NOTES ON THE TABULARIUM IN ROME

When we read about the civil wars in Republican Rome, we come across the strong personality of Sulla who invaded Rome because the command of the war to Mithridates was assigned to Marius, a homo novus, and not to him.When Sulla took over the government of Rome as dictator, there is a building in Rome that carries his signature: the Tabularium. The tabularium was built in 80 BC and was the place where the senatusconsulta, deeds, treaties and laws were kept.The construction of the Tabularium has to be seen as an interesting political move of the dictator. In fact,before the construction of the Tabularium, the main laws of Rome were preserved under the foundations of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in Rome guide since the Tarquins had began this tradition during the kings' age. In my opinion, when he moved the archives from the temple to the Tabularium, he intended to appear as a new benefactor and a person endowed almost of divine powers.

In support of this opinion, the history of Rome mentions that Sulla was the first to extend the pomerium of the city, which was a religious act normally performed by the Pontifex Maximus because it recalled the sacred plowing of the ditch dug by Romulus after having seen the vultures.Therefore, the position of the Tabularium near the largest and oldest temple of Rome indicates the willingness of Sulla to become an entity closer than any other Roman to the god themselves.Interesting to note about the evolution of the building in the centuries. In 1144 the Tabularium became a medieval fortress and in the renaissance time, it will have one of his sides embellished by the architecture of Michelangelo.Since 1944 the Tabularium and its later extensions are the offices of the Mayor of Rome.