?p466?
Scalae Gemoniae
Article on p466 of
Samuel Ball Platner (as completed and revised by Thomas Ashby):
A?Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome
,
London: Oxford University Press, 1929.
Scalae Gemoniae
:
a flight of steps leading up to the Capitoline past the
carcer
, on which the bodies of certain criminals, who had been executed, were thrown and left exposed for a time ? a?frequent practice during the empire. They are often mentioned, first under Tiberius, and are called
scalae Gemoniae
(Val.?Max.?
VI
.
3.3
,
9.13
; Aur.?Vict.?
8.6
,
33.31
;
Ep.?8.4
;
Oros.
VII
.8.8
),
Gemoniae
(Suet.
Tib.
53
,
61
,
75
;
Vit.?17
; Tac.?
Ann.
III
.14
;
VI
.
4
,
31
; Hist.
III
.
74
,
85
;
Sid. Apoll.
I
.7.12
),
?ναβασμο?
(Cass.?Dio?
LVIII
.
1
,
5
,
11
;
LXV
.21
),
gradus gemitorii
(Plin.
NH
VIII
.145)
, and as
gradus Gemonii
(Tert. adv.?Val.?36)
. Only two of these passages give any topographical information (
Val.?Max.?
VI
.9.13
;
Cass.?Dio?
LVIII
.5
), but that does not determine the course of these steps with precision. It is probable, however, that it coincided approximately with the present
Via?di?S.?Pietro in carcere
(
HF
IV
; Gilb.?
I
.327; iii.164; Jord.?
I
.2.324?325; Richter, Hermes 1883,?125; Top.?119;
RE
VII
.1115?1116;
Rodocanachi, Le?Capitole?17
). It is possible that the
Gradus Monetae
(q.v.)
, mentioned by Ovid
(Fast.?
I
.638)
, may have connected in some way with these steps.
Gemoniae
was undoubtedly connected in the popular mind with
gemo
, 'I?groan' (
cf.
Gradus Gemitorii
;
Tert.
loc.?cit.
) but incorrectly. It is rather derived from the proper name
Gemonius
(Schulze, Zur Gesch. latein. Eigennamen 108 and add.), but the reason for its use is unknown.