The Hill of the Founding
The Palatine rises to approximately 40–51 metres above sea level, with a flat summit of some 25 hectares bounded by steep escarpments that made it naturally defensible in the archaic age. Roman tradition placed the centre of the city's founding here: in 753 BC — the conventional date — Romulus is said to have traced on the Palatine the first sacred furrow (sulcus primigenius) that delimited the pomerium, the inviolable boundary of the city.
Wooden and clay huts found by archaeologists on the hill's north-western slope date to the ninth–eighth centuries BC and document a stable Iron Age settlement. The presence of two and then three larger huts arranged around an open space has led scholars to suggest that this was a complex connected with communal authority — the material predecessor of the palace that would occupy the hill a thousand years later.
The Cave of the Lupercal — the sacred grotto where, according to mythology, the she-wolf had suckled Romulus and Remus — was located on the south-western flank of the Palatine, at the foot of the cliff. The site was the centre of the Lupercalia (15 February), the ancient festival of purification and fertility during which the Luperci — priests of Faunus — ran naked around the Palatine, striking the women they encountered with strips of goatskin (februa), which were believed to promote fertility.
Etymology: From the Palatine to "Palace"
The hill's name is of disputed origin. Two main etymologies compete: one connects it to the pastoral goddess Pales (or Pales), protector of flocks, whose festival (Parilia, 21 April) coincided with the traditional date of Rome's founding; the other links it to Pallantion, an Arcadian city that the Virgilian tradition identified as the homeland of Evander, the ancient king of the Palatine who received Aeneas.
In any case, the Latin Palatium — the hill's name — was transmitted to modern Romance languages as the generic term for "imperial residence" and subsequently for "great residence": Italian palazzo, French palais, Spanish palacio, Portuguese palácio, and English palace.
The Republican Palatine: Aristocratic Residences
During the Republic, the Palatine was the preferred residential district of the Roman aristocracy. Its panoramic terraces, distance from the commercial bustle of the Forum, and commanding position over the city made it the privileged dwelling place of patrician families and later of leading political figures.
Cicero lived on the Palatine; so did Hortensius, his great oratorical rival. When Augustus purchased and enlarged the house of Hortensius to make it his own dwelling, he performed an act that transformed the Palatine from an aristocratic quarter into the seat of imperial power — a transition that would be completed over the course of the first century AD.
The House of Augustus and the House of Livia
Augustus chose to live on the Palatine in a house of relatively modest size compared to later imperial residences — an ideologically meaningful choice for a prince who presented himself as primus inter pares. The House of Augustus (or House of Octavian) featured rooms decorated with fine frescoes in the Second Pompeian Style, some of which are preserved and open to visitors.
Adjacent to the House of Augustus was the House of Livia, traditionally identified as the dwelling of the emperor's wife. The frescoes in its rooms — particularly the triclinium room with architectural vistas and the room of birds — belong to the painterly excellence of the late Augustan age and are among the finest preserved in Rome.
Augustus also wished the Temple of Apollo Palatinus (28 BC) to stand on the Palatine, dedicated to the protective deity of whom the prince proclaimed himself adoptive son: the temple was built beside the imperial house, materialising in topography the divine connection of the Principate.
The Domus Tiberiana: The First Imperial Palace
Tiberius (14–37 AD) was the first emperor to build on the north-western corner of the Palatine a residential complex of decidedly imperial scale: the Domus Tiberiana. This building, expanded by successive emperors, dominated the slope of the Palatine facing the Roman Forum. Its structures still underlie the terrace of the Farnese Gardens.
The few rooms of the Domus Tiberiana open to visitors today display opus sectile paving and traces of marble decoration, but most of the complex remains buried beneath the Renaissance gardens above.
Caligula (37–41 AD) extended the Domus Tiberiana toward the Forum, pushing the structures to the point where they touched the Temple of Castor and Pollux, which he reportedly used — according to tradition — as a vestibule to his palace, receiving visitors between the cellae of the Dioscuri.
Nero's Domus Aurea and the Great Fire
Nero was not content with the Palatine: after the great fire of 64 AD he built the Domus Aurea, which stretched from the Palatine to the Esquiline across the Velia, encompassing an area of roughly 80 hectares at the heart of the city. The Domus Aurea was preceded by an immense vestibule on the Velia featuring a colossal statue of Nero (Colossus Neronis) approximately 30 metres tall, which would subsequently lend its name to the Flavian Amphitheatre.
The Domus Aurea was deliberately dismantled by Nero's successors: Vespasian restored to the city the artificial lake that had been excavated within it, constructing the Colosseum above it; Domitian built on the Palatine the new imperial palace that would redefine the entire hill.
Domitian's Palace: The Definitive Residence
The complex built by the architect Rabirius on the commission of Emperor Domitian (construction completed around 92 AD) was the definitive imperial palace — the one that would house all of Domitian's successors through late antiquity, becoming identified with the very concept of "Roman imperial palace."
The complex was divided into two main parts:
The Domus Flavia (public wing): included the great Aula Regia (throne room), the Tablinum (audience chamber), the Basilica (imperial tribunal), and the imperial dining hall (cenatio Iovis) overlooking the great central octagonal garden. Dimensions were imposing: the Aula Regia measured approximately 30 × 37 metres.
The Domus Augustana (private wing): the emperor's private rooms, on multiple levels, organised around two superimposed peristyles descending toward the southern escarpment of the hill.
The Palatine Stadium (or Hippodromus Palatii): a grandiose garden in the form of a hippodrome (approximately 50 × 160 metres), colonnaded and with viewing stands, intended for imperial promenades and perhaps private equestrian competitions.
The Septizonium of Septimius Severus
Septimius Severus (193–211 AD) added to the south-eastern end of the Palatine the Septizonium (Septizonium, 203 AD) — a monumental fountain-façade approximately 30 metres high with seven orders of columns (hence the name), designed to impress travellers arriving along the Via Appia. This structure survived until 1588, when Sixtus V demolished it to recover its marble.
Septimius Severus also extended the palatine structures southward with the Severan Palace, an artificial podium that extended the hilltop on massive arches toward the southern escarpment — the enormous substructures of which are still visible from outside.
The Farnese Gardens and the Modern Palatine
After the fall of the Western Empire (476 AD), the Palatine was progressively abandoned. In the Middle Ages monasteries and fortresses were built there. The Renaissance turning point came in 1550 when Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (future Pope Paul III) purchased the hilltop and established there the first private botanical gardens in Europe: the Farnese Gardens (Horti Farnesiani).
The Farnese built terraced gardens above the ruins of the imperial palaces, with loggias, fountains, tree-lined avenues, and the Casino Farnese — a belvedere villa commanding views over the Forum and the city. These gardens remained Farnese property until 1860, when King Victor Emmanuel II purchased the Palatine and initiated the first systematic excavation campaigns.
Modern research has progressively dismantled the Farnese arrangement in the areas affected by ruins, bringing to light the imperial structures. Today the Palatine is an archaeological park open to visitors in which excavated sectors, terraces, vegetation-covered areas, and the ruins of the great palace coexist.
The Palatine Museum
The Palatine Museum is housed in the old Casino of Pius IV and contains the principal finds from the hill's excavations:
- Architectural fragments from the imperial palaces
- Iron Age finds (ceramics, fibulae, hut fragments)
- Detached frescoes from the House of Augustus and the House of Livia
- Sculptures including a statue of Augustus in toga (togatus)
- Votive materials from the sanctuary of Cybele
The museum provides an overview of the hill's millennial stratification, complementing a visit to the site itself.
How to Visit the Palatine Today
The Palatine is included in the combined Colosseum–Roman Forum–Palatine ticket.
- The main entrance from the Roman Forum leads directly to the terraces of the Farnese Gardens
- The House of Augustus and the House of Livia are open by reservation (limited access, exceptionally fine frescoes)
- The Domus Flavia and Domus Augustana: the main structures of Domitian's palace
- The Palatine Stadium: the hippodrome-garden, completely legible in plan
- The Palatine Museum: open during site hours
- The view from the northern edge of the hill offers the finest panorama over the entire Roman Forum
A complete visit takes at least two hours.
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The Palatine is included in the combined Colosseum–Roman Forum–Palatine ticket.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the Palatine called that? The name probably derives from the pastoral goddess Pales or from the Arcadian city of Pallantion. In any case, the Latin Palatium gave rise to the words "palazzo," palace, palais, and palacio in the major European languages.
Can you see the Iron Age huts? Yes: the remains of eighth–ninth century BC huts are visible on the north-western slope of the hill, near the so-called House of Romulus — a small fenced area showing the post-holes of the original wooden structures.
Is the House of Augustus open to visitors? Yes, but with limited access and often by prior reservation. Its Second Pompeian Style frescoes are among the most important preserved in Rome.
Where was the Septizonium? At the south-eastern corner of the Palatine, along the Via Appia. Demolished in 1588 by Sixtus V for its marble. The site is today occupied by the intersection of Via dei Trionfi and Via di San Gregorio.
What are the Farnese Gardens? The first private botanical gardens in Europe, created by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese in 1550 on the summit of the Palatine above the ruins of the imperial palaces. Part of the Farnese arrangement is still visible in the north-western area of the hill.
Article No. 47 — TIER S — MON-03 Roman Forum + Palatine Type: HISTORY Words: ~2,400