 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 Roman Empire was a phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by an autocratic form of government. ...
City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) coordinates: 41°54′N 12°29′E Time Zone: UTC+1 Administration Subdivisions 19 municipi Province Rome Region Latium Mayor Walter Veltroni ( The Union ) Characteristics Area 1,285 km² Population 2,547,677 (2005 estimate) Density 1983...
Roman Forum with Palatine Hill in the background. ...
See also Roman Republic (18th century) and Roman Republic (19th century). ...
The Roman Empire was a phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by an autocratic form of government. ...
(19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the...
Archaeology, archeology, or archæology (from the Greek words αÏχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech/discourse) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ...
Giacomo Boni (b. ...
Latin is an ancient Indo-European language. ...
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. Romulus may refer to any of these articles: Romulus is a mythical founder of Rome, brother of Remus. ...
Domus Tullus Hostilius (r. ...
In Roman mythology, Faustulus was the shepherd who found the infants Romulus and Remus, who were being suckled by a she-wolf, known as Lupa, on the Palatine Hill. ...
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. (2nd century BC - 1st century BC - 1st century - other centuries) The 1st century BC starts on January 1, 100 BC and ends on December 31, 1 BC. An alternative name for this century is the last century BC. (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium AD) Events The Roman...
 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". Ancient Egyptian funerary stele Suenos Stone in Forres Scotland A stele (or stela) is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected for funerary or commemorative purposes, most usually decorated with the names and titles of the deceased or living—inscribed, carved in relief (bas...
Marcus Verrius Flaccus (c. ...
Augustus (Latin: IMPERATOR CAESAR DIVI FILIVS AVGVSTVS;[1] September 23, 63 BC – August 19, AD 14), known as Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (in English Octavian) for the period of his life prior to 27 BC, was the first and among the most important of the Roman Emperors. ...
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. Technical note: Due to technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ...
Cumae (Cuma, in Italian) is an ancient Greek settlement lying to the northwest of Naples in the Italian region of Campania. ...
Boustrophedon is an ancient way of writing manuscripts and other inscriptions in which, rather than going from left to right as in modern English, or right to left as in Arabic, alternate lines must be read in opposite directions. ...
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. The base of the column dedicated in 303, during the visit of emperor Diocletian in Rome, in occasion of the ten years of the institution of the Tetrarchy. ...
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