Pomerium
Alternative forms
Origin
From Latin pomoerium#Latin ("pÅmoerium, #Latin"), which word being either formed as post ("behind") + moerus#Latin ("moerus, murus#Latin") + -ium (neuter form of -ius, adjectival suffix) or derived from Etruscan.
Full definition of pomerium
Noun
pomerium
(plural pomeria)- (historical, Roman Empire) The tract of land denoting the formal, sacral ambit of a Roman city.
- 1997: , C. D. N. Costa (translator), , page 22 (2004 reprinted selection; Penguin Books — Great Ideas; ISBN 978‒0‒141‒01881‒2)But to return to the point from which I digressed, and to illustrate how some people spend useless efforts on these same topics, the man I referred to reported that Metellus in his triumph, after conquering the Carthaginians in Silicy, alone among all the Romans had 120 elephants led before his chariot, and that Sulla was the last of the Romans to have extended the pomerium,⋆ which it was the ancient practice to extend after acquiring Italian, but never provincial territory. Is it better to know this than to know that the Aventine Hill, as he asserted, is outside the pomerium for one of two reasons, either because the plebs withdrew to it or because when Remus took the auspices there the birds had not been favourable – and countless further theories that are either false or very close to lies?
- ⋆ The religious boundary of a city.