The capital of Italy , Rome, is one of the most ancient cities on Earth. At first it was located on the eastern bank of the Tiber. It was called the "eternal" or "city on seven hills." Rome was indeed built on hills that were separated from each other by relatively deep, but small-sized valleys. Now the ancient capital has grown and occupied the territory already on both sides of the river. Now it is already located on twelve hills, but there is a map of Ancient Rome, on which the original place of settlement, including only seven hills, is marked.
General information
But, as the history of the Eternal City says, it began to be built precisely on the left bank of the Tiber River. The hills of ancient Rome were populated gradually. The first, where the settlement arose, was the central one - Palatine, then Esquiline, then the Capitol and Quirinal, a little later Viminal, Tselius and Aventin. After all of them were included in the city, the Romans began to celebrate the Day of the Seven-Hump once a year on December 11.
The place where the ancient settlement was founded is of volcanic origin. The height of the hills is on average about 40-50 m above the river.
Palatine
It was with him that the history of the Eternal City began. According to legend, a basket with babies - Romulus and Remus, who later became the founders of Ancient Rome, sailed to the foot of this hill on the waters of the Tiber. Here on the shore there was a cave where the she-wolf lived, which nurtured the brothers. This hill is named after the goddess Palez, the patroness of shepherds.
Ever since the city was founded, in this part of ancient Rome there has always been a center of power, where patricians, emperors and kings lived. The aristocrats erected their magnificent palaces here - Domuses. Their fragments have survived to this day.
Esquiline
Its name translates as "suburb." It has already been said above that the hills of Ancient Rome were populated in turn. The next after Palatine was this hill. At that time, it was literally turned into a city dump. In addition, executions were carried out here, as well as cemeteries, where the beggars and slaves were buried. Their graves were rather deep pits where corpses were dumped.
During the reign of Emperor Augustus, the cemetery was covered, and in its place the beautiful gardens of the Patron of Arts grew. Also, an entire water supply system was built on Esquiline.
Capitol
All the hills of ancient Rome had their purpose. This hill was completely built up with temples. It was here that one of them was dedicated to the goddess Juno Monet, where the legendary geese lived, warning with their loud cry of the Romans about the approach of the enemy. Here the first courtyard was also arranged, where money was minted. They were called "coins" in honor of the local goddess.
Around the Capitol during the reign of Servius Thulius, a wall was built, thanks to which the hill became an impregnable citadel. In its center was a temple dedicated to Jupiter. Under it were quarries, which caused its complete destruction. In the Middle Ages , the only monumental building on the hill was the church of St. Mary. A staircase leading to its entrance consisted of 122 steps. It was built in honor of the deliverance of the city from the plague.
Quirinal
Almost all the hills of ancient Rome have their own legend. Quirinal was no exception. He was named after the god of war, Quirin, who was worshiped by the ancient Sabines. According to legend, originally only men lived in Rome. Once Romulus invited the Sabines to the feast. During the celebration, the Romans stole all the girls from the guests and married them. Because of this, a war broke out, which the kidnappers began to lose.
According to legend, the women themselves stopped the armed conflict, as they were already used to their Roman families. As a result, the warring parties entered into a peace treaty. Interestingly, his main point was the condition under which the Sabine ruler Titus Tatius began to rule Rome on a par with Romulus.
Viminal
The name of the hill is translated as “willow hill” because its slopes were completely covered with these trees. Initially, it was inhabited by the Sabines. The Quirinal and Viminal joined the Eternal City at the same time after the abduction of the girls by the Romans. During the existence of the Empire, this territory was mainly built up with residential buildings, where immigrants from the lower class lived.
There were also the famous ancient Roman baths - the Baths of Diocletian, covering an area of about 13 hectares. They could simultaneously accommodate 3200 people. On the territory of the baths also beautiful gardens grew , wonderful fountains beat, and the library was also located. In addition, the Viminal was the place where the Praetorians lived, who served as the personal guard of the ruler of Rome.
Celius
As you know, originally Ancient Rome, which was briefly described in the article about the hills, was inhabited extremely unevenly - this area was built up one of the last. Celius was named after the Etruscan Celes Vibenna. He was considered the ancestor of the Roman plebeians, so the local lands were inhabited exclusively by his descendants. Only in the 1st century did people reach here to know. The main religious building on the hill was a temple dedicated to the Divine Claudius, but, unfortunately, only a few fragments remain of this grand building.
Aventin
Named after King Aventin Sylvia, who ruled after Romulus. In one of the museums, a map of Ancient Rome is kept, which shows that this hill, unlike others, was not yet populated. But already at the time of the Republic it was densely built up with various structures. Mostly slaves and plebeians lived here. But already in the era of the existence of the Empire, this area began to be inhabited by the rich and aristocrats.
Emperor Aurelian, who ruled in the III century, managed to erect a wall in just 4 years, which covered all seven hills of Ancient Rome. Its length was 19 km, height - 8 m, and thickness - 3.4 m. There were 383 towers and 18 gates in the wall. When Rome was captured by the Goths, it was badly damaged and was partially dismantled. However, in the Renaissance, the wall was restored and, I must say, that it is well preserved to this day.