tiber's Island), dates back to the 6th Century B.C.: Historical records of the uprising of the Roman people against the last of the Seven Kings, the Etruscan Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquinius the Proud) have it that the people, angried by the heavy taxes imposed by the King, dumped the wheat havested in the Campus Martius (of Royal property) in the river, and that this impressive mass of grain and hay formed the inital core of the island. 


This event, dating back to the year 510 B.C. is clearly legendary, but it's mostly probable that, in the last year of the Roman Monarchy (the Roman Republic was founded the following year, 509 B.C.) many actions of this kind took place in Rome as sign of rebellion against the King, who symbolized the domination of a foreign population and culture: the Etruscan one, more ancient and with extremely interesting and mysterious aspects, which filled the center of the Italian peninsula with beautiful tombs, marvelous golden artifacts, and refined structures such as temples, aqueducts and sewers.