Sororium Tigillum Explained

The Sororium Tigillum, which translates as the "sister's beam", was a wooden beam said to have been erected on the slope of the Oppian Hill^[1] in Ancient Rome by the father of Publius Horatius, one of the three brothers Horatii. Publius Horatius was required to pass under the beam, as if under a yoke, following the decision of the people's assembly to not to punish him for the murder of his sister.

According to Livy,^[2] writing at the end of the 1st century BC, the Sororium Tigillum^[3] remained intact in Rome until his day, having been maintained at the public expense.

Sources

• Livy, Ab urbe condita, 1:26
• CIL 6.32482
• Platner, S. B, and T. Ashby. 1929. "Tigillum Sororium.^[4] " In A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Notes and References

1. Book: John Henry Parker. The Via Sacra. Excavations in Rome from 1438 to 1882. 1883. J. Parker. 60–.
2. http://latin.packhum.org/loc/914/1/26/3288-3296 Liv. 1.26
3. Web site: Tigillum sororium nell'Enciclopedia Treccani.
4. Web site: Samuel Ball Platner, Thomas Ashby, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, TABERNAE CIRCA FORUM, TIBERIS, TIGILLUM SORORIUM.