Tarpeian Rock

[tahr-pee-uh n]

noun

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

Origin of Tarpeian Rock

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

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British Dictionary definitions for tarpeian rock

Tarpeian Rock

noun

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for tarpeian rock

Tarpeian rock

rock face on the Capitoline Hill in Rome, from which persons convicted of treason were thrown headlong, from Latin (mons) Tarpeius "(rock) of Tarpeia," said to have been a Vestal virgin who betrayed the capitol to the Sabines and was buried at the foot of the rock. Her name probably is of Etruscan-Tyrrhenian origin.