Palatine Hill. The Palatine Hill, which is the centremost of the Seven Hills of Rome, is one of the most ancient parts of the city and has been called the first nucleus of the Roman Empire.
The site is now mainly a large open-air museum while the Palatine Museum houses many finds from the excavations here and from other ancient Italian sites. Imperial palaces were built here, starting with Augustus.
Before imperial times the hill was mostly occupied by the houses of the rich. The hill originally had two summits separated by a depression; the highest part was called Palatium and the other Germalus.
Using the Forma Urbis its perimeter enclosed 63 acres; while the Regionary Catalogues of the 4th century enclose 131 acres. According to Livy the Palatine hill got its name from the Arcadian settlers from Pallantium, named from its founder Pallas, son of Lycaon.
More likely, it is derived from the noun palātum palate; Ennius uses it once for the heaven, and it may be connected with the Etruscan word for sky, falad. The name of the hill is the etymological origin of the word palace and its cognates in other languages. The Palatine Hill is also the etymological origin of palatine, a 16th-century English adjective that originally signified something pertaining to the Caesar's palace, or someone who is invested with the king's authority. Later its use shifted to a reference to the German Palatinate. Th
The site is now mainly a large open-air museum while the Palatine Museum houses many finds from the excavations here and from other ancient Italian sites. Imperial palaces were built here, starting with Augustus.
Before imperial times the hill was mostly occupied by the houses of the rich. The hill originally had two summits separated by a depression; the highest part was called Palatium and the other Germalus.
Using the Forma Urbis its perimeter enclosed 63 acres; while the Regionary Catalogues of the 4th century enclose 131 acres. According to Livy the Palatine hill got its name from the Arcadian settlers from Pallantium, named from its founder Pallas, son of Lycaon.
More likely, it is derived from the noun palātum palate; Ennius uses it once for the heaven, and it may be connected with the Etruscan word for sky, falad. The name of the hill is the etymological origin of the word palace and its cognates in other languages. The Palatine Hill is also the etymological origin of palatine, a 16th-century English adjective that originally signified something pertaining to the Caesar's palace, or someone who is invested with the king's authority. Later its use shifted to a reference to the German Palatinate. Th
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