Tabularium
the official records office of Ancient Rome

The Tabularium was the official records office of ancient Rome and housed the offices of many city officials. Situated within the Roman Forum, it was on the front slope of the Capitoline Hill, below the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, to the southeast of the Arx.
Within the building were the remains of the Temple of Veiovis. In front of it were the Temples of Vespasian and Concord, as well as the Rostra and the rest of the forum. Presently, the Tabularium is only accessible from within the Capitoline Museums, although it still provides a panoramic view over the forum.
The construction of the Tabularium was ordered around 78 BC by the dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla. The building was completed by Quintus Lutatius Catulus Capitolinus, consul in 78 BC. This was part of a public works programme for the redevelopment of the Capitoline Hill, which had been damaged by a fire in 83 BC. The construction by Catulus is not mentioned in the ancient literature. It is known through an inscription.
Architecture
The building itself had a facade of peperino and travertine blocks. The interior vaults are of concrete.
“Tabularium” enters the record as the official records office of Ancient Rome. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Tabularium, official and records can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Tabularium” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Tabularium, official and records provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q568342. Authority coordinates are 41.893, 12.484. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Tabularium”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Tabularium primary sources, Tabularium archive and Tabularium research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Tabularium”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Tabularium” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.