Parker, John Henry: The archaeology of Rome (1,text): I. The primitive fortifications (Oxford [u.a.], 1874)

58

Primitive Fortifications.

[CHAP. I.

that the temple of Quirinus was within its walls, as in early times
a temple was usually built in a place of security within the walls of
a fortress of some kind *.
The history of the Collis Viminalis and Collis Esquilinus is com-
prised in what has been said of the Collis Quirinalis. They were
all three called cottes, and not montes, because they were not so
much distinct mounts as connected promontories. But they formed
part of the seven hills of Rome in the time of Servius Tullius, which
did not include either the Pincian or the Janiculumm.
The Viminal has scarped cliffs, which may be distinctly seen at
intervals. On the north side, opposite to the church' of S. Vitale,
the cliff is supported for some distance by a wall of the Kings, of
the usual character, of large blocks of tufa split, not sawn, and built
without mortar, but of later character than that on the Palatine;
against this a wall of a house of the time of the Republic has been
built. In front of this again, lower down on the slope, a building of
the early Empire of some importance has been erected, of which there
are considerable remains, called the Lavacrum of Agrippina, from an
inscription found there, and agreeing with that date; there are few
places where the three periods can be seen so distinctly marked.
On the south side the house of the Pudens family is built against
the cliff, and conceals it. At the west end the cliff may be seen
behind the houses in the Suburra, the back windows of which often
look right against the rock and the wall supporting it. The Esqui-
line also has scarped cliffs, which can still be seen in many places n.
The great agger of Servius Tullius is the vallum or bank or earth-
work which extends for about a mile, to protect this north-eastern
part of the city of the Kings in a part where the slope of the ground
was so gradual that it could not be scarped, or cut into vertical cliffs
in the same manner as the other hills. This agger was cut through
obliquely in making the railway into Rome, and remains of the Porta
Viminalis were found. In the summer of 1864, in adding a new
siding just within the station on the north side, the workmen came

1 The Torre dei Conti, on the south-
west corner of the Quirinal, is built
upon an early tufa wall connected with
other tufa walls. Can this have been
the Capitolum Vetus, and the residence
of Numa ?
m Although the number of the Seven
Hills, in the first instance, was made up
by considering the Quirinal, Viminal,
and Esquiline as three hills ; when the
city was enlarged, and the Pincian and
Janiculum were included, the number

seven was retained by considering the
three as one hill. Thus we have in the
Supplementary of the Curiosum Urbis
and Notitia:—“Montes vii. Mons
Coelius, Aventinus, Exquilinus, Janicu-
lensis, Palatinus, Tarpeius, Vaticanus.”
n The most important part of the
ancient scarped cliffs of this hill, the
point where the south end of the agger
joins on to them, has long been enclosed
in the garden of a nunnery, and there-
fore inaccessible.