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Oppius Mons

p371 Article on pp371‑372 of

Samuel Ball Platner (as completed and revised by Thomas Ashby):
A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome,
London: Oxford University Press, 1929.

Oppius Mons: the southern spur of the Esquiline hill (Varro, LL V.50), separated from the Cispius (q.v.) on the north by the valley of the Subura, and from the Caelius on the south by the valley of the Colosseum. The Oppius and the Cispius united to form the Esquiline plateau just inside the line of the Servian wall. In the divisions of the Septimontium (Fest. 341, 348) Fagutal (q.v.) appears as an independent locality, so that we may infer that originally Oppius was strictly applied to this spur except the western end (HJ 254‑257; Mon. L. XV.782‑785). Part of this western end was also called Carinae (q.v.). The name Oppius continued in use, at least for religious purposes, to the end of the republic (CIL I2.1003 = vi.32455 — for this inscription, which mentions the Montani p372montis Oppi, cf. also Pagus Montanus; BC 1887, 156; Mitt. 1889, 278; DE II.2159‑61); no later instance has been found. Oppius, according to Varro (Fest. 348), was a citizen of Tusculum, who came to the assistance of the Romans while Tullus Hostilius was besieging Veii, but the etymology of the word is obscure. It may possibly be that of a clan located at this point (Jord. I.1.183‑188) and it is noteworthy that it is a plebeian gentilicium (v. Septimontium). Detlefsen's conjecture (Bull. d. Inst. 1861, 18) that Oppius is derived from Oppidus is revived by Pinza (Mon. L. XV.782), who regards the name as comparatively late.

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