- Aius Locutius
Aius Locutius or Loquens (
Latin for "announcing speaker"), was a Romannumen associated with the Gallic invasions of the early 4th century.In
390 BC , theGaul s moved in the direction of Rome, the capital of theRoman Republic . According to Roman folklore, a Roman named Caedicius kept hearing a disembodied nocturnal voice at the base of thePalatine hill in theRoman Forum . The voice warned Caedicius of the oncoming attack and recommended that the walls of Rome be fortified. The authorities did not believe his story and the Gauls entered the city without difficulty and burned it. The Romans eventually drove the Gauls away.An altar inscribed "
si deus si dea " has been misidentified at times as the "Ara Aius Locutius", mentioned in some Roman texts. In reality the divinity for which the altar was constructed is unknown.External links and references
* [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/Lanciani/LANPAC/2*.html#image72 Rodolfo Lanciani, "Pagan and Christian Rome,"] 1892
* [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/PLATOP*/Aius_Locutius.html Samuel Ball Platner, "A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome"] 1929
* David Engels, "Das römische Vorzeichenwesen (753-27 v.Chr.). Quellen, Terminologie, Kommentar, historische Entwicklung", Stuttgart, 2007, p. 374f. (RVW 58)
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