Vicus Tuscus ("Etruscan Street" or "Tuscan Street") was an ancient street in the city ofRome, running southwest out of theRoman Forum between theBasilica Julia and theTemple of Castor and Pollux towards theForum Boarium andCircus Maximus via the west side of thePalatine Hill andVelabrum.[1]
The name of Vicus Tuscus is believed to have originated fromEtruscan immigration to Rome. Two distinct historical events are said by ancient authors to have led to the name.Tacitus says the name arose from the Etruscans who had come to aid the Romans againstTitus Tatius, aSabine ruler who invaded Rome in around 750 BC afterRomans abducted Sabine women, and later settled down in the neighborhood of the Roman forum.[2]Livy, on the other hand, says the name came from the remnants of the Clusian army who settled in the area following theWar between Clusium and Aricia in 508 BC.
Some say the settlement was composed of workers whose task in Rome was to construct theTemple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus.[1]
Dionysius indicates that the Roman senate provided Etruscans a place to build houses near Vicus Tuscus.[3]
Though originally a residential area of wealthy families; by the Republican time, the Vicus Tuscus became a hub of Roman commerce where there were many stores (horrea) on both sides, such as booksellers.[4] According to Horace's Epistles, books were on sale in front of the statues of Etruscan godVertumnus andJanus Geminus in the Tuscan street and inside the Forum.[5] The most influential merchants were expert dealers of incense and perfume (turarii in Latin), giving rise to the street's second name - Vicus Turarius.[1]Propertius recorded that these tradesmen made sacrificial offerings toVertumnus, whose statue stood on Vicus Tuscus.[6]
Vicus Tuscus was frequently used as an important path of communication between the Roman Forum and theForum Boarium andCircus Maximus.[1] When Romans conducted a sacrificial rite to their gods, two white cows were led through Vicus Tuscus andVelabrum via theforum Boarium, to arrive at theTemple of Juno Regina on the Aventine Hill.[7]
During theLudi Romani, the Vicus Tuscus was a route for processions. Statues of gods on wagons were paraded through here from theCapitoline Hill to the Circus Maximus.[4]Plautus also tells us (Curculio, IV 482) that around 193 BCE, this was the spot formale prostitution in Rome.[8]
