Il Lago di Curzio: il primo sinkhole nelle antiche rappresentazioni artistiche
Author(s)
Nisio Stefania
Date Issued
2021
Type
article
Volume
108/2021
Start Page
275
End Page
288
Abstract
The Lacus Curtius is an ancient site of the Roman Forum located near the source of Juturna. In the historical sources, there are various versions of its origin (a pound, a place struck by lightning, a chasm in the ground), presumably linked to the superimposition or convergence of several events on the same site that has acquired and maintained a great importance from archaic Rome to the imperial era. His name is currently linked above all to the myth of Marcus Curtius. According to this legend, at the beginning of the royal period, a chasm opened in the center of the valley of the Forum from which sulphurous water and foul-smelling gas emerged. The chasm, the soothsayers said, could only be closed by the sacrifice of that “quo plurimum populus Romanus posset.” Believing that the most precious thing that the Romans possessed was the courage of their warriors, a young man named Marcus Curtius jumped into the opening with all the horse and armour, and immediately it closed. The myth probably tells of a natural event that happened, connected to the geo-hydrogeological context of the area of the historic centre of Rome, a rapid sinking of the ground. The sinkhole rapidly evolved into a small lake due to the rising of gas and mineralized water from the depths; it, like many other analogous phenomena, had a short life and was filled. Over the centuries, the original morphology of the area has been completely changed. The valley of the Forum was reclaimed with a series of hydraulic works, partly associated with the construction of the Cloaca Maxima, but also with the creation of embankments to stabilize the slopes and raise the ground to protect it from the floods of the Tiber. A thick blanket of landfill now covers the lacus. However, the site must have been of great importance for the Romans, who wanted to maintain evidence of it through the works that led to the creation of the Forum and its subsequent renovations. The central part of the area was monumentalized with the construction of a well surrounded by an enclosure of tuff blocks (puteal), subsequently paved with travertine slabs and probably enclosed by a marble balustrade. It currently remains only a depression in the ground with an irregularly trapezoidal shape, paved with partially removed travertine blocks under which the previous floors can be observed. Today the Lagus Curtius myth represents the description of the first natural sinkhole that occurred in Rome
Subjects