Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Rome's Palatine Hill shows new treasures
AP via Yahoo! ^ | 1-23-07 | ARIEL DAVID

Posted on 01/23/2007 5:07:37 PM PST by Dysart

ROME - Work on Rome's Palatine Hill has turned up a trove of discoveries, including what might be the underground grotto where ancient Romans believed a wolf nursed the city's legendary founders Romulus and Remus.

ADVERTISEMENT

Archaeologists gathered Tuesday at a conference to save crumbling monuments on the Palatine discussed findings of studies on the luxurious imperial homes threatened by collapse and poor maintenance that have forced the closure of much of the hill to the public.

While funds are still scarce, authorities plan to reopen some key areas of the honeycombed hill to tourists by the end of the year, including frescoed halls in the palaces of the emperor Augustus and of his wife, Livia.

After being closed for decades, parts of the palaces will be opened for guided tours while restoration continues, officials said.

It was during the restoration of the palace of Rome's first emperor that workers taking core samples from the hill found what could be a long-lost place of worship believed by ancient Romans to be the cave where a she-wolf suckled Romulus and Remus, the abandoned twin sons of the god of war Mars.

Irene Iacopi, the archaeologist in charge of the Palatine and the nearby Roman Forum, said experts used a probe to peer into the 52-foot-deep cavity and found a vaulted space decorated with frescoes, niches and seashells. It is too early to say for sure whether the worship place known as "lupercale"_ from "lupa," Latin for wolf — has been found, but Roman texts say that it was close to Augustus' palace and that the emperor had restored it, Iacopi said.

"It was a very important symbolic place and we believe that it was well preserved," said Giovanna Tedone, an architect leading the work at the palace. Archaeologists are now looking for the grotto's entrance, she said.

Other finds to have emerged recently from the Palatine's largely unexplored palaces and temples include an ancient Roman sewer, insignia believed to have belonged to the emperor Maxentius, terra-cotta statues and an alabaster tiger striped with gray marble.

Officials said the resurfaced treasures highlight the importance of a hill so favored by the rich and powerful that its name is at the origin of the words "palace" in English, "palais" in French and "palazzo" in Italian.

Today rainwater seeps through stones, roots bore through bricks and retaining walls crack under layer after layer of construction, from the eighth-century B.C. remains of Rome's first fledgling huts to a medieval fortress and Renaissance villas.

Only a quarter of the Palatine's nearly 500 buildings are above the ground and just 40 percent of the hill's 67 acres can be visited.

The latest closure came in November 2005, when a 16th-century wall collapsed one night in a well-visited area near the emperor Tiberius' palace. No one was hurt, but the collapse prompted authorities to study the stability of the hill and its monuments.

Experts said Tuesday they are considering restoring the ancient Roman sewage system to help drain rainwater.

Each year, 4 million people buy a ticket granting access to the Palatine and the nearby Colosseum, but 90 percent of them just go to the ancient arena, said Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli. The minister said that $9 million will be available in 2007 for more restoration on collapse-prone areas such as Tiberius' palace.


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: byzantineempire; constantine; constantinethegreat; constantinople; godsgravesglyphs; maxentius; milvianbridge; palatinehill; roma; romanempire; rome; treasures
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-42 next last
To: Larry Lucido
I'm from Milwaukee and I oughta know
It's Pfalzgraf, Pfalzgraf, wherever you go
Pfalzgraf's the name you will al-l-ways hear
Pfalzgraf's Milwaukee's fi-i-nest beer.
21 posted on 01/24/2007 9:45:58 AM PST by Erasmus (Live was I ere I saw Evil.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Cicero

I wish Americans would start thinking and behaving more like Ancient ROmans than like Hollywood liberals.


22 posted on 01/24/2007 10:12:07 AM PST by ZULU (Non nobis, non nobis Domine, sed nomini tuo da gloriam. God, guts and guns made America great.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: 2ndMostConservativeBrdMember; afraidfortherepublic; Alas; al_c; american colleen; annalex; ...


23 posted on 01/24/2007 7:41:43 PM PST by Coleus (Roe v. Wade and Endangered Species Act both passed in 1973, Murder Babies/save trees, birds, insects)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lady In Blue; Salvation; narses; SMEDLEYBUTLER; redhead; Notwithstanding; nickcarraway; Romulus; ...

This undated photo released by Archeological Superintendent's office in Rome shows archeologists at work on the Palatine Hill, the birth place and power center of ancient Rome. Conservation work on Rome's Palatine Hill has yielded a bounty of new discoveries, including an underground grotto possibly revered as the place where a wolf nursed the city's legendary founders, archaeologists said Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2007. (AP Photo/ Superintendent's office, ho)


Catholic Ping
Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list


24 posted on 01/26/2007 5:42:09 AM PST by NYer (Apart from the cross, there is no other ladder by which we may get to Heaven. St. Rose of Lima)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

Ping!


25 posted on 01/26/2007 5:42:33 AM PST by NYer (Apart from the cross, there is no other ladder by which we may get to Heaven. St. Rose of Lima)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Erasmus

Thanks for that linguistic tidbit!


26 posted on 01/26/2007 6:11:44 AM PST by livius
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: NYer

Interesting.


27 posted on 01/26/2007 6:33:25 AM PST by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Erasmus

"I'm from Milwaukee and I oughta know
It's Pfalzgraf, Pfalzgraf, wherever you go
Pfalzgraf's the name you will al-l-ways hear
Pfalzgraf's Milwaukee's fi-i-nest beer."

Pfalzgraf beer is the right beer anywhere.
Pfalzgraf beer is brewed with special care.
The choicest product of the brewers art.


28 posted on 01/26/2007 6:48:46 AM PST by rogator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: ZULU

Uh, the ancient Romans *did* act like Hollywood liberals.


29 posted on 01/26/2007 8:24:09 AM PST by SunkenCiv ("In theory, theory and practice are the same, but in practice, they're not." -- John Rummel)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

Uh, no they didn't.

They have had similar vices, but they had military and patriotic virtues the Hollywood liberal lack.

Further, they originally were very similar to early Americans in their views of military service, patriotism and pride of country as well as rigid morality.

Only later, LIKE US, did they allow success to warp their value system.


30 posted on 01/26/2007 9:58:57 AM PST by ZULU (Non nobis, non nobis Domine, sed nomini tuo da gloriam. God, guts and guns made America great.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: ZULU

The similar vices (such as men sodomizing boys, favoring oligarchy masquerading as democracy, etc) is what I was talking about. Military and patriotic virtues may have been here and there, as they were in early America, but mostly Rome was an expanding, colonizing, imperial power from the time its monarchy was overthrown.


31 posted on 01/26/2007 10:11:44 AM PST by SunkenCiv ("In theory, theory and practice are the same, but in practice, they're not." -- John Rummel)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv
"The similar vices (such as men sodomizing boys, favoring oligarchy masquerading as democracy, etc) is what I was talking about. "

Interesting statement - it almost applies to current day America it would seem (Foley, Franks, special interest groups and their impact on our republic).

"Military and patriotic virtues may have been here and there, as they were in early America, but mostly Rome was an expanding, colonizing, imperial power from the time its monarchy was overthrown."

To a degree, but the early and middle Republic was far more "moral" than Imperial Rome, or even modern day America in many respects. As late as the Augustan period, Augustus was concerned with public "morality" and although their version of it differed from ours, in some respects his efforts were aimed at problems similar to those we are facing - such as low national birthrates, decline of family values, widespread immoral behavior.

And although Rome was an expanding power, "colonization" consisted in large degree in making subject populations into Romans than exploiting them as a subject race.

I think the similarities between the situation in Ancient Rome and in America are striking in many respects. They failed to address their problems, and collapsed as a consequence. Our failure to address very similar problems may result in a like result today.
32 posted on 01/26/2007 10:49:57 AM PST by ZULU (Non nobis, non nobis Domine, sed nomini tuo da gloriam. God, guts and guns made America great.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

I like your home page. I will visit it often.


33 posted on 01/26/2007 10:54:07 AM PST by ZULU (Non nobis, non nobis Domine, sed nomini tuo da gloriam. God, guts and guns made America great.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: Erasmus
Blatz you für planting dot Earwurm.

;-)

34 posted on 01/26/2007 10:59:36 AM PST by dighton
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv; Dysart; Cicero

I absolutely believe the legend of the wolf.

I spent a month in Italy, mostly Rome a few years ago visiting friends, a doctor and architect. The architect was all in favor of bulldozing all of Rome's ancient monuments and sites and replacing them with new roads and buildings.......he's tired of living in a museum and getting stuck in traffice that winds hither and thither at rush hour around the ruins rather than straight thru.

Such poetic sentiments could only be expressed by one whose ancestors were suckled by a wolf.


35 posted on 01/26/2007 11:15:44 AM PST by Veto! (Opinions freely dispensed as advice)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: ZULU
Augustus was concerned with public "morality"...
He also knocked up Livia when she was still married to her first husband, their child being Drusus.
...in some respects his efforts were aimed at problems similar to those we are facing - such as low national birthrates, decline of family values, widespread immoral behavior.
He tried to address the low rate of marriage among eligible Roman men through new laws. Roman citizenship had been expanded by Julius Caesar, some said diluted, and eventually he was murdered by a Senatorial conspiracy. Prior to and during that time, it had been Senators who had been seizing lands under various artifices, from the very people who had signed up for the armed forces.

After he'd finally achieved victory over Antony and others, Augustus cut the Roman army by about half (56 to 28, plus the Praetorian Guard), and made up the difference by expansion of the auxiliary legions. This was partly to reduce the number of idle troops and thereby reduce the possibility of renewed civil war, but the obvious problem was that there were too few interested in serving.
although Rome was an expanding power, "colonization" consisted in large degree in making subject populations into Romans than exploiting them as a subject race.
The Romans used everyone they conquered, but as with other slavery-based societies, the number on top continued to shrink and the subject peoples increased under the protection of the Roman army. Some of the best emperors were from the provinces, and over time the number of regular legions filled with non-Romans increased. Caesar slaughtered a good chunk of Gaul, which merely made it a tempting place for people east of the Rhine to expand. That remained a problem for Rome, in part due to the declining temperatures during the Roman Cooling pushing people out of Central Asia.
I think the similarities between the situation in Ancient Rome and in America are striking in many respects. They failed to address their problems, and collapsed as a consequence. Our failure to address very similar problems may result in a like result today.
The Romans had a system of measures, a (sort of) unified standard currency, a road system, pretty safe maritime travel and commerce, and a top-notch military. They didn't have a postal system per se, although there were various systems to courier official messages. As was pointed out sometime by someone somewhere :'), the President can communicate across the country faster than Caesar could communicate across his palace. The Romans didn't have what we would call a public school system, nor did they have compulsory public education.

Roman government was very much more like modern socialist states than it was like our republic. The economic peak of the empire was during the reign of Trajan, but he only managed to achieve that through the booty taken by his conquest of Dacia. His boy-butt-lovin' successor (adopted) Hadrian wanted to abandon Dacia, was talked out of it, but withdrew from southern Scotland, and left Trajan's province of Mesopotamia after just a couple of years of Roman occupation. Diocletian tried to impose a regularized system of succession, but it failed. Aurelian was a short-lived bright spot, but was murdered by one of his corrupt aides.

But anyway...

Thanks for your kind remarks about my profile page. My links page is far too large, and I plan to carve it down sooner or later. I also plan to file my income tax return by the end of January, for the first time ever. ;')
36 posted on 01/26/2007 11:27:56 AM PST by SunkenCiv ("In theory, theory and practice are the same, but in practice, they're not." -- John Rummel)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Veto!

Sounds like the architect is (lu)pining for somethin' he's not gonna get.


37 posted on 01/26/2007 11:29:20 AM PST by SunkenCiv ("In theory, theory and practice are the same, but in practice, they're not." -- John Rummel)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: Veto!
he's tired of living in a museum and getting stuck in traffice that winds hither and thither at rush hour around the ruins rather than straight thru.

Such poetic sentiments could only be expressed by one whose ancestors were suckled by a wolf.

Howl can one immersed in this den of antiquity truly appreciate it, though? Alpha bet he'll miss this treasure when it's gone.

38 posted on 01/26/2007 11:40:19 AM PST by Dysart
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv
Caesar slaughtered a good chunk of Gaul, which merely made it a tempting place for people east of the Rhine to expand.

And thus, eventually, the Rhineland Palatinate.

< }B^)

39 posted on 01/26/2007 1:25:26 PM PST by Erasmus (Live was I ere I saw Evil.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: Dysart; 2ndMostConservativeBrdMember; afraidfortherepublic; Alas; al_c; american colleen; ...


40 posted on 01/26/2007 6:29:52 PM PST by Coleus (Roe v. Wade and Endangered Species Act both passed in 1973, Murder Babies/save trees, birds, insects)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-42 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson