The ''Vicus Jugarius'' ( la, Vicus Iugarius), or the Street of the Yoke-Makers, was an ancient street leading into the

Roman Forum The Roman Forum, also known by its Latin name Forum Romanum ( it, Foro Romano), is a rectangular forum (plaza) surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient ...

. Claridge, Amanda (2nd edition, 2010),
Rome: An Oxford Archaeological Guide
', Oxford University Press, pg 84. The Vicus Jugarius was very old—perhaps even older than Rome itself. The Latin word ''jugarius'' can mean either "yoke" or "ridge". The Vicus Jugarius entered the Forum from the southwest, along the shoulder of the Capitoline Hill and between the Temple of Saturn and the Basilica Julia near Servilius’ Pool. The Arch of Tiberius (now vanished) was built for the street to pass through here. Its other end, in the southern Campus Martius, was near the Forum Holitorium. This was the extent of the street in late Republican and Imperial times, but in former days, it was much longer, extending as far as the Quirinal Hill and representing a part of the original trade route to the Tiber River. Its ancient name may actually have originally signified a “high-road’, rather than the later sense of “yoke”; something like "the Road along the apitolineRidge". A spot on the road known as the ''Equimaelium'' perhaps recorded the leveling of the home of Spurius Maelius.

Etymology

Latin words associated with ''jugarius'' include ''jugalis'' ("yoked together") and ''jugo'' ("to marry" or "join"). Some words deriving from this Latin root are (in English): "yoke", "join", "juncture", "conjugal" and even "yoga" (from the Sanskrit root ''yuj'', meaning "to yoke" or "to unite"). ''Juga'', or ''Jugalis'', is an epithet of the goddess Juno in her aspect as marriage goddess (she was believed to join a couple in matrimony). As ''Juno Juga''—Juno of the Yoke of Holy Matrimony—she had an altar on the Vicus Jugarius (exact location unknown). Although it was believed by the ancients that this gave its name to the street, in reality, it was probably the other way around.

References

Tuscus Roman Forum Rome R. X Campitelli {{Italy-road-stub

Etymology

See also

References