The Argiletum (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

''Argīlētum''; it, Argileto) was a street in

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom ...

, which crossed the popular district of Suburra up to 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 ancie ...

, along the route of the current Via Leonina and Via della Madonna dei Monti. On its eastern side, towards the Esquiline Hill, it branched off into the

Vicus Patricius {{Infobox ancient site , name = ''Vicus Patricius'' , native_name = , native_name_lang = , alternate_name = , image = Monti - via Urbana 1010033.JPG , image_size = 300 px , alt = , caption = Th ...

(now Via Urbana), which continued towards Porta Viminale, and the

Clivus Suburanus The Clivus Suburanus was a street in ancient Rome. It was an irregular continuation from the Subura valley, rising between the Oppian Hill and the Cispian Hill as far as the Porta Esquilina on the Servian Wall The Servian Wall ( la, Murus Servii ...

(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 tod ...

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

Curia Curia (Latin plural 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 likely had wider powers, they came ...

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

Forum of Nerva Forum of Nerva ( it, Foro di Nerva; la, Forum Nervae) 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 ...

, 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. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay pa ...

(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 BC) 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 Vergil and Cicero). He is sometimes calle ...

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 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...

Martial Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial ; March, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD) was a Roman poet from Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his twelve books of ''Epigrams'', published in Rome between AD 86 and ...

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

History

As it originally passed between the '' Comitium'' 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 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 a civil war, an ...

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 in ...

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 The Alta Semita ("High Path") was a street in ancient Rome that gave its name to one of the 14 regions of Augustan Rome. The Alta Semita brought traffic into Rome from the salt route ''(Via Salaria)'' that had existed since prehistoric times. The ...

and the

domus In Ancient Rome, the ''domus'' (plural ''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 ( grc, Ὀππιανός, ; la, Oppianus), 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 f ...

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 (link will display the full calendar) 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''). T ...

), 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 In ancient Roman religion and myth, Carmenta was a goddess of childbirth and prophecy, associated with technological innovation as well as the protection of mothers and children and a patron of midwives. She was also said to have invented the ...

, 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 (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...

, title=''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of ...

'', volume=book VIII

Notes

Roman Forum Roman roads in Italy