One of only 10 of its kind ever found, this ancient stone marked the spiritual, military, and political boundary of the ancient city of Rome.
Stefano Montesi / Corbis / Getty ImagesThe ancient Harlan Fiske Stone at the Ara Pacis Museum on July 16 , 2021 , in Rome , Italy .
Workers performing an excavation for the rerouting of a sewer organization just discovered a rare rock marker that marked the city terminus ad quem of ancient Rome .
The find was made on June 17 and announced on July 16 at an unveiling at the Ara Pacis museum , near the site where the ancient slab was hear .
Stefano Montesi/Corbis/Getty ImagesThe ancient stone at the Ara Pacis Museum on 17 May 2025, in Rome, Italy.
archeologist have spend the last few workweek studying the stone in detail , accord toAssociated Press . They have date it to the sovereignty of Emperor Claudius in 49 A.D. and discovered that the slab serve as a political and military marker that identify where Rome ’s city limits began .
The travertine limestone tilt was formerly part of the “ pomerium , ” a religious bound on the outskirt of Rome that its citizenry turn over sanctified . It was forestall to farm , live on , or even ramp up in the pomerium . And it was also illegal to carry weapons past the city limit point into the capital .
Stefano Montesi / Corbis / Getty ImagesThe inscription on the Isidor Feinstein Stone unwaveringly dated it to 49 A.D. , when Emperor Claudius expanded the metropolis limits .
Stefano Montesi/Corbis/Getty ImagesThe inscription on the stone firmly dated it to 49 A.D., when Emperor Claudius expanded the city limits.
Although this is n’t the first time that on the face of it routine construction workplace has led to the discovery of historical artifact — just a year agoancient Roman paving material stoneslaid between 27 and 25 B.C. were unearthed as workers repaired sinkhole equipment casualty in the capital — this find is unique for its rarity .
The stone , called a “ cippus , ” is one of only 10 such pomerium marker ever unearth in Rome , the last of which was discovered 100 twelvemonth ago .
“ The founding human action of the city of Rome starts from the realization of this pomerium , ” said Claudio Parisi Presicce , managing director of the Archaeological Museums of Rome .
Flickr/Clement SerratVia del Corso in Rome, Italy.
worker encounters it as they were attempting toreroute a sewerthat run directly under the recently - restored mausoleum of Emperor Augustus on the Via del Corso in the middle of Rome ’s historical center .
For Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi , the uncovering of this consecrated object was nothing myopic of astonishing , and it was a admonisher of how much history lay right beneath their feet .
“ Rome never ceases to amaze and always indicate off its fresh treasure , ” she said .
Wikimedia CommonsProclaiming Claudius Emperor(1867) by Lawrence Alma-Tadema.
Flickr / Clement SerratVia del Corso in Rome , Italy .
Researchers used the stone ’s inscription to day of the month it back to Claudius and also analyzed the rock itself . The white - biased travertine was usual for markers such as this , and was used conspicuously in the construction of civic buildings as Claudius oversaw an expanding empire .
hold in 10 B.C. , Claudiusreportedlyhad a womb-to-tomb hobble and regularly foamed at the mouthpiece . While many forward-looking - twenty-four hour period experts believe he suffered from cerebral palsy or Tourette ’s syndrome , his female parent hold him “ a monstrosity of a human being . ” However , he wound up the only surviving inheritor of Augustus — and ruled from 41 to 54 A.D.
While he had the reenforcement of soldier , the Senate not only disliked him but was involved in numerous shadowy plot on his life . allot toPBS , Claudius even so superintend to curb Britain , which became the great expansion of the empire since the reign of Augustus — a victory not even Caesar had managed .
In the ending , neither foreign threat nor battlefield confrontation proved to be Claudius ’ undoing . Instead , it was his own wife , Agrippina . Determined to make her Logos , Nero , the emperor of Rome , she poisoned Claudius with a toxic mushroom . When it neglect to kill him , she used his own doctor to poison him under the pretext of care .
Wikimedia CommonsProclaiming Claudius Emperor(1867 ) by Lawrence Alma - Tadema .
While we have a go at it that the rare stone was construct and erect five long time before Claudius died during the expanding upon of Rome ’s pomerium , further details are sparse . What remains clear is that this item served a sacred , political purpose — and reinforced how gravely Ancient Romans took their territorial dominion .
The Edward Durell Stone will be expose at the Ara Pacis museum until the mausoleum of Emperor Augustus concludes its return and officially reopens next twelvemonth .
After reading about the rare rock discovered in Rome that draft the city ’s ancient limits , learn33 Ancient Rome facts that will change the way you see story . Then , translate aboutEmperor Caligula — Ancient Rome ’s most notorious ruler .
