“Vicus Curvus / Corvi”

The “Vicus Curvus” (Palombi, Richardson) or “Vicus Corvi” (Lega) stood on the *Oppian. It is attested by a 4th-c. A.D. inscription that mentions artisans known as vicucorvenses (CIL VI 31893d). They are listed after the nymphaeum Alexandri, which stood just E of the *Porta Esquilina, but before the neighborhood of the Orfienses, the area around the *Lacus Orphei, just E of the *Porticus Liviae; this leads Palombi to locate the vicus in an area straddling the *Servian Wall (accepted by Lega). Lega regards this vicus as a neighborhood which took its name from the gentilician nomen Corvius or cognomen Corvus, both names used by prominent Republican families. Alternatively, vicucorvenses may derive from a corruption of “Vicus Curvus”, a ‘curved street’ (Palombi). These ambiguities cannot easily be resolved. In light of the dense urban development on the Oppian by the Augustan era, it seems likely that this vicus existed by the early 1st c. A.D.; a major curved street in this area may have shared a name with this vicus (s.v. Oppius Mons: Street).