The importance of the seven hills according to the archaeology

The connection of the hills with Cybele

We know according to the literature that the Romans disgust the

worship goddess Cybele especially by the practices of their priests.1

However, the archaeologist shows us the contrary when Pietro Rosa

found in 1872 an image of Cybele seated on a throne, and others statues

of Attis2 that discovery as mentions Burns was important because the

representations of Attis emphasizing his act of self-mutilation, suggest

that the people of the city of Rome did not find Cybeles castrated

priests, known as the Galloi, and the self-mutilation aspect of her cult as

abhorrent as the literary sources suggest3

According to the archaeology the temple of the magna Mather

(Cybele) was located on the Palatine hill4, and as Roller mentions, The

position of the Mother's shrine, in a prominent place in the heart of

Rome and in close proximity to other venerable Republican monuments,

1 Jaime Alvar Ezquerra and R. L. Gordon, "Romanising Oriental

Gods : Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and
Mithras," (2008): 257, http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004132931.i-
486.

2
3 Krishni Burns, "Cybele and Her Cult at Rome: National Embarrassment
or Benevolent Savior?," Chronika 33 (211): 34, accessed 21 March 2017,
http://www.chronikajournal.com/resources/Burns%202011.pdf.

4 Lynn E. Roller, In Search of God the Mother : The Cult of

Anatolian Cybele (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), 272.
is in itself a statement about the high esteem in which the Romans held

this cult5

Seven channels diverted the over- flow of the aqueducts into the
sewers. The Cloaca Maxima (the central collector for all the others from
the forum to the foot of the Aventine Hill) may still be seen today with its
semicircular arch, 16 feet in diameter, opening into the Tiber River at the
Ponte Rotto6

The Circus Maximus, built between the Palatine and Aventine hills in
Rome. It was 2000 feet long and 650 feet wide7

The Circus Maximus seated about sixty thousand spectators at the time
of Augustus, but was enlarged continually until in the time of
Constantine (early fourth century) it held two hundred thousand. Twelve
starting gates allowed twelve chariots to race at one time, although four
was the usual number, or sometimes eight. James Butler comments,
"The circus stirred the rivalries and passions of the Roman mob to an
almost unbelievable pitch and ultimately helped to undermine the moral
and social fabric of the Empire." It was probably here that most of the
Christian martyrdoms occurred in the period prior to Constantine.8

The Heart of Rome

Rome was built on seven hills along the east bank of the Tiber about 15
miles from its mouth. At the city's center were the Palatine and
Capitoline hills. Eastward from there, in an arc from the south to the
north, lay the Aventine, Caelian, Esquiline, Viminal, and Quirinal hills.
The heart of the city was the area between the Palatine and Esquiline
hills; people gathered there in the Roman Forum and the imperial fora to
conduct commercial, political, and religious affairs. By the first century
B.C. the Palatine had become the choicest residential area in Rome with
5 Ibid., 273.
6 John McRay, Archaeology and the New Testament (Grand Rapids,
Mich.: Baker Academic, 2008), 51.

7 Ibid., 63.

8 Ibid.
the homes of such notables as Cicero, Mark Antony, and Augustus
Caesar. Augustus was born in this district.168 Just to the south of the
Palatine area was the Colosseum, and to the west, be- tween the
Palatine and Aventine hills, stood the Circus Maximus (see p. 60). Many
Christians lost their lives in the arena of the Circus Maximus9

One intriguing structure in Rome is the Mamertine Prison, which is at

the foot of Capitoline Hill near the Temple of Con- cord. Since the
sixteenth century it has been called San Pietro in Carcere, preserving a
tradition that Peter was imprisoned there. Either Peter or Paul or both
could have been incarcerated in this two-level prison.178 Paul spent two
years in house arrest in Rome (Acts 28: 16,30) but he was later
imprisoned again (2 Tim 4:6-8), possibly as he awaited his final trial and
execution10

BATHS OF CONSTANTINE (THERMAE CONSTANTINIANAE)

The last of the great Roman Imperial baths in Rome.

The baths were constructed during the reign of Constantine (ca. a .d.
315) in the aristocratic quarter of the Quirinal Hill11

BATHS OF DIOCLETIAN (THERMAE DIOCLETIANI)

Roman imperial bath complex.

According to an eighth-century copy of the building inscription, the

largest of the imperial thermae in Rome was begun by Maximian in a.d.
298 and dedicated to his coregent Diocletian. The gigantic complex was
finished in rec ord time between May 305 and July 306. Its bricks
uniformly carry stamps of the Diocletianic period. The complex occupies

9 Ibid., 341.
10 Ibid., 347.

11 Nancy Thomson De Grummond, "Encyclopedia of the History of

Classical Archaeology," (2015): 131,
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=991960.
the high ground northeast of the Viminal Hill, serving the residents of
this quarter as well as the Quirinal and the Esquiline hills12

BELVEDERE TORSO. Fragmentary marble sculpture of an over-lifesize

male torso, dating to the first century B.C., frequently identified as
Hercules.

The torso is first referred to in a comment on its inscription attributed to

*Ciriaco of Ancona, who was in Rome in 1424 and again between 1432
and 1434; in that period the piece was in the collection of the *Colonna
family, located on the lower Quirinal Hill near SS. Apostoli. By ca. 1500,
the work seems to have come into the possession of the sculptor Andrea
*Bregno, also living on the Quirinal13

In more recent years the family has recovered something of its former
property. GIAN GIACOMO BORGHESE (1889-1954), with a degree in
electrical engineering, was a pilot in World War I. He was active in fascist
circles, having taken part in the activities at Milan in 1919 opposing the
socialists; he served as governor of Rome during a large part of World
War II (1939-43) and was involved in much archaeological activity on the
*Capitoline Hill and neighboring areas. He can be credited with the
discovery of the Temple of Apollo Sosianus and with paving the
Campidoglio according to the plan of *Michelangelo14

CAMPANA RELIEFS. Terracotta relief slabs, mass-produced during the

Late Roman Republic and Early Empire (ca. 50 b .c . - a .d . 150); mostly
found in Rome and named for their collector, Marchese G. P. *Campana.

Campanas collection of these reliefs was displayed to an interested

public in Rome in the mid-nineteenth century; doubts were soon raised
because of his methods of restoration (he had his own pottery and
employed the skillful restorer Pennelli). The collection was subsequently
sold to the *Louvre to help pay Campanas debts. More recently,
important specimens of Campana reliefs have been excavated by G.
Carettoni at the temple of Apollo on the *Palatine Hill in Rome15
12 Ibid., 132.
13 Ibid., 146.

14 Ibid., 176.

15 Ibid., 224.
THE CAPITOLINE HILL

Among the seven hills of Rome, the Capitoline is one of three nearest
the Tiber (Capitoline, Aventine, and Palatine) that were important for
both defense and access to the river so crucial to Roman commerce 16

The Capitoline Hill is one of the smallest of Romes seven hills and
consists of three geologic units produced by activity over the last
600,000 years17
Roman tradition always argued that the city of Rome had a privileged
position, due to its seven main hills and the Tiber River18

The best preserved round cisterns, cut into the tuff and lined with cut
blocks, come from the Palatine, near the so-called House of Livia, the
Scalae Caci, and the Domus Augustana (Cifani, 2008: 15462). Without
accompanying small finds, such structures are difficult to date, but the
Palatine examples have been dated to the archaic period. Remains of six
wells are located on the Capitoline Hill, of which at least two have been
dated to the archaic period because of the pottery found in them (Cifani,
2008: 109)19

Walls and Gates

A few sections of walls consisting of squared blocks in the local grey

cappellaccio tuff have been found on the Capitoline hill and in other
areas of the city (Roma medio republicana, 1973: 731; Cifani, 2008: 45
73). It has been proposed that these walls are Archaic (seventh to sixth
century) and that they formed part of a continuous fortification wall
which included the main hills and was laid out in the same line as the
subsequent city wall, the so-called Servian Wall, built of blocks of a
yellow tuff, Grotta Oscura, and dated to after 400. The debate
concerning the existence of an early continuous wall is based on the use
and date of the building materials, in that the local grey cappellaccio tuff
16 Grant Heiken, Renato Funiciello, and Donatella de Rita, The
Seven Hills of Rome : A Geological Tour of the Eternal City (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 2013), 27.

17 Ibid., 28.
18 Jane DeRose Evans, "A Companion to the Archaeology of the
Roman Republic," (2013): 408.

19 Ibid., 409.
is generally dated to the Archaic period, whereas the yellow Grotta
Oscura tuff was quarried primarily in the territory of Veii, a city to which
Rome did not gain access until after 396 (Harris, 2001: 543; Chapter 17).
The massive sections of the line of wall that is still visible today are
usually referred to as the Servian Wall, whether or not any phase of it
corresponds with the references in the historical sources to a city wall
constructed during the reign of king Servius Tullius (Livy I.44; Cifani,
2008: 25564). An even more controversial association to a figure in
Roman history is found in a stretch of wall located on the northern slope
of the Palatine Hill. It has been linked to the first king of Rome, Romulus,
based on the historical accounts, which describe the founding of the city,
and a wall erected by Romulus and the corresponding gate, the Porta
Mugonia (Livy I.7; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 2.50.3; Carandini and Carafa,
1995 [2000]; Carandini, 2004)20

Burials

Although often referred to as the Esquiline cemetery, the burial ground

on this hill is not confined to a limited area but rather scattered widely,
and includes burials from the Iron Age period phase IIB (or around 800)
through the Roman monarchy and Republic (Gjerstad, 1956: 162266;
Civilta, 1976: 12545; Holloway, 1994: 213; Barbera et al., 2005). Many
important finds come from this cemetery, including an inscription
discussed below, and the area as a whole displays a continuity not
known from other parts of Rome21

Houses and huts

The remains on the Cermalus Hill of the Palatine preserve the outline of
cuttings in volcanic tuff of a large oval hut measuring c. 12 by 8m
(NDTAR 74; Cifani, 2008: 265). As suggested by the cuttings of postholes
in the tuff, the center of the hut was supported by a main wooden pole,
with others forming the outline of the exterior wall, made of clay and
reeds.
Because of its location on the Palatine, and references in later historical
texts to a hut of Romulus (for example, Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 1.79.11)
that was maintained and continuously repaired as a monument of
Romes past, this hut plays a major role in the discussion of the historical
20 Ibid., 211.
21 Ibid., 412, 13.
tradition in relation to the archaeological remains (Angelelli and Falzone,
1999; Carandini and Cappelli, 2000: 2412; Smith, 2005). That there was
a settlement on the Palatine in the early Iron Age seems clear, and
traces of later huts indicate that the settlement continued even into the
Archaic period in the sixth century or even later (Brocato, 2000; Smith,
2005: 967)22

The first decorated roofs

The first decorated roofs (after c. 590) come from areas in the Forum
(the area of Comitium and underneath the later Regia) and the
Capitoline Hill, and later (c. 530) in the same areas but also on the
Palatine23

Temple of Jupiter

Although known from descriptions in the ancient texts and from coins,
the preserved remains of the temple consist mainly of sections of the
podium and fragments of the roofing system, all of which lead to suggest
that it was a monumental complex, larger than any other temple from
central Italy24

Statue of a fallen Amazon, found on the Esquiline Hill25

Writing

As can be expected for early Rome, there is only scant evidence of

writing, consisting of inscriptions for a variety of contexts The texts
range from individual words to names and short phrases and an example
of a religious law, but together they provide examples of all three
languages represented in Rome, that is, Latin, Etruscan and Greek.
22 Ibid., 413.

23 Ibid., 414.
24 Ibid., 214, 15.
25 Ibid., 419.
Also written in Latin is a text inscribed on the so-called Duenos vase of
buccheroid impasto, consisting of three miniature bowls joined together
(Cristofani, 1990: 201). The vase was part of a votive deposit found on
the Quirinal Hill (Bartoloni, 198990; see above) and the inscription,
dated to the mid-sixth century, seems to contain a dedication (Colonna,
1979b: 16372)26

There are more than seven hills

It is often said that the city of Rome was built on seven hills. For those
who study the topography of the ancient city more closely, this old
chestnut is, of course, stretching things. There are more than seven hills
on the east bank of the Tiber, and sooner or later the Romans chose to
occupy all of them. In addition, the list itself has varied over the ages.
And in the eyes of the earth scientist and the geo-archaeologist, they are
not really hills at all. Two of them, the Capitoline and Palatine, are
isolated remnants of a low volcanic plateau at the foot of the Alban Hills
volcano27

26 Ibid.
27 Ibid., 169.
Bibliography

Alvar Ezquerra, Jaime and R. L. Gordon. "Romanising Oriental Gods :

Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and
Mithras." (2008). http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004132931.i-
486.

Burns, Krishni. "Cybele and Her Cult at Rome: National Embarrassment

or Benevolent Savior?" Chronika 33 (211). Accessed 21 March
2017. http://www.chronikajournal.com/resources/Burns 2011.pdf.

De Grummond, Nancy Thomson. "Encyclopedia of the History of Classical

Archaeology." (2015). http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=991960.

Evans, Jane DeRose. "A Companion to the Archaeology of the Roman

Republic." (2013).

Heiken, Grant, Renato Funiciello, and Donatella de Rita. The Seven Hills
of Rome : A Geological Tour of the Eternal City. Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 2013.

McRay, John. Archaeology and the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich.:
Baker Academic, 2008.

Roller, Lynn E. In Search of God the Mother : The Cult of Anatolian

Cybele. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.