Excubitorium
A watch-house, station-house, or barracks for Roman soldiers or police (P. Vict.
Sub
Reg. Urb. Rom. ad fin.), as to which see the articles
Castra;
Excubitores;
Vigiles. A very interesting excubitorium —
that of the seventh battalion of city police—was discovered at Rome in 1868, near
the church of S. Crisogono. It was originally a private house, rented for the use of a body of
police, and so occupied for many years. The archaeological and historical interest of this
building lies in the fact that the policemen, when off duty, had amused themselves by writing
on the walls, thus leaving us a very vivid picture of the daily routine of an ancient
policeman's life, and also of his sentiments, expressed in language that is always direct and
plain, and frequently profane. See the essay by Henzen in the
Annali dell'
Instituto for 1869; Prof. Lanciani's
Ancient Rome in the Light of Recent
Discoveries, ch. viii.
(Boston, 1888); Nocella,
Le
Inscrizione nell' Escubitorio della VIIma Coorte de' Vigili
(Rome, 1887); Middleton,
Remains of Ancient Rome, ii. pp. 257-260
(London, 1892); and the article
Graffiti.
