Situated on the left bank of the Tiber, the Palatinus was a flat-topped hill with two distinct summits, the Palatium and Ceramulus. It was centermost of the seven hills of Rome, roughly quadrilateral in shape, and comprised about 25 acres in area. It was surrounded by two marshy valleys that were crossed by winding streams and connected by a narrow ridge (the Velia) to the Oppius, an outlying part of the Esquilinus. Hill.

Oldest site of Rome's inhabitants, the Palatine kept its cachet until after the Fall of the West.

THE PALATINE HISTORY

Historians believe the settlement of the Tiber valley began sometime about 1000 BC, when an outbreak of volcanic eruptions in the Alban hills to the south forced the Latin tribes down into the lowlands. Ancient tradition is unanimous in placing the earliest settlement of Rome on the Palatinus, and modern scholars have generally agreed. The nucleus of ancient Rome was likely the western part of the Palatinus. At the death of Romulus, Rome comprised the Palatinus, the Quirinalis, the Caelius, and the Capitolinus. Varro, whose authority is generally received, assigns the year 753 BC as the date for the foundation of the city. Romulus' hut and Evander's citadel both stood on the south-west side of the hill.

Excavations on and around the Palatinus have uncovered evidence of houses from as early as the eighth century BC, consisting primarily of post holes. Remains of late sixth-century houses were found along the northeast slope of the Palatinus. These consisted of rooms on one or two levels grouped around a central hall, so-called atrium-style houses. During the reign of King Numa, the Curia Saliorum, devoted to the worship of Quirinus, was established on the Palatinus. During the reign of Servius Tullius, the various elements of the population were amalgamated, and the seven hills - namely, the Palatinus, the Capitolinus, the Quirinalis, the Caelius, the Viminalis, the Esquilinus and the Aventinus - were covered with houses, and enclosed by a wall about six miles in circuit. Cn. Octavius (167 BC) built a grand palace on the Palatine, one of the first examples of elegant domestic architecture, and erected a magnificent double portico with capitals of Corinthian bronze.

The Palatine Hill in the late Republic

The great improvements of Rome in the republican period were of a private nature, such as the palaces of senatorial families. The increasing wealth and luxury of Rome, especially caused by the conquest of Asia, led to the erection on the Palatinus of those magnificent private residences, which became one of the most striking features of the capital. The first of these historical houses was built by M. Livius Drusus, and overlooked the city. It afterwards passed into the hands of Crassus, Cicero, and Censorinus. Pompey had a house on the Palatinus, but afterwards transferred his residence to the Casinae, another aristocratic quarter. M. Aemilius Lepidus also lived in a magnificent palace; the house of Crassus was still more splendid, adorned with columns of marble from Mount Hymettus. The house of Catulus excelled even that of Crassus. The house of Clodius on the Palatinus, near to that of Cicero, was one of the finest in Rome, occupied before him by Scaurus, who gave for it nearly fifteen million sestertii. It was adorned with Greek paintings and sculptures. [The house of Cicero, which he bought from Crassus, cost him $150,000]. Its atrium was adorned with Greek marble columns thirty-eight feet high. Hortensius lived in a house on the Palatinus, afterwards occupied by Augustus.

The glory of the Augustan age was seen in the magnificent buildings which arose upon the hills, although he gave attention to the completion of many works of utility or beauty in other parts of the city. On the Palatinus, Augustus founded the temple of Apollo and the Imperial Palace, afterwards enlarged by his successors until it entirely covered the original city of Romulus.

The Caesars following Augustus continually built upon, redecorated, and rebuilt so that the imperial palaces eventually covered most of the hill. The "Domus Augustana" is a later version showing the elaborate ceremonial as well as functional facets of the imperial palaces.

After the Severan period we hear but little of the Palatinus, though it continued to be the imperial residence. Elagabalus, Severus Aexander, Carinus, and Maxentius are cited in historical records as having built there. In the time of Constantinus a considerable part of the hill was occupied by streets and private buildings; and the removal of the imperial residence to Byzantium meant the beginning of the end. (The Notitia gives 20 vici, 89 domus, (single-family homes) and 2642 (or 2472)insulae [apartment houses) on the Palatinus.

Since insulae were the equivalent of multi-story housing developments for the poor, it suggests a great deal about the then-current standards of life on the Palatine.

The emperors of the fifth century AD also resided on the Palatinus when in Rome: Honorius, Valentinianus III, Aëtius, Livius Severus, as well as Odoacer and Theodoric. The latter restored the Palatinus, as well as the walls of the city. Narses died there in 571.

The Palatinus/Palatium gives us the English word "palatial", and the area is usually associated with wealth and the imperial buildings that characterized it in later periods.

The road system of the Palatinus was fundamentally changed by the buildings of the imperial period; these also blotted out the remains of the private houses, which, as the Palatinus changed its character and began to come into favor, owing to its position, as a place of residence for the aristocracy, sprang up all over the hill. The oldest of which we have any record are those of Vitruvius Vaccus (330 BC), Cn. Octavius (165 BC), M. Scaurus, Crassus, M. Fulvius Flaccus(125 BC), Q. Lutatius Catulus, M. Livius Drusus, as well as that of Cicero. Other important republican houses, such as those of Q. Cicero, Milo, P. Sulla and Licinius Calvus, were also situated in this north part of the Palatinus; but the site of that of Marcus Antonius cannot be fixed. Nor is it possible to identify with certainty any of the houses mentioned above with the remains of republican houses which have been found under the imperial palaces.

On the other hand, the identification of the house of Hortensius, which later on was bought by Augustus, and the one generally known as the house of Livia, is almost certain. This house was left standing up to the end of the classical period, being respected by the later emperors just as was the house of Romulus. Tiberius, in building his palace on the northwest summit of the hill (the Germalus), did not encroach upon it, and it escaped the fires of Nero and Titus, and was similarly spared by Domitianus and Hadrianus.

On the other summit of the hill, Nero appears to have built a part of the domus Transitoria over the ruins of republican private houses, while the whole was later remodeled by Domitianus (to whom the Palatinus owed far more than to any other emperor), with additions by Septimius Severus.

The Development of the Palatine

As the historian Varro wrote:

"Palatium, quod Pallantes cum Euandro venerunt, qui et Palatini; alii quod Palatini, aborigines ex agro Reatino, aqui appellatur Palatium, ibi consederunt; sed hoc alii a Palanto, uxore Latini, putarunt. Eundem hunc locum a pecore dictum putant quiam; itaque Naevius (poeta) Balatium appellat."

Translation: The Palatium (is so called) because the Pallantes came with Euander, who are also called 'Palatini'; others (say that it is so called) because the Palatini, the Aborigines-tribe from the land around Reate [in the land of the Sabini], which is called Palatium, came to settle there; but others have thought that this (is derived) from Palantus, Latinus' wife. Some think that this very place is (so) called after (the word) cattle; that's why the poet Naevius calls it 'Balatium'.

The name Palatinus Mons is generally connected with the root pa- (to feed, protect), which appears in pasco and Pales; but this etymology is disputed.

The usual form of the name in Latin is Palatium, which distinguishes it from most of the other hills, except the Capitolium. There are variations in form and quantity. Martial, for example, makes the "a" long, and Naevius makes the name Balatium.

Cassius Dio explained the transference of the name Palatium first to the imperial palace on the Palatine and then to any palace thus: "The royal residence is called Palatium, not because it was ever decreed that this should be its name, but because Caesar dwelt on the Palatinus and had his military headquarters there, though his residence gained a certain degree of fame from the mount as a whole also, because Romulus had once lived there. Hence, even if the emperor resides somewhere else, his dwelling retains the name of Palatium."

And, obviously, the English word "palace" derives from this as well.

Take the tour of the Circus Maximus, by Senex Caecilius.