Altar of Bone - Ice Age

The Altar of Consus was an ancient Roman altar dedicated to the gods Consus and Mars, as well as the lares, which were ancient Roman household guardians. It was located beneath the Circus Maximus. The altar may have also served as the first turning post of the Circus Maximus. It is possible the subterranean location of this altar is connected to the Roman practice of storing wheat underground and specifically paralleled by the ancient mundus of Ceres supposedly instituted by Romulus at the founding of the city. This is in turn associated with the modern interpretation of Consus as an agrarian deity. Dionysus of Halicarnassus wrote that some ancient Romans believed the altar was located underground because they thought that the god Consus corresponded to Poseidon, who was also a god of earthquakes. He also claims that other Romans believed that the altar was dedicated to an unamenable god who presided over hidden councils. This explanation is associated with the ancient connections between Consus and secrecy and hidden councils. Tacitus mentions the altar as a landmark of his conjectural reconstruction of the pomerium, the sacred border of the city of Rome proper, as originally established by Romulus's sulcus primigenius.