Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-11-17
Rome's Ancient Altar Stone Has Been
Recently Unearthed.
4 MOST INTERESTING DISCOVERY
It Dates Back at Least to the
Sixth Century B. c.
MARKED A SACRED SPOT
Written for The Evening Star.

Written for The Evening Star.
Explorations made this year in the buried
ruins of ancient Rome have resulted In
the discovery of an archaeological treasure
which will take it's place in the very first
rank Of Roman antiquities. This Is the al
tar stone Of the old Romans. 1t was
brought to light in the course Of the exca-
vations made by Prof. Boni of the Italian
department Of antiquities. and the work Of
deciphering what remains of the inscrip-
ton has just been completed and announced
by Signor Domenico Comparetti. one Of the
most learned antiquarian scholars in Italy.
The site Of the discovery is near the spot
where another highly important find had
been made a short time before-the column
erected over the spot where Julius Caesars
remains were buried. Near the base Of
the column Prof. Bon1 unearthed a pave
ment OF smooth black stones. He imme-
diately concluded that he had come upon
the famous "black stone which, accord
ing to some of the old Latin writer's
marked the grave Of Romulus. Nobody in
this age expected to find the bones Of Rom
illus under the stone or anywhere else, as
the wolf-bred founder of the eternal city
and his twin brother have since been rele-
gated to the limbo of myths. but a monu-
ment on the spot where the old Romans
believed Romulus to have been buried was
of the greatest archaeological interest. In
derneah this pavement, however, a discov-
cry was made which relegated Romulus
possible monument to place OF minor In
terest.
In the midst Of debris lay two columns
OF tufa- rIOne. perfectly preserved, lis with
out inscription. The other. broken off
short, Is chiseled on its four sides with an
archaic inscription, the oldest extant Latin
known. The sculptor who made the in
scription was dead and forgotten centuries
before the birth of Christ. and now in the
last year of the nineteenth century the
fragmentary words of the broken legend
have been brought to light and read. Long
and patient study by Signor Comparetti
brought out enough to show that the stone
is sacred monument of the earliest pc
Rod of Roman history. 1t is regarded as
one Of the great archaeological finds" of
the century.
All that remains of this column Is from
seventeen to twenty inches high. 1t Is an
eighteen-inch tube at the base, soping
gradually toward the top. like an obelisk
The corners are broken more or less and
the inscription is somewhat worn.
Marked Sacred Spot.
The obelisk, when intact. was proba bly,
no taller than six feet SO it is clear that
about half the inscription is lost AS the
inscription ran lengthwise there remains
only the lower part, giving but the begin
ming OF the lines Of writing. So large are
the characters that they would have been,
when new and clear cut, legible at a dis
lance Of several PAGES. Owing to the frag-
mentary condition Of the lines an exact
reproduction of their sense Is Impossible
still there are enough suggestive words
yet legible to indicate plainly the character
of the column and of the spot marked by it.
The first line reads, "Quoi honce" Ito
whom this), and the second, "Sacros esed'
(be cursed), which. being filled in with the
missing words, may be taken to mean in
substance, Cursed be he who knowingly
violates this place" The sacredness of the
spot Is further suggested by the words,
found further along. liter per-diou estod''