DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42497#0075
Section III. The Palatine.
The Palatine, the Coelian, and the Aventine had not been origi-
nally occupied, being so much less strong than the other hills.
These were taken possession of by the new settlers : at first the
Palatine only, and to make this secure it was necessary to have
two wings to it; one to keep up the communication with the Tiber,
then the highway for provisions and materials of all kinds. This
wing was called the Velabrum, and it is probable that when the
water in the Tiber was high enough, boats could sail up to the foot
of the Palatine in a sort of port formed by the mouths of the small
streams that run down from the Palatine on both sides, and from
part of the Quirinal, passing between the Palatine and the Capitol,
and by a branch of the small river Almo, now the Marrana, the small
stream that runs round the base of the Coelian, and then between the
Palatine and the Aventine, where it formed a marsh, which served as
a protection to the west side of that hill.
On the eastern side another protection was necessary, and another
wing was formed by digging a great trench at the foot of the Esqui-
line, leaving a space for a fort, to defend the approach on that side.
This wing was called the Velia, which was always considered as
part of the Palatine. The trench outside of the Velia remains, with
the earth, supported by a wall on each side of it, and in this trench
is a road, now called Via del Colosseo. This trench is about twenty
feet below the level of the ground on the hills on each side, and
forty feet wide ; it has a row of houses down the eastern side of it,
and the present road or street on the western side. The cliffs are
vertical, and supported by walls, and trees may be seen growing on
the ground nearly level with the top of the wall on each side. On
the east side it is behind the houses, and nearly level with the top
of them. To the west of this trench is the Velia, an earthen fortress,
which is nearly triangular, and one corner at the north end of it is
cut away to admit the great Basilica of Constantine. This and the
Arch of Titus opposite to it stood on the Summa Via Sacra, from
which the Clivus Sacer descended to the Via Sacra, and thence to
the Forum Romanum on the north.
The temple of the Lares was on the Summa Via Sacra, as men-
The Palatine, the Coelian, and the Aventine had not been origi-
nally occupied, being so much less strong than the other hills.
These were taken possession of by the new settlers : at first the
Palatine only, and to make this secure it was necessary to have
two wings to it; one to keep up the communication with the Tiber,
then the highway for provisions and materials of all kinds. This
wing was called the Velabrum, and it is probable that when the
water in the Tiber was high enough, boats could sail up to the foot
of the Palatine in a sort of port formed by the mouths of the small
streams that run down from the Palatine on both sides, and from
part of the Quirinal, passing between the Palatine and the Capitol,
and by a branch of the small river Almo, now the Marrana, the small
stream that runs round the base of the Coelian, and then between the
Palatine and the Aventine, where it formed a marsh, which served as
a protection to the west side of that hill.
On the eastern side another protection was necessary, and another
wing was formed by digging a great trench at the foot of the Esqui-
line, leaving a space for a fort, to defend the approach on that side.
This wing was called the Velia, which was always considered as
part of the Palatine. The trench outside of the Velia remains, with
the earth, supported by a wall on each side of it, and in this trench
is a road, now called Via del Colosseo. This trench is about twenty
feet below the level of the ground on the hills on each side, and
forty feet wide ; it has a row of houses down the eastern side of it,
and the present road or street on the western side. The cliffs are
vertical, and supported by walls, and trees may be seen growing on
the ground nearly level with the top of the wall on each side. On
the east side it is behind the houses, and nearly level with the top
of them. To the west of this trench is the Velia, an earthen fortress,
which is nearly triangular, and one corner at the north end of it is
cut away to admit the great Basilica of Constantine. This and the
Arch of Titus opposite to it stood on the Summa Via Sacra, from
which the Clivus Sacer descended to the Via Sacra, and thence to
the Forum Romanum on the north.
The temple of the Lares was on the Summa Via Sacra, as men-