The Argiletum (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''Argīlētum''; ) was a street in

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

, which crossed the popular district of

Suburra The Suburra, or ''Subura'' (from the latin ''Subura'') was a vast and populous neighborhood of Ancient Rome, located below the '' Murus Terreus'' on the '' Carinae'' and stretching on the slopes of the Quirinal and Viminal hills up to the offs ...

up to the

Roman Forum A forum (Latin: ''forum'', "public place outdoors", : ''fora''; English : either ''fora'' or ''forums'') was a public square in a municipium, or any civitas, of Ancient Rome reserved primarily for the vending of goods; i.e., a marketplace, alon ...

, along the route of the current Via Leonina and Via della Madonna dei Monti. On its eastern side, towards the

Esquiline Hill The Esquiline Hill (; ; ) is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. Its southernmost cusp is the ''Oppius'' ( Oppian Hill). Etymology The origin of the name ''Esquiline'' is still under much debate. One view is that the hill was named after the ...

, it branched off into the Vicus Patricius (now Via Urbana), which continued towards Porta Viminale, and the Clivus Suburanus (now Via in Selci), which climbed up to

Porta Esquilina The Porta Esquilina (or Esquiline Gate) was a gate in the Servian Wall,Platner, S.B. and Ashby, T. ''A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome''. London: Humphrey Milford Oxford University, Press. 1929 of which the Arch of Gallienus is extant t ...

. On the western side, towards the Forum, it ended between the Basilica Aemilia and the

Curia Curia (: curiae) in ancient Rome referred to one of the original groupings of the citizenry, eventually numbering 30, and later every Roman citizen was presumed to belong to one. While they originally probably had wider powers, they came to meet ...

, but during the imperial age the first stretch was replaced by the

Forum of Nerva Forum of Nerva (; ) is an ancient structure in Rome, Italy, chronologically the next to the last of the Imperial fora built. Forum of Nerva (Forum Transitorium) The Imperial fora within the city of Rome have, in recent decades, become again a ...

, which however maintained a function of passageway and for this reason was also known as Forum Transitorium. The name of the street could derive from the

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

(Latin ''Argilla'') carried by the waters that descended from the surrounding hills and then conveyed into the Cloaca Maxima. However,

Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BCE) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Virgil and Cicero). He is sometimes call ...

claimed that the etymology of the term was connected with the name of a Greek scoundrel (see below). The Argiletum was the street of the booksellers and is mentioned by many ancient authors such as

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). Th ...

Martial Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial ; March, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD) was a Roman and Celtiberian poet born in Bilbilis, Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his twelve books of '' Epigrams'', pu ...

and Seneca, who have also handed down the names of their trusted suppliers.

History

As it originally passed between the ''

Comitium The Comitium () was the original open-air public meeting space of Ancient Rome, and had major religious and prophetic significance. The name comes from the Latin word for "assembly". The Comitium location at the northwest corner of the Roman Foru ...

'' and the Basilica Pauli, the Argiletum was eventually absorbed by the construction of the Imperial fora from the time of

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

onwards. Given this encroachment, the limits of the street were defined differently in various periods.

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding i ...

indicates that the Temple of Ianus Geminus was located ''ad infimum Argiletum'' (Liv. 1.19.1). Another of the landmarks excavated in the area was a '' quadrifrons'', which was located at the juncture of the

, the Argiletum and the Forum of Caesar. It is suggested that a second arch or a temple was also constructed somewhere on the Argiletum, possibly close to the Temple of Ianus. Paths that were found in the Alta Semita and the

domus In ancient Rome, the ''domus'' (: ''domūs'', genitive: ''domūs'' or ''domī'') was the type of town house occupied by the upper classes and some wealthy freedmen during the Republican and Imperial eras. It was found in almost all the ma ...

on the

Oppian Oppian (, ; ), also known as Oppian of Anazarbus, of Corycus, or of Cilicia, was a 2nd-century Greco-Roman poet during the reign of the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, who composed the ''Halieutica'', a five-book didactic epic on fishing. ...

and Caelian hills converged onto the Argiletum, making it a principal node of public space particularly during the Flavian rule. By the time of

(died about

AD 103 103 ( CIII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Traianus and Maximus (or, less frequently, year 856 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 103 for this year has ...

), the Argiletum had become a seedy district filled with taverns and brothels. However, this reputation may not reflect the actual status of the residents since the population was constituted by a mix of elite and nonelite, side by side.

Myth

According to the myth, the tomb of a certain Argus was located in the Argiletum.
Evander, son of the god Mercury and of the nymph Carmenta, had settled in Italy with a group of Arcadians from the city of Argos. A certain Argos came to his court, plotting to kill Evander and take possession of his kingdom. Evander's followers discovered his intentions and, without their lord knowing it, killed Argos. However, out of respect for the inviolable rights of hospitality, Evander honored Argos with a magnificent funeral and erected a tomb for him in a place that was later called Argiletum, which means "death of Argos".{{Cite book, author=

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

, title=''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...

'', volume=book VIII

Notes

Roman Forum Roman roads in Italy