The Seven Hills of Rome

Part three: The Aventine Hill

By JoFlavius

Remus favored the Aventine hill, which is the most south of the seven hills, for the building of Roma. Remus sat there to watch for the auspices, and he saw a flight of six white vultures.

Here Gaius Gracchus' supporters, led by Flaccus, held an angry mass demonstration. The consul Lucius Opimius proceded to the Aventine Hill to restore order. Opimius put a militia of legionary infantry and archers on the Aventine hill and the result was a massacre. Gaius, realizing the situation was hopeless, ordered his personal slave to stab him, and ended his life. Following the massacre another 3000 of Gracchus' supporters were arrested, taken to jail and strangled.

When the emperors took over the Palatine, the displaced wealthy folk moved here to the Aventine and build lovely villas, and Varro his extensive library. Much marble from foreign quarries like that of Synnada in Phrygia and the red marble of Chios was transported on ships called naves lapidariae, and unloaded at Ostia. The marble was transported up the Tiber to a depot at the foot of the Aventine still called Marmorata.

At the foot of the hill are the Temples of the Forum Boarium. The round Temple of Hercules and the emple of Portunus are the best preserved of our Republican temples, built in the 2nd c. BC in a combination of Greek and Roman architectural elements.The small circular Temple of Hercules is oftened refered to as the Temple of Vesta, because of its similar shape, but the Temple of Vesta is in the Forum. The Temple of Portunus, (the god of rivers and ports) was built to honor the guardian of the nearby port of Rome. This Temple has sometimes been called the Temple of Fortuna Virilis. Set on a podium, the temple has four
Ionic travertine columns fluted at the front and 12 pilasters.

The Temple of Diana is on the Aventine Hill, dedicated by Servius Tullius. He intended it to replace, as a center of federal Latin worship, the Temple of Diana at Nemi, which had been built by the cities of the Latin League under Tusculum after the destruction of the city of Alba Longa. Horses are not allowed in the Temple of Diana, nor are any men, except for the doomed sacred king of the old year and his eplacement, when that custom was still in place.

Other temples here are those dedicated to Juno, Luna, and Minerva; and the Armilustrium, where arms are ritually purified. An Aquaduct called the Aqua Marcia was built in 144-140 BC by the praetor Quintus Marcius Rex. It is 36 miles long, coming from the springs near Subiaco. Its water ran in canals for 30 miles underground, then for the last 6 miles on arches. In addition to serving the Aventine, the aquaduct also served Caelian and Quirinal areas.

A most curious structure on the Aventine is the pyramid of Caius Cestius. Cestius was a wealthy praetor who died in 12 BC. You probably read about him in Cicero's works, but his fame is his tomb, an imposing pyramid set in the Aurelian Wall. It is 118 ft (36 m) high and took 330 days to build. The core of Cestius' pyramid is good brick-faced Roman concrete on a solid travertine base. Its outer surface is overlaid with slabs of white Italian luna marble. The burial chamber inside is about six meters by four meters and five meters high with painted and stucco decorations.

The pyramid of Caius Cestius