What was the name of the steep cliff on the Capitoline Hill in ancient Rome which was used as an execution site for murderers/traitors?
Tarpeian Rock Tarpeian Rock The Tarpeian Rock (; Latin: ' or '; ) is a steep cliff of the southern summit of the Capitoline Hill, overlooking the Roman Forum in Ancient Rome. It was used during the Roman Republic as an execution site. Murderers, traitors, perjurors, and larcenous slaves, if convicted by the "quaestores parricidii", were flung from the cliff to their deaths. The cliff was about 25 meters high. According to early Roman histories, when the Sabine ruler Titus Tatius attacked Rome after the Rape of the Sabines (8th century BC), the Vestal Virgin Tarpeia, daughter of Spurius Tarpeius, governor of
Capitoline Hill Capitoline Hill The Capitolium or Capitoline Hill (; ; ), between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. The hill was earlier known as "Mons Saturnius", dedicated to the god Saturn. The word "Capitolium" first meant the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus later built here, and afterwards it was used for the whole hill (and even other temples of Jupiter on other hills), thus "Mons Capitolinus" (the adjective noun of "Capitolium"). Ancient sources refer the name to "caput" ("head", "summit") and the tale was that, when laying the foundations for the temple, the