tarpeian rock

noun

1. a rock on the Capitoline Hill in Rome, from which criminals and traitors were hurled.

noun

1. (in ancient Rome) a cliff on the Capitoline hill from which traitors were hurled

rock face on the Capitoline Hill in Rome, from which persons convicted of treason were thrown headlong, from Latin (mons) Tarpeius “(rock) of Tarpeia,” said to have been a Vestal virgin who betrayed the capitol to the Sabines and was buried at the foot of the rock. Her name probably is of Etruscan-Tyrrhenian origin.