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Modern Description: The black stone in the Comitium, says the antiquarian Pompeius Festus (whose work is an abridgment of a larger work by p104 Verrius Flaccus, the contemporary of Augustus, "marks an unlucky spot: according to some it was intended to serve as the grave of Romulus, but this intention was not carried out, and in the place of Romulus his foster-father Faustulus was buried; according to others it was the grave of Hostus Hostilius, the father of the third p105 king Tullus Hostilius". Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who wrote in the time of Augustus, states that "many people think that the stone lion, which is in the noblest place in the Roman Forum, close by the Rostra, was a monument for Faustulus, who was buried on the spot where he fell in battle". The same author repeats in another place the other explanation, namely that "Tullus Hostilius was buried in the noblest place in the Forum, and received a memorial stone (stele) with an inscription which praised his virtues". Finally the old commentators on Horace remark: "most people say [in another passage Varro is mentioned by name] that Romulus was buried close to [in front of or behind] the Rostra, and that this was the reason that the two lions were placed there, just as they may be seen to‑day guarding graves". (penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/Forum_Romanum/_Texts/Huelsen*/2/17.html)
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapis_Niger
Wikidata ID: Q841388
Trismegistos Geo: 2058

Info: ToposText editors

(JBK)

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