Marcus Curtius
Template:Short description Template:Other uses
Marcus Curtius is a mythological young Roman who offered himself to the gods of Hades. He is mentioned shortly by Varro<ref>De lingua Latina, 5,32,148.</ref> and at length by Livius.<ref>Ab urbe condita libri 7,6.</ref> He is the legendary namesake of the Lacus Curtius in the Roman Forum, the site of his supposed self-sacrifice.
Legendary biography
[edit]After an earthquake in 362 BC, a huge deep pit suddenly opened in the Roman Forum, which the Romans attempted to fill, but in vain. Despairing, they consulted an augur who responded that the gods demanded the most precious possession of Rome.<ref name=EB1911>Template:Cite EB1911</ref> The Romans doubted the warning, and struggled to think of what that was.
However, a young soldier named Marcus Curtius castigated them and responded that arms and the courage of Romans were the nation's most precious possessions.<ref name=EB1911/> Astride his horse, fully and meticulously armed and decorated, Marcus rode and leapt into the chasm.<ref name=EB1911/> Immediately, the deep pit closed over him, saving Rome.<ref name=EB1911/>
The Lacus Curtius in the Forum was supposedly built on the site of the pit, and receives its name from him.<ref name=EB1911/>
Art history
[edit]The story of Marcus Curtius, sacrificing himself for the cause of the commonwealth, became well known theme during the Renaissance, due to etchings made by the German artist Lucas Cranach the Elder (1507/1508) and the Dutch artist Hendrick Goltzius (1586). It was also depicted in the famous Nuremberg Chronicle by Hartmann Schedel (1493). A bas-relief, apparently found in a garden near the Forum Romanum in 1553, seems to have been leading in most images. It dates from the Early Empire, but may have been copied from a 3rd- or 2nd-century BC piece.<ref>Angeline Chiu, Ovid's Women of the Year: Narratives of Roman Identity in the Fasti, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbour 2016, p. 31.</ref> Benjamin Robert Haydon (1786-1846) painted a large oil entitled Curtius Leaping into the Gulf in 1842.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]<references />
External links
[edit]- 'Lacus Curtius' page in the Penelope Chicago University site with images
- Images of the silver coins ("denarii") made by order of the coinage Triunvir Quintus Curtius in 115-116 B.C.
- Maria Berbara: Civic Self-Offering: Some Renaissance Representations of Marcus Curtius. in Karl Enenkel, Jan L. de Jong, Jeanine de Landtsheer (Ed.): Recreating Ancient History, p. 147–166. Leiden 2001, Brill.