Compitum: S. Martino ai Monti

Compital shrine of an unnamed *Esquiline neighborhood near the *Clivus Suburanus, discovered in 1888 in situ near S. Martino ai Monti (Lanciani, FUR pl. 23, marked “ara Mercuri”). An isolated structure surrounded by street pavement, the compitum was refurbished in 10 B.C. with an inscribed marble statue base for Mercury behind a marble-revetted podium (c. 4 x 5 m), perhaps for an aedicular shrine (cf. *Compitum Acili); an older, altar-like structure of travertine behind the statue base was carefully preserved in the course of these building measures (Gatti 225-26; Lanciani, FUR pl. 23; cf. Martin). According to its inscription, Augustus dedicated the statue in 10 B.C. from the collected monies submitted to him in his absence by the Roman people on New Year’s day (CIL VI 30974=ILS 92; cf., e.g., CIL VI 457=ILS 93, of 9 B.C.; Gatti 229-34); this closely follows Suetonius’ report of Augustus’ practice in the case of neighborhoods ‘such as Apollo Sandalarius, Iuppiter Tragoedus, and others’ (Aug. 57.1: vicatim dedicabat). Due to its archaeological context, the reported modalities of its realization, and its secure date several years before the introduction of the *Regiones Quattuordecim in 7 B.C., the monument is of singular importance for the incipient Augustan transformation of Rome’s vicus-neighborhoods and their compital cults (cf. Martin, Fraschetti). Unfortunately, the name of this vicus is not mentioned in the inscription and remains unknown; a connection with the vicus Sobrius (based on Festus 382; Gatti 234-35) is “pure hypothesis” (Palombi; cf. Richardson).