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 p199  Elephas Herbarius

 p199  Article on pp199‑200 of

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

Elephas Herbarius: mentioned in Reg. in Region VIII, and in mediaeval documents without the adjective (Mir. 29; Eins. 9; Graphia ap. Iord. II.532; Reg. Sublac. 138 ad a. 1003; LPD I.490, 515, n13; II.75). The name survived in that of the mediaeval church of S. Abbacyri et Archangeli ad Alafantum (Arm. 563‑4; HCh 162‑3, 290; cf. 338 (templum maius (that of Jupiter) quod respicit super Alafantum), and the district is mentioned in a bull of Anacletus II (1130‑8); cf. Jord. II.667. The  p200 monument probably stood a little east of the forum Holitorium, near the present church of S. Galla. It was probably a statue, but the meaning of herbarius is uncertain. It has been interpreted as 'tame' (Hülsen in RE V. 2325), as referring to a resort of the herbarii meaning dealers in herbs (Jord. I.2.476; Arm. loc. cit.), and (more probably) as indicating that the beast was represented eating grass (Platner, CP 1917, 194, who cites as parallels CIL VI.10209; NS 1899, 149; BC 1924, 188‑196; 1925, 65; Eranos, 1925, 129; RAP IV.305‑385).

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