THE SEVEN HILLS OF ROME, AS SEPARATE HILL-FORTRESSES. A SUMMARY of the information given on this subject in the previous Sections seems to be still called for, to explain upon what grounds it is said that each hill was a separate fortified village before they were united into one city by Servius Tullius *. This is notorious to scholars, but is not generally understood by the visitors to Rome, and adds much to the interest of the ruins, and to make them more easily understood. All the historical information extant on the subject is believed to be already given, but the information to be obtained from a careful examination of the ground is perhaps not so clearly given as it might be, and requires to be brought together. It appears to be evident that at the time of the foundation of Rome the inhabitants of Italy, and of many other parts of the world, lived in mere huts, which were open to the attacks of enemies of all kinds, including wild beasts, and a pack of hungry wolves would be very formidable enemies to attack the inhabitants of such huts; for this reason they were collected together in villages, and these villages were always fortified; they were generally placed on the tops of hills, as being at the same time the most healthy and the most easily protected. The cliffs round the edges of a platform on the summit of a hill, whether entirely natural, or partly cut into a vertical form to a sufficient height by the hand of man, were the best protection, as walls used to resist an attack of wolves must be at least twenty feet high. The valleys were for the most part either swamps or covered with timber, as we see by the peat-bogs in all parts where the soil was favourable to that formation; and the streams, which were the natural drains, had been impeded by the trees that had fallen across them; as may be seen in Ireland at the present day, where enormous trees are often found that have been embedded in those peat-bogs for many centuries. We have it recorded that each of the hills of Rome was inhabited • The seven hills of the earlier period -the Oppius Cespius, &c., mentioned by Varro-are too obscure to be made out in any satisfactory manner. b Part of the modern village of Cas. tiglione, as it stood within the ancient walls of Gabii in 1870, is a good illus tration of what a city of the time of the foundation of Rome was like; nothing could be more primitive than the dwellings of the peasantry in the Pontifical States at that time. See Historical Photographs, No. 1582, and Plate I. of this Supplement. As separately, in rapid succession, it is true, but still each distinct from the other; it could not be inhabited without being fortified, for the reasons just given. There would not necessarily be walls, but the soft tufa of Rome generally requires walls to support it in many parts in the vertical position which was necessary for defence. a matter of fact, we do find remains of such early walls against the cliffs in many parts. These remains are as often within the line of the city of Servius Tullius as outside of it; they are found on each of the hills; for instance, on the Cœlian, at the north-west end opposite to the Palatine, now in the grounds of the monastery of S. Gregory, there is a considerable portion of such a wall belonging to the second period of the Kings, part of concrete, the rest of the large squared blocks of tufa. On the Aventine, in several places, both outside and inside of the line of the wall of THE CITY, under S. Balbina, S. Sabba, S. Prisca, the Priorato, and S. Sabina. On the Quirinal, in the Colonna gardens, and in the garden of what is now the King's palace. On the Viminal, against the cliff of the valley, between that hill and the Quirinal, opposite to S. Vitale, near the new Via Nazionale, where remains of walls and towers are still visible, of a different and ruder kind than those of Servius Tullius. On the Esquiline the cliffs are concealed by walls of the Empire, or of later periods, built up against them. The three colles were the least important as fortresses, being in fact promontories from the high table-land to the east, on which the great agger was made. Each of these separate fortresses had its own arx or citadel, which can also be traced. That of the Palatine it is not necessary to recapitulate. For the Aventine, the detached part called the Pseudo-Aventine had evidently the citadel upon it. S. Balbina has scarped cliffs on the east and north sides very distinct, with walls built up against them, and a foss-way on the western side; on the south side the cliff is concealed by the earth thrown up against it to make a hot-bed for cultivation. On the Cœlian®, the square fortress near the Colosseum, on which the Claudium was afterwards built, was evidently the citadel; the scarped cliffs on three sides of it are very visible, although later walls have been built up against them, and on the fourth side it has a deep foss-way • See Historical Photographs, Nos. 141, 143, 820, 829, 993, 2085. This piece of wall is of very early character, the vertical joints are even wider than those of Roma Quadrata. It may, perhaps, belong to the original fortification of the Sabines. (See the Photograph, No. 2113.) e Nos. 123, 126, 127, 144, 381, 802; and Plates engraved from them, XII. and XIII. The Seven Hills of Rome. 207 called the Clivus Scauri. On the other side of this deep foss-way is another great fort, on which the Villa Mattei, now called the Villa Celi-Montana, is built; that fort, being on the outer line at one angle of the city, was an important fortress with very high cliffs, and defended the approach to two gates',-the Porta Capena on its western side, and another gate on its southern side, the site of which is very distinct in the narrow gorge leading to the Piazza della Navicella from the Porta Metronia in the outer wall. There was probably a third gate on its northern side also in the narrow end of another gorge, which was the natural place for a gate, but this probably led into the fort itself. On this site one of the Cohortes Vigilum, or barracks for the police, was afterwards built, considerable remains of which have been found and described. The other part of the Cœlian, as a separate fortress, extended to the great foss at the east end of the hill, which divided it from the Lateran, which was another separate fortress by the side of the city, defending the approach to the gate, which was where the church of S. Clement now stands, and the researches of Father Mullooly seem to shew that the foundations of the church are built upon the barbican of the gate. For the Quirinal, as a separate fortress, the site of the present king's palace must have been the citadel. The steep and lofty cliffs are very visible on all sides of it, although parts of the great palace are built up against them in several places. The Palazzo Barberini was another fortress, and the cliffs of it can readily be traced. On the side near the Hotel Costanzi, they were very visible when that great hotel was being built, about 1870. Another important gate was where the four roads meet, now the Via di Quattro Fontane and the Via di Porta Pia; the approach to this gate was defended by the two forts, one now the Barberini Palace, and the other the King's palace. At the north-east corner of this hill are distinct remains of the great horn-work to defend that weak part in the defences of the city, where the House of Sallust was afterwards built, as described in the account of the Wall of Servius Tullius. For the Viminal, the citadel appears to have extended from the part where the walls remain, before-mentioned, on one side, to the site of the house of Pudens on the other side, where now the cliffs can be distinctly traced, with the houses built up against them. For the Esquiline, the site of the church of S. Pietro in Vincoli appears to have been the citadel. a passage and steps cut through Nos. 124, 125; and Plates (Photoengravings) XIV., XV. The cliffs are very clear, with them, and descending from the See View, No. 150, and Plate XVI.; Plan and Section, 148, 149. high level on which the church stands to the level of the foss below, now the street of S. Lucia in Selci. The remarkable horn-work at the south-east corner, opposite to the church of SS. Pietro and Mar cellino, has been described. This completes the seven hills of the original City. After the Wall of Aurelian was built upon the outer mania of the Kings, called by Pliny the agger of the Tarquins, the three colles (Quirinal, Viminal, and Esquiline) were reckoned as one hill; the Janiculum and the Vatican hills are then reckoned as part of the seven hills, to complete the mystic number. The Janiculum was included in the Aurelian Wall, but the Vatican was not; it was connected with the City by a foss-way only, until the Leonine city was built in the ninth century. Since that time the Vatican has been connected with the Janiculum by an enormous wall along the ridge of the hill, and the valley between that ridge and the Tiber was thus included in the city of the Popes, or the modern city of Rome; but it is still chiefly garden-ground, as was the old city on the hills, until the new city was built there in 1872-75. THE CAPITOLINE HILL. The history of the great public building of ancient Rome, of the time of the Kings, called the Capitolium, of which a portion of the original structure remains, as described by Varro, is much disputed by eminent scholars. It seems therefore desirable to give some further evidence from classical authorities in addition to what has been given in pp. 31-42 of the chapter on the Construction of Walls. The construction is in itself the best evidence to eyes accustomed to observe the different modes of it at different periods, and the Plates illustrating this building are in themselves evidence to such persons. For further evidence these references to incidental notices are therefore given, in confirmation of the view taken in this work. That the Hill of Saturn was occupied by the Sabines at the time that the Romans fortified the Palatine, has been shewn, and that it was called the Capitoline Hill after the two hills were united in one city and enclosed in one wall, as Dionysius tells us, because the great building to contain the Public Offices for the united City was built upon it'; but as this is not yet generally admitted, and is still h See the earlier Sections of this Part, p. 84, and Plate VIII. of this Supplement. Ibid., pp. 57-60. See the Appendix to the chapter on the Historical Construction of Walls, pp. 33-36; and Varro de Ling. Lat., lib. v. c. 7; and the references to Livy in the Chronological Table, A.U.C. 12. The Seven Hills of Rome. 209 a point of dispute, a few more authorities for it may here be introduced with advantage. Pliny mentions that the Capitolium was finished by Tarquinius Priscus m, after the capture of Apiola. Scipio placed the tablet of his Asiatic victories in the Capitolium". Pliny also reckons the substructure of it among the wonders of Rome, and says that it was in the Capitolium that ceilings made of gilt tiles were first used after the conquest of Carthage, which afterwards became common in private rooms and passages P. In another passage Pliny also mentions that similago, a kind of bread or cake made from wheat, was used in the offices of the "Treasury and the Record Office." This is a certain proof that the two were closely connected, and makes it almost sure that they were in the same building ¶. In the Mirabilia Urbis Roma, the Hill of Saturn is said to be now called CAPITOLIUM, because the Senators assembled there to deliberate'. In the Graphia Aurea Urbis Romæ, it is said that the Capitol was the head of the world, where the Consuls and the Senators deliberated on its government. Solinus, who formed his collections about A.D. 230, mentions that the Sibylline books were destroyed by fire when the Capitolium was burnt in the time of Sylla, and that before that time the Pontifex Maximus used to consult those oracles. This shews that the Capitolium was the great building which caught fire when the body of Clodius was burnt in the Senaculum, which was part of the same fabric, called the Capitolium, being the place for the chief public offices throughout the time of the Republic, and from this building the hill previously called of Saturn, was afterwards called the Capitoline Hillt. Dionysius mentions an altar to Saturn" at the foot of the hill, near m Plinii Nat. Hist., lib. iii. c. 9. " Ibid., lib. xxxv. c. 7. • Ibid., lib. xxxvi. c. 24, s. 2. Ibid., lib. xxxiii. c. 18. "Hoc (similago) ærariæ officina chartarisque utuntur." (Plinii Hist., lib. xviii. c. 20-22.) "De Monte Saturnali qui dicitur hodie Capitolium caput populi sive civitatum... vel dicitur potius a capitulo, quia ibi conveniebant senatores sicut claustrales in capitulo." (Mirabilia, ap. Codex Urbis, ed. Urlichs, p. 144.) "Capitolium erat caput mundi ubi Consules et Senatores morabuntur ad gubernandum urbem." (Graphia ap. Codex Urbis, ed. Urlichs, p. 120.) "Deinde constituta ab Ascanio P Longa Alba, Fidene Aricia, Nola a Tyriis, ab Eulioënsibus Cumæ, ibidem Sibyllæ sacellum est, sed ejus quæ rebus Romanis quinquagesima olympiade interfuit cujusque librum ad Cornelium usque Sullam pontifices nostri consulebant: tunc enim una cum Capitolio igni absumptus est: nam priores duo, Tarquinio Superbo parcius pretium offerente quam postulabatur, ipsa exuperat, hujus sepulchrum in Sicilia adhuc manet." (Solini Collectanea rerum memorabilium, recognovit Th. Mommsen. Berolini, 1864. 8vo., p. 38.) See sect. iv. pp. 57-60; and Appendix to Construction, pp. 3354. |