Editing Vicus Tuscus

{{short description|Street in Ancient Rome}}
[[Image:Map of downtown Rome during the Roman Empire large.png|thumb|300px|Map of central Rome during the Roman Empire showing Vicus Tuscus at the center]]

'''Vicus Tuscus''' ("Etruscan Street" or "Tuscan Street") was an ancient street in the city of [[Rome]], running southwest out of the [[Roman Forum]] between the [[Basilica Julia]] and the [[Temple of Castor and Pollux]] towards the [[Forum Boarium]] and [[Circus Maximus]] via the west side of the [[Palatine Hill]] and [[Velabrum]].<ref name="Platner">Platner, Samuel B. "Vicus Tuscus." ''A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome'' London, Humphrey Milford: Oxford University Press, 1929.</ref>

==History==
The name of Vicus Tuscus is believed to have originated from [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]] immigration to Rome. Two distinct historical events are said by ancient authors to have led to the name. [[Tacitus]] says the name arose from the Etruscans who had come to aid the Romans against [[Titus Tatius]], a [[Sabines|Sabine]] ruler who invaded Rome in around 750 BC after [[The Rape of the Sabine Women|Romans abducted Sabine women]], and later settled down in the neighborhood of the Roman forum.<ref>Tacitus, Cornelius. The Annals & The Histories. Trans. Alfred Church and William Brodribb. New York, 2003.</ref> [[Livy]], on the other hand, says the name came from the remnants of the Clusian army who settled in the area following the [[War between Clusium and Aricia]] in 508 BC.

Some say the settlement was composed of workers whose task in Rome was to construct the [[Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus]].<ref name="Platner"/>

Dionysius indicates that the Roman senate provided Etruscans a place to build houses near Vicus Tuscus.<ref>Dionysius, of Halicarnassus. ''The Roman antiquities of Dionysius Halicarnassensis''. Trans. [[Edward Spelman]], Vol. 2. London, 1758. 4 vols. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Gale Group.</ref>

==Background==
Though originally a residential area of wealthy families; by the Republican time, the Vicus Tuscus became a hub of Roman commerce where there were many stores (''[[Horreum|horrea]]'') on both sides, such as booksellers.<ref name="Claridge"/> According to Horace's Epistles, books were on sale in front of the statues of Etruscan god [[Vertumnus]] and [[Janus|Janus Geminus]] in the Tuscan street and inside the Forum.<ref>Peck, Tracy. Classical Philology, Vol. 9, No. 1. (January 1914), pp. 77-78.</ref> The most influential merchants were expert dealers of incense and perfume (''turarii'' in Latin), giving rise to the street's second name - Vicus Turarius.<ref name="Platner"/> [[Propertius]] recorded that these tradesmen made sacrificial offerings to [[Vertumnus]], whose statue stood on Vicus Tuscus.<ref>Hornblower, Simon and Antony Spawforth. “Vertumnus.” ''The Oxford Classical Dictionary''.  Oxford, New York : Oxford University Press, 2003.</ref>

==Function==
Vicus Tuscus was frequently used as an important path of communication between the Roman Forum and the [[Forum Boarium]] and [[Circus Maximus]].<ref name="Platner"/> When Romans conducted a sacrificial rite to their gods, two white cows were led through Vicus Tuscus and [[Velabrum]] via the [[forum Boarium]], to arrive at the [[Temple of Juno Regina (Aventine)|Temple of Juno Regina on the Aventine Hill]].<ref>Livius, Titus. Livy. Tras. Frank G. Moore. Vol. 7. London, 1943. 13 vols. Harvard University Press, William Heinemann Ltd.</ref>

During the [[Ludi Romani]], the Vicus Tuscus was a route for processions. Statues of gods on wagons were paraded through here from the [[Capitoline Hill]] to the Circus Maximus.<ref name="Claridge">Claridge, Amanda. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=xtoVDAAAQBAJ Rome: An Oxford Archaeological Guide]''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.</ref> [[Plautus]] also tells us (''[[Curculio (play)|Curculio]]'', IV 482) that around 193 BCE, this was the spot for [[male prostitution]] in Rome.<ref>''"In tusco vico, ubi sunt homines qui ipsi sese vendidant".''</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Roman Forum}}
{{Etruscans}}

[[Category:Ancient Roman roads in Rome|Tuscus]]
[[Category:Roman Forum]]
[[Category:Rome R. X Campitelli]]
[[Category:Rome R. XII Ripa]]