From the Founding of the City: :A fall of stones

From the Founding of the City: :A fall of stones

A fall of stones in a military context occurs in the middle of the sixth century, when the Abyssinian Army, laying siege to Mecca, was put to flight by a fall of stones, supposedly dropped by birds. However, at least one famous stone-fall in ancient times occurred in the aftermath of a military action. The story is told in Chapter 31 of the first book of Livy s history of Rome, From the Founding of the City:

After the defeat of the Sabines, when King Tullus [672-640 b.c.] and the entire Roman state were at a high pitch of glory and prosperity, it was reported to the king and senators that there had been a rain of stones on the Alban Mount [Mount Albanus]. As this could scarce be credited, envoys were dispatched to examine the prodigy, and in their sight there fell from the sky, like hailstones which the wind piles in drifts upon the ground, a shower of pebbles.

The envoys also thought they heard “a mighty voice issuing from the grove on the mountaintop,” commanding the Albans to resume the ritual sacrifices they had neglected since the Roman victory. The Romans themselves took this order to hear, according to Livy, because thereafter “it remained a regular custom that whenever the same prodigy was reported there should be a nine days’ observance.” (Whether “the same prodigy” refers to all subsequent falls of stones or only to repeated falls on Mount Albanus is unclear.)

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