The pomerium or pomoerium was a religious boundary around the city of
Rome and cities controlled by Rome. In legal terms, Rome existed only within its pomerium; everything beyond it was simply territory (ager) belonging to Rome.
Etymology
The term pōmērium is a
classicalcontraction of the
Latin phrase post moerium (
lit.'behind/beyond the wall'). The Roman historian
Livy writes in his Ab Urbe Condita that, although the etymology implies a meaning referring to a single side of the wall, the pomerium was originally an area of ground on both sides of city walls. He states that it was an
Etruscan tradition to consecrate this area by
augury and that it was technically unlawful to inhabit or to farm the area of the pomerium, which in part had the purpose of preventing buildings from being erected close to the wall (although he writes that, in his time, houses were in fact built against the wall on the line).[1] Other writers suggest a derivation from prō moerium, "against the wall".[2][3]
Location and extensions
Tradition maintained that the pomerium was the original line
ritually ploughed by
Romulus around the walls of the
original city and that it was expanded by
Servius Tullius. The legendary date of its demarcation, 21 April, continued to be celebrated as the anniversary of the city's founding.[4]
The pomerium did not follow the line of the
Servian walls, and remained unchanged until the
dictatorLucius Cornelius Sulla, in a demonstration of his absolute power, expanded it in 80 BC. Several white marker stones (known as "
cippi") commissioned by
Claudius have been found in situ and several have been found away from their original location. These stones mark the boundaries and relative dimensions of the pomerium extension by Claudius. This extension is recorded in
Tacitus and outlined by
Aulus Gellius.[5] The latest pomerial stone from the reign of Claudius was discovered on 17 June 2021 in the vicinity of the
Mausoleum of Augustus.[6]
The pomerium was not a walled area, but rather a legally and religiously defined one marked by
cippi. It encompassed neither the entire metropolitan area nor even all the Seven Hills (the
Palatine Hill was within the pomerium, but the
Capitoline and
Aventine Hills were not). The
Curia Hostilia and the well of the
Comitium in the
Forum Romanum, two extremely important locations in the government of the
city-state and its empire, were located within the pomerium, while the
Temple of Bellona was beyond the pomerium.
Associated restrictions
Pomerium represented a sacred boundary. According to
Livy, violating the pomerium was akin to stretching the human body too far.[7]
The
magistrates who held imperium did not have full power inside the pomerium. They could have a citizen beaten, but not sentenced to death. This was symbolised by removing the axes from the
fasces carried by the magistrate's
lictors.[8] Only a dictator's lictors could carry fasces containing axes inside the pomerium.
It was forbidden to bury the dead inside the pomerium. During his life,
Julius Caesar received in advance the right to a tomb inside the pomerium, but his ashes were actually placed in his family tomb.[9] However,
Trajan's ashes were interred after his death in AD 117 at the foot of his
Column,[10] which was within the pomerium.[9]
Provincial
promagistrates and generals were forbidden from entering the pomerium, and resigned their imperium immediately upon crossing it (as it was the superlative form of the ban on armies entering Italy). Ceremonies of
triumph, in which an army would march through the city in celebration of a victory, were an exception to this rule, although a general could only enter the city on the very day of his triumph, and would be required to wait outside the pomerium with his troops until that moment.[9] Under the Republic, soldiers also lost their status when entering, becoming citizens: thus soldiers at their general's triumph wore civilian dress. The Comitia Centuriata, one of the
Roman assemblies, consisting of
centuriae (voting units, but originally military formations within the legions), was required to meet on the
Campus Martius outside the pomerium. Similarly to the triumph the Roman
ovation also allowed a general to cross the pomerium without losing rank, but generally he could not bring his soldiers and had to enter on foot rather than on a chariot led by white horses
The
Theatre of Pompey, where Julius Caesar was murdered, was outside the pomerium and included a chamber where the Senate could meet allowing the attendance of any senators who were forbidden to cross the pomerium and thus would not have been able to meet in the
Curia Hostilia.
Weapons were prohibited inside the pomerium.
Praetorian Guards were allowed in only in civilian dress (toga), and were then called collectively cohors togata. But it was possible to sneak in daggers (the proverbial weapon for political violence; see sicarius). Since Julius Caesar's assassination occurred outside this boundary, the senatorial conspirators could not be charged with sacrilege for carrying weapons inside the sacred city.