3.3 Palatine during the reigns of earlier kings 1.

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Do curso por Sapienza University of Rome

The Changing Landscape of Ancient Rome. Archaeology and History of the Palatine Hill

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Sapienza University of Rome

The Changing Landscape of Ancient Rome. Archaeology and History of the Palatine Hill

73 ratings

Studying ancient - as well as medieval or modern - cities basically means telling local urban stories based on the reconstruction of changing landscapes through the centuries. Given the fragmentary nature of archaeological evidence, it is necessary to create new images that would give back the physical aspect of the urban landscape and that would bring it to life again. We are not just content with analyzing the many elements still visible of the ancient city. The connections between objects and architectures, visible and non visible buildings, which have been broken through time have to be rejoined, to acknowledge the elements that compose the urban landscape. Landscape and its content are a very relevant and still vital part of any national cultural heritage. The course will introduce students to the way we have been reflecting on over the last twenty years and still are engaged with the study of the past of our cities, beginning from the most complex case in the ancient Mediterranean World: the core of Italy and of Roman Empire. On the other hand, knowledge means also preservation and defense of material remains and cultural memory. “The Changing Landscape of Ancient Rome. Archeology and History of the Palatine Hill” presents to a large public the topographical lay-out of the most relevant part of the city (according the Greek and Roman Historians Rome was founded on the Palatine). Research developed on the Palatine since the end of last century by the team of Sapienza Classical Archaeologists opened a new phase in the urban archaeological investigation and in the scientific debate about the relation between archaeological features and literary tradition as well as the “correct use“ of both kind of evidence, key issues of wide archaeological and historical significance.

Na lição

A city - ruled by kings - is born (8th – 7th century b.c.e.).

April 21st year 753 before common era. This is the day when the Romans believed their city had been founded. And they were probably right. According to the Roman foundation legend, a prince born in Alba Longa by a god and the young king’s daughter - Romulus - founded the city. He celebrated an elaborated rite on the Palatine, killed his twin brother - Remus - encircled the Palatine with a sacred wall, gave the Romans a constitution and reigned over the new born city for 37 years. Thanks to the results of our recent archaeological excavations we know now that the core of the legend is true. By the end of this module you will able to: - discuss present state of scientific debate about the birth of the city in Central Italy - define and identify urban political organizations - identify Late Iron Age and Early Archaic artifacts and building techniques.

3.1 The foundation of Rome: myth and rites.7:35

3.2 The foundation of Rome: archaeology10:41

3.3 Palatine during the reigns of earlier kings 1.15:46

3.4 Palatine during the reigns of earlier kings 2.7:06

Conheça os instrutores

Paolo Carafa
Prof.

Hello everybody and welcome back.

We have seen that it is possible to assume a coincidence.

We see in the process emerging from the archaeological framework of

early Rome and the memory of the ancient

there's a discontinuity around the mid of the eighth century B.C.,

when the settlement on the side of Rome is somewhat changing,

acquiring central places, public and political places.

So this is why we think that Rome

was actually born around the middle of the eighth century B.C.

According to the ancient historian,

this new city has been ruled by kings.

The Latin word "rex" meaning "king",

indicates a lifelong magistrate which is at

the same time the chief of the army and the chief of the secret organization.

And according to the ancient memories as well,

the city has been ruled by seven kings,

as you see here.

Modern historians used to

divide this long period spanning from the mid of the eighth century B.C.

until the end of the sixth century B.C.

in two large phases.

The Early Kingdom and the Late Kingdom,

as you can see this slide.

The landscape of Rome,

the archaeology of Rome and of the Palatine in particular,

let us see this changing in time.

We can tell many difference from

the landscape of the Early Kingdom and the landscape of Late Kingdom,

as we shall see in a while.

So let's have a look at the Palatine at the beginning of our story,

at the very beginning of the Early Kingdom.

The hill was surrounded by a wall which enclosed the area.

And sacred places where here and here at the very corner of the hill.

The fact that this hill was surrounded by a wall means that had a special status.

It was a religious special status because the ancient believed

that the hill has been transformed by the will of the King of the Gods, Jupiter.

So inside the wall there was an inner limit which was called the pomerium,

what's the really limit of the "urbs",

which is the Latin word meaning "city."

So you have to imagine a larger settlement with

a political core at one side and one hill,

just one hill surrounded by a wall,

and the sacred by the will of God.

Archaeology let us see

some features of this framework and first of all, the world.

During the second quarter of the eighth century B.C.

along the lower slope of the hill a fortification was built.

We have been able to identify a stretch of this wall with the bulwark here and a gate.

We have to assume that this wall had been built with the sacred ceremony.

We know that the limit of a settlement has to be traced by a plow as we can see here.

The trace of the plow was then

the foundation trench of the wall that was erected along this line.

This is what we actually found.

This is the foundation trench of the wall with this large stone inside.

And this is the foundation filled in and the bulwark.

This is the threshold of the gate and this is a small hut,

maybe a sacred or a guardian hut attached to the bulwark here.

A specific rite had been celebrated at the end of the construction of all this because

this group of vases have been placed here in a pit underneath the threshold of the gate.

At the same time,

thanks to the literary evidence,

we can tell also the sacred status of the whole area.

For example, we know that the line of

the fortification was a limit between two different "loci sancti".

In Latin this means "sacred places".

In these places it was not possible to plow,

to build, or to do anything.

It was a sacred,

sacred defense , the wall.

And maybe to stress this limit,

a line of small stones had been placed here,

70 Roman feet, exactly 70 Roman feet far from the line of the wall.

In front there was a valley which had been turned into a defensive ditch.

Outside of this wall things are about to change.

According to the legend though,

the foundation of Rome,

the group of men who joined

the Romulus in the foundation lacked women, they needed women.

But no one wanted to marry these guys

because they thought they were too brave and too tough.

So they decided to steal women from the people around Rome.

And they did it. The father, the brothers,

and the husband of these raped girls came to Rome in seek of revenge.

So an enemy army moved to Rome and there's a fight in the Forum valley.

At the first stage of the fight Romans had to retreat

along the sacred way up to the gate of the Palatine.

If we lay the story over the topography of the eighth century B.C.

this is the framework we have.

The Forum area, the eighth century plots here,

and the major gate here and the minor gate here.

This is the place where according to this legend,

Romulus stopped the flight of his army and should ask

Jupiter to stop these guys and promised him to found a sanctuary there.

As a matter of fact, we found there a sanctuary.

So this is how we can imagine

the whole area at the middle of the eighth century on the side of the Palatine.

The major gate, the minor gate,

the plot outside this gate,

and the sanctuary here.

So the religious status of the whole area changed once again because we

have the defensive stretch outside and inside of the wall and a new sacred area.

This is called "locus inauguratus".

It's a place transformed once again by the will of God and dedicated to a specific god.

His name is Jupiter Stator,

the God who stops the flight of the Romans.

From an archaeological point of view an 8th century sanctuary is

something not very substantial but nonetheless not so simple.

We have a huge altar inside with the fire here,

surrounded by a limit made of wooden posts,

as you can see here by this [inaudible] and inside

an enclosure made of clay and wooden posts once again.

The altar of this sanctuary is placed on the same line of

the earlier stones delimiting the area in front of these walls.

This sanctuary is also founded according to a ritual and somebody offering,

been buried in front of the entrance here, as you can see.

The fireplace, the altar, the enclosure,

and the votive offering inside here.

This is what we actually found.

The stones here, the pit with ashes as

you can see here and the two vases placed inside this.

This sanctuary has been used from

this moment on until 74 A.D. and it changed slowly,

always maintaining its original structure for a certain time.

So it is at the beginning of the seventh century we have a new enclosure,

a new altar, a new sacellum here with the fireplace inside and the altar.

At the beginning of the seventh century nonetheless,

major changes are identified because

the original gate is built in a new form and

a large stretch of this wall is destroyed and built once again.

This was the place of the original gate,

of the original gate,

which is now changed and something special is made here on this stretch.

Along a street climbing up from the valley up to the Palatine the stretch of

the wall is smashed down and on

top of it — this is the line of the destroyed wall — an enclosure.

A small enclosure is built and four people are buried inside it.

A man with a child,

a second man, and a woman.

This is the body of the man and the child inside this large vase.

This is the woman and this is the second man.

The remains of the skeleton are very scanty and this is the bed of

fragments of vases placed on the bottom of the grave.

But this is a very interesting remains because as you can see

these stones here are the foundation of the wall.

So the guys who buried this man knew exactly where the foundation of the wall was.

So there's a close relation between these graves and this wall.

This is why we think that all this should be

interpreted as a sort of a votive offering because the wall was sacred.

And destroying a wall, even if necessary,

because it has to be upgraded and restored,

needed a sacred rite with major sacrifice which is the human sacrifice.

And this, the vases,

joined to the grave, with the vases,

with the man who is with a child,

with the second man and the woman.

And these vases let us know that these graves

can be dated to the beginning of the seventh century B.C.

A fifth grave is placed once again inside the foundation of this wall.

You see the threshold of the earlier gate,

the foundation of the wall,

the bulwark, the hut.

And this is the place where the foundation of the wall is cut.

A large vase with the body of a child and two vases is placed inside it.

And on top of this grave is built the new wall with a different structure.

There are one line of stones here,

one line of stones inside and a clay fill.

This is the side of the gate with the new posts and the threshold.

So the place stays the same but the structure of the wall changed.

And also, a new hut is associated to this wall.

The valley is still in use as a ditch as you can see here. This is the limit.

The Palatine is here and the valley is up here.

This is what we actually found.

On this side of the major gate there's a second minor entrance with a threshold here.

You can see this limit here and this limit and the threshold in clay.

And this is the valley and the trench fill of the ditch.

After a few years the first hut maybe burned down and they built up a second hut.

These are two remains, once again,

for the threshold of the small entrance.

The line, the external line of the wall,

the clay fill, the burnt floor of this new hut,

this is the limit here and this is the second limit here,

with a small channel or drain driving water out of the hut and out of the small gate.

This is how we can imagine on this.

The valley and within reach possibly the gate,

the hut inside, and the minor gate here.

We found more than one stretch also of the second wall.

So for example here,

we found this stretch here.

You see the structure is just more or less of the same,

with an inner line of stones,

another line of stones,

and the clay fill inside.

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