Palatine Hill

Palatine Hill, four-sided plateau rising 131 feet (40 metres) south of the Forum in Rome and 168 feet (51 metres) above sea level. It has a circumference of 5,700 feet (1,740 metres). The city of Rome was founded on the Palatine, where archaeological discoveries range from prehistoric remains to the ruins of imperial palaces.

The Palatine is topographically intricate and scenically attractive, despite a general starkness that is allayed by the artistically landscaped vegetation. Level upon level of multistory buildings has been built on previous sites and structures. According to ancient Roman legend, the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, twin sons of Mars, were abandoned as infants on the flooding Tiber River and were deposited by the receding waters at the foot of the Palatine. The legend purports that they were nurtured by a she-wolf whose cave, or Lupercal, was on the slopes of the Palatine and that they were raised by a shepherd who kept his flocks on the slopes of the Palatine, the centre from and around which Rome grew. Though the cave was long thought to be lost, in 2007 a team of archaeologists identified a vaulted sanctuary—buried 52 feet (16 metres) inside Palatine Hill—believed to be the ancient site Romans revered as the Lupercal.

The Palatine consisted originally of three summits: the Germalus to the north; the Velia, a kind of isthmus that linked the Palatine to the neighbouring Esquiline Hill; and the Palatium to the south. The Palatium was the highest of the summits and later gave its name to the entire hill.

During the ancient Republican era many temples and houses of leading citizens were built on the Palatine, and during the Roman Empire it became the city’s aristocratic quarter. The emperor Augustus was born and established his imperial residence there; Domitian had the topography greatly transformed by the architect Rabirius.

With the fall of the empire, the architecture upon the Palatine, too, fell into disrepair. It was transformed in the Middle Ages into a stronghold but was later abandoned. The Italian Renaissance brought about a resurgence in the value of the land, and noble Roman families again built their houses there.