Auguraculum (Arx)

The Auguraculum was a spot located on the *Arx, in arce (Cic., Off. 3.66; Livy 1.18.6; Val. Max. 8.2.1; Varro, Ling. 7.8) from which the augurs observed the flight of birds. Using Varro’s description of the Auguraculum as a consecrated space marked on the ground (Ling. 7.8: templum in terris) and comparative evidence from Cosa and Bantia, it is thought that the Auguraculum was a square or rectangular area marked by boundary stones, or cippi (Linderski, Platner–Ashby, Richardson). An anecdote concerning the destruction of a house on the *Caelian that interfered with the augurs’ lines of sight (Cic., Off. 3.66; Val. Max. 8.2.1) indicates that the Auguraculum stood above the *Sacra Via, overlooking the *Forum Romanum (Richardson 1978). Coarelli, using Plutarch (Num. 7.2-3), which states that the Auguraculum was visible from the *Comitium, convincingly identifies the Auguraculum with the remains of walls from various periods in the SE corner of the Aracoeli garden (Coarelli 1981, 181). These walls were part of a terrace wall (Coarelli 1983, 106) and thus formed a rectangular platform which functioned as an observation point (Coarelli 1981, 181). The dimensions of this platform compare favorably with the small size of the terrestrial templa at Cosa and Bantia. (For a different interpretation of the evidence, see Ziolkowski.) Platner–Ashby and Richardson speculate on the existence of a thatched hut, but although we know of straw huts for priests on the Arx (Vitr., De arch. 2.1.5), our source does not specify the exact spot, nor does he mention the augurs. The Auguraculum is shown on the map by the retaining walls in the Aracoeli garden; they represent topographical landscaping, not a roofed structure. Addendum There are now sound epigraphic and topographical reasons to relocate the Auguraculum from its accepted position in the Aracoeli garden to a square platform on the edge of the Arx directly E of the church of S. Maria in Aracoeli, close to the highest point on the hill. The new position is proposed by P.L. Tucci, “‘Where high Moneta leads her steps sublime’. The ‘Tabularium’ and the Temple of Juno Moneta,” JRA 18 (2005) 6-33, esp. 15.