Above: King Numa founding the Vestal Virgins as depicted by Cavalier d’Arpino in the Capitoline Museums at the end of the sixteenth century.
Last week an article in the Corriere della Sera, written by Paolo Brogi, announced the discovery in Rome of a sanctuary dating all the way back to the city’s monarchical period.
Students of Roman myth and history will remember that Romulus, who founded the city in 753 BC, became the first king and ruled Rome until a dramatic apotheosis took him up into the heavens and made him a god.
After the unusual disappearance of Romulus, the Romans had difficulty selecting a successor to the throne, but they at last settled on a wise man named Numa, who is said by ancient sources to have ruled from 715 BC - 673 BC and to have created most of ancient Rome’s religious institutions.
Now, a team of archaeologists led by Clementina Panella and Sabina Zeggio claim to have discovered a religious sanctuary on the northeast slope of the Palatine Hill - adjacent to the Via Sacra - that dates to the period of Numa’s rule. Found some seven meters below current ground level, the remains of the sanctuary uncovered thus far include a perimeter wall, a paved area, and two pits filled with votive deposits comprising bird bones, ceramics, and cult objects, some of which date back to the late 8th century BC.
Interpreting this fortuitous find, Panella and Zeggio suggest that the sanctuary was dedicated to a goddess - probably Fortuna - and they note that this is first sanctuary in Rome that can be attributed to the time of Numa, the king traditionally believed to have implemented a large number of the cults and religious practices honored by the ancient Romans.
Interested? Want to learn more about Rome’s early history? For the ancient point of view, read Book 1 of Livy’s The Early History of Rome. Those same stories (and more) are retold in Jane Gardner’s Roman Myths. And for new and controversial ideas about the Kings of Rome, see T.J. Cornell, The Beginnings of Rome. Italy from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars.
