Lacus Curtius

The Lacus Curtius is an unassuming excavated depression in the paving of the Forum Romanum around which several ancient Roman legends cluster. It was probably originally a natural fissure or small pool that already existed in the regal period. The best-known legend tells of the young knight Marcus Curtius who in 362 BC plunged on horseback in full armour into a yawning chasm to save the city by self-sacrifice - an oracle had declared that Rome must offer its most valuable possession. Another version derives the name from the Sabine leader Mettius Curtius, who was driven into a marsh during the Sabine war. A surviving marble relief depicts the Curtius scene and is now partly in the Palazzo dei Conservatori. Visitors to the Forum who watch the ground find the oval, stone-edged site between the Temple of Saturn and the Curia.