SCALAE GEMONIAE
a flight of steps leading up the Capitoline past the career, on which the bodies of certain criminals, who had been executed, were thrown and left exposed for a time-a frequent practice during the empire. They are often mentioned, first under Tiberius, and are called scalae Gemoniae (Val. Max. vi. 3. 3, 9. 13; Aur. Vict. 8. 6, 33. 31; Ep. 8. 4; Oros. vii..8. 8), Gemoniae (Suet. Tib. 53, 61, 75; Vit. 17; Tac. Ann. iii. 14; vi. 4, 31; Hist. iii. 74, 85; Sid. Apoll. i. 7. 12), ava(acuol (Cass. Dio Iviii. I, 5, II; lxv. 21), gradus gemitorii (Plin. NH viii. 145), and as gradus Gemonii (Tert. adv. Val. 36). Only two of these passages give any topographical information (Val. Max. vi. 9. 13; Cass. Dio lviii. 5), but that does not determine the course of these steps with precision. It is probable, however, that it coincided approximately with the present Via di S. Pietro in carcere (HF iv.; Gilb. i. 327; iii. 164; Jord. i. 2. 324-325; Richter, Hermes 1883, 125; Top. 119; RE vii. 1115-1116; Rodocanachi, Le Capitole 17). It is possible that the GRADUS MONETAE (q.v.), mentioned by Ovid (Fast. i. 638), may have connected in some way with these steps. Gemoniae was undoubtedly connected in the popular mind with gemo, 'I groan' (cf. GRADUS GEMITORII; Tert. loc. cit.) but incorrectly. It is rather derived from the proper name Gemonius (Schulze, Zur Gesch. latein. Eigennamen 108 and add.), but the reason for its use is unknown.