THE SEVEN HILLS OF ROME

Part 6: The Quirinal Hill

By JoFlavius

The Quirinal Hill

The Quirinal Hill is the most northerly of the seven hills of Rome, It slopes off on the north and north-west to the Campus Martius. It is a collis not a mons like the Viminal and a distinguished address since Pomponius Atticus, the recipient of Cicero's letters, was a resident.

The Quirinal Hill's name comes from the god Quirinus, who was identified with Romulus (Ovid, Fasti ii.51) Quirinus was itself derived from quiris, the Sabine word for a lance (Ovid, Fasti ii.477). Others prefer to derive it from the name Quirium and some say it is a derivation from quernus, the oaktree.

The Temple of Quirinus was on this hill, as well as the Temple of Semus Sancus. The Temple of Salus was begun in 307 BC . Salus, salvation, is the personified Roman goddess of health and prosperity, both of the individual and the state. As Salus Publica Populi Romani goddess of the public welfare of the Roman people her temple was inaugurated in 302 BCE (Livy X, 1, 9). Around 180 BCE sacrificial rites in honor of Apollo, Aesculapius, and Salus took place here (Livy XL), 19. Her attribute was a snake or a bowl and her festival was celebrated on March 30. Salus is identified with the Greek goddess Hygieia.

Caracalla built here his Temple of Sarapis and Isis. Caracalla readmitted the Isis cult within the sacred confinements of the city. The religion of the great goddess reached its apogee then.

On the north and west slope of the hill were at least four approaches through cuts or depressions, three of which were marked by gates in the Servian wall, Porta Sanqualis, Porta Salutaris, and Porta Quirinalis.

At the foot of the Quirinal, is the enormous, brick-faced complex known today as Trajan's Market. It is actually composed of several distinct parts and contains the rock face laid bare by the removal of a saddle of stone that connected the Quirinal to the Capitoline Hill. This was part of a vast operation of urban redesign undertaken. At three storeys high, the lowest section of Trajan's Market is a broad semicircle following the curve of the exedra of the Forum of Trajan. It faces the street with a series of small interiors that are tabernae , shops. At either end are two apsidal halls.

Trajan's Market

Above the Via Biberatica are two other nuclei of the complex -a large cross vaulted hall with three storeys of rooms on each side, and further east, a complex of rooms with niches in the walls, arranged around a large domed hall. This is the headquarters of the Procurator, the imperial officer responsible for the management of the Forum of Trajan, and many of the other rooms are offices of the forum administration. Trajan's Forum was inaugurated in 112 AD and his Column in 113 AD. His ashes were placed in a massive gold urn inside the base of the column.

Trajan's Column

The whole is a hymn of triumph of the Emperor over the Dacian barbarians. It was surrounded by porticoes on the side. The porticoes were decorated with stautes of barbarians alternating with reliefs depicting piles of captured arms and portraits of previous emperors. The facade of the basilica overlooking the square had a columnar porch surmounted by a bronze four horse chariot. The short sides were used as courts of Justice.

Next we go to the The Caelian Hill.