Tarpeian Rock

American  

[tahr-pee-uhn] / tɑrˈpi ən /

noun

1. a rock on the Capitoline Hill in Rome, from which criminals and traitors were hurled.

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Tarpeian Rock British  

/ tɑːˈpiːən /

noun

1. (in ancient Rome) a cliff on the Capitoline hill from which traitors were hurled

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Etymology

Origin of Tarpeian Rock

1600–10; < Latin ( mōns ) Tarpēi ( us ) Tarpeian (hill) + -an

Example Sentences

Roman trumpet with the rattle of the sistrum, chased the Liburnian prow with a poled barge, spread her foul mosquito nets over the Tarpeian Rock, and gave judgements among Marius’ weapons and statues.

From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 2023

Someone looking for bad omens might have found one in the name of the hill where it’s built, Roca Tarpeya; the Tarpeian Rock was an execution ground in ancient Rome.

From The Guardian • Sep. 15, 2017

Indeed, in France there is no medium between the Capitol and the Tarpeian Rock.

From Diary of the Besieged Resident in Paris by Labouchere, Henry

This is the material of which the famous Tarpeian Rock and the lower part of most of the Seven Hills is composed.

From Roman Mosaics Or, Studies in Rome and Its Neighbourhood by Macmillan, Hugh

The Tarpeian Rock seems an absurd fable—its fatal leap the daily sport of infants—but in all ancient cities the same glaring discrepancy between ancient and modern altitudes is presented, and especially, we hear, at Jerusalem.

From Glances at Europe In a Series of Letters from Great Britain, France, Italy, Switzerland, &c. During the Summer of 1851. by Greeley, Horace