Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-05-29
RUINS OF INTEREST
IN HEART Of ROME
REGARDED as Probably More
Noted Than Is the Fa-
nous Forum.
PALACE OF THE CAESARS
ON THE PALATINE HILL
But Little Evidence Found, However
of the Magnifcence Of the
Imperial Days.


Colosseum, which is open to the public
without fee, the Roman Forum is best
known to visitors in Rome, for it lies
below the level of the streets surrounding
it. save on the east. and can be studied
easily from open vantage point at the
western end. under the shadow of the
Tabularium. which in ancient times
crowned the Capitoline hill But there
remains in the heart of modern Rome
a still more striking series of ruins: his
torically perhaps even more interesting
than the Forum. which is practically
hidden from view until actually visited
This is the so-called Palace of the Gaze
sars. on the Palatine hill Immediately
adjoining the Forum.
Actually Rome started on the Palatine
and it is there that the Psychologists are
now chiefly engaged in unearthing the
remains not merely of the imperial struc-
lures. which came at a comparatively
late period. hat of the republican build
irSs and even of the prerepublican Etrus-
can masonry.
The earliest record of occupation of the
Palatine is borne in a legend to the effect
that in the eighth century before Christ
. colony of shepherds set out from the
Alban mountains. where the population
pa.ua with arms and fiocks and took pos
session q the hill surrounded by marshes,
where. safeguarded by almost perpen-
dicular rocks. they settled and built walls
and hutS. They Were descendants of
-Aentas. and their leader was Romulus.
the VOLTS nursing. 1t was on the 2lst
of April, runs the tradition, the day sa-
cred 10 the Goodies Pales. worshiped by
these shepherds. that Romulus dug the
first furrow for the construction of the
walls. ana hence came the origin of
'Roue's birthday.
Origin of the Title.
The hill gained the title it bears today
from the name of the goddess under
whose protection the new city was placed
Vet there are traces of an even earlier
occupation of this eminence than by the
Etruscans from the Alban mountains but
nothing practical is at hand to identify
the jewellers or to fix the time of their
residence. When Romulus had built his
wall and the Sabine women had been
stolen. the war with the Sabines followed
and the earliest of the Palatine temples
was built on the northern slope, that of
Jupiter Stator, raised by Romulus to
thank the god for staying the Roman
army when it started to flee before the
Sabines in the Curtain marshes.
Some remains of this temple are now
in evidence, bit of wall overbuilt in
medieval constructors. Also, on the other
side of the hill, Is trace of Etruscan
work which some archaeologists have de-
ciared to be the hut of Romulus himself
Today 1t can be seen beneath protecting
shed. a fragment of masonry held in po-
sition by modern brick pier.
Rome had seven shepherd kings, who
lived on the Palatine and gradually
tended their dominions to the lower lands,
beyond the walls. Then came the re-
publican period, of which only a few
architectural traces remain for the rea-
son that the buildings We're more scat
tered and the valley later known as the
Forum Romanum mad come to be oc-
cupied. Some temples We're erected and
several of the most famous men of this
period had their homes on the height,
including Cicero and Cataline. But very
slight foundations have been unearthed to
furnish clues to the locations of any but
the larger public structures.
The glory of the Palatine began when
augustus chose it for his imperial palace
and from his day until that of Constan-
tine. period of about $50 years. it was
the heart of Rome. the scene of success
stve building enterprises on a great scale
and of ruthless destruction, as emperor
after emperor RACED walls erected by his
predecessors TO make room for his own
-rea lions.
1t is recorded that Augustus having
seized the sole power over Rome in 30
y. c. began his elaborate series of con-
+tructions on the height overlooking the
Forum in order to distract the people
rom thoughts about their lost repub-
lican liberties Tiberius his successor in
- A d, erected a sumptuous palace
which remains today almost completely
buried under the Farnese gardens Some
Gay II Will probably be excavated, but at
the expense of one of the most delight
full spots in Rome. The madman Cali
sula followed Tiberius with a large ex-
tension, which pressed the front of his
palace into the very Forum with the
temple of Castor and Pollux as his ves.
Thule.