The ominous city
Istituto Svedese di Studi Classici a Roma
Via Omero 14
Roma
Data evento
11 Novembre 2025
Omens and divine signs were closely linked to the topography of ancient Rome. There was a conspicuous physical presence of buildings, monuments, plants and objects associated with omens in the city. Several temples were consecrated to expiate prodigies while others were rebuilt. Statues were dedicated, moved around, restored, and ritually cleansed because of portents. Sacred trees grew in the city, and the recurrent floods of the Tiber were seen as prodigies that required ritual interpretation and action. This paper will investigate how the agency of nature and objects, as means through which prodigies or divine signs manifested themselves, influenced space and movement in Rome and explore how the presence of ominous monuments and objects could trigger imagination, associations and memories of the portents, and the rituals carried out to expire them.