Viminal Hill

THE SEVEN HILLS OF ROME

Part 5: The Viminal Hill

By JoFlavius

The Viminal Hill

The Viminal Hill is between the Esquiline and the Quirinal Hills. It is considered a collis, (high hill) rather than a mons (mountain).

Here we find the Aqua Marcia, which was the only aqueduct built by Praetor Q. Marcius Rex, constructed between 144 and 140 B.C. The Aqua Marcia provided clean water to the city that was expanding as a result of military success against Carthage and Macedonia. Its source was a series of springs located on the right bank of the Upper Anio, through several underground catchment channels and the run-off from the slopes of the Simbruini ridge. The Aqua Marcia, incorporating both sub-channels and arches, entered the city through the Porta Maggiore and terminated in a large tank on the Viminal hill, located north of Diocletian's Baths.

Marcia via

The Baths of Diocletian, on the north-east of the Viminal, took ten years to build. They were the largest in Rome, with a surface area of 1,210,000 square feet, capable of accommodating 2000 bathers. The exterior, like that of the thermae of Caracalla and the curia, is faced with white stucco in imitation of construction in blocks of white marble. Sometimes the modest bathing fee of one quadrans was remitted by the Emperor, who sometimes took on the entire costs of the baths for a day, or even a year.

Many working people lived on the Viminal hill. An intersting stelle of Tiburtine stone records a loving couple on the Viminal about 80 BC.

The memorial stele

The main inscription reads: