Palatine Hill

The Palatine Hill is central to the rest of Rome’s seven hills. According to Commendare Boni, the Palatine is the most of important of Roman Hills . The Palatine hill towers 40 feet above the Roman Forum and the Circus Maximus. The hill was carved from volcanic sediments which had been eroded over years by the Tiber River. It was originally the location of a Bronze Age settlement as archeological digs have found evidence of human habitation as far back as 10th century BC. The hill also maintains a prominent prominent role in Roman Mythology. The hill has been used in many different ways from the classic, medieval, and through the modern ages. The hill evolved from an early latin settlement, to an affluent residential area for noblemen and emperors during the Roman Republic and Empire, and finally to a residence for religious figures in the middle ages.

The earliest evidence of habitation on the Palatine hill were archaic huts built by early Latin settlers. These huts contained Bronze age pottery and tools which provided evidence for a relatively primitive settlement having lived on the Palatine. It is speculated that these settlers were driven to the Palatine by volcanic eruptions in the Alban hills. The hill also plays an important role in Roman mythology via the story of the twins : Remus and Romulus . Roman mythology postulates that the twins were deposited at the foot of the Palatine hill after they had been left on the Tiber river to die. They were found by a female wolf, Lupa, and raised to adulthood on the Palatine hill. It is believed that Romulus founded Rome on the Palatine hill after killing his brother, Remus. Even in subsequent years, the festival of Lupercalia was celebrated on February 15 on the Pala...

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...of the Lupercalia.

The time of Rome's Republican era. "Palatine Hill, Rome." A View On Cities. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2011. .

Thompson, D.L.The Meetings of the Roman Senate on the Palatine.American Journal of Archaeology.Vol. 85, No. 3 (Jul., 1981), pp. 335-339 .Published by: Archaeological Institute of America .Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/504178

Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association.Vol. 84, (1953), pp. 35-59 .Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press . Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/283397

Walter Allen, Jr. Cicero's House and Libertas .Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association.Vol. 75, (1944), pp. 1-9.Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press .Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/283304.