I know this rock doesn’t look like much, but it’s actually really cool. It’s an Ancient Roman _pomerium_ stone, unearthed this past July of 2021, and is only the eleventh to be found.
The pomerium was a religious boundary marker for the city of Rome, and inside its borders certain activities were completely taboo. Violence was one of these — magistrates could order someone beaten but not killed. In fact, Julius Caesar was stabbed outside the pomerium, meaning that those who slew him had not committed sacrilege. Generals could not enter, except for the rare occasion when they held a triumph, and even then their attending soldiers temporarily lost their military rank and dressed as citizens. Even weapons were banned.
Another restriction was the burial of the dead, although the rare figure — like the Emperor Trajan — violated this law.
The stone you see here was called a cippus (plural cippi), which was used to mark boundaries other than the pomerium. But Ancient Romans believed that this particular sacred border had been founded in the 8th century BCE by Romulus.
Borders are fascinating, because they are complete inventions, existing only by collective agreement. I think the fact that the pomerium was thought to be religiously sacred elevated its specialness and made Romans take it seriously.
Sources: _Archaeology_, Monday July 19, 2021, “Rare boundary stone uncovered in Rome,” Image Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali. Wikipedia.
