Aventine

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Schematic map of the seven hills of Rome
Exterior view of the Basilica of Santa Sabina on the Aventine

The Aventine ( Italian Monte Aventino , Latin Mons Aventinus ) is the southernmost of the seven hills on which ancient Rome was built. It consists of two elevations that belong to Ripa , today's twelfth rione (district) of Rome.

etymology

According to ancient etymological deductions, the hill is said to have been named either after the birds (Latin Aves ) or after the mythical King Aventinus Silvius of Alba Longa or after King Aventinus of the Aborigines , both of whom were buried on the hill. Other contemplated derivations of the name of the Aventine included its name after a son of the same name of Hercules and the priestess Rhea as well as after the river Avens in the land of the Sabines .

geography

The northwestern elevation, the actual Aventine, is located near the Tiber, southwest of the Palatine Hill and separated from it by the valley of the Circus Maximus . The most famous sights of the elevation today are the church of Santa Sabina and Santa Maria del Priorato , the church of the priory of the sovereign Order of Malta . To the south-east of this hill, which rises 41–45 m above sea level, there is a second, somewhat lower elevation, on which the churches of Santa Balbina and San Saba are located. During the era of the Roman Republic (5th – 1st centuries BC) the two hills were considered to be one unit, but they may have originally had different names. When Augustus divided Rome into regions , the emperor proposed the actual Aventine ( Aventinus maior ) to the 13th region, while the southeastern tip ( Aventinus minor ) to the 12th region.

history

The Aventine was of great importance in Roman mythology . According to Virgil , the murderous, fire-breathing giant Cacus lived in a cave on the Aventine and was slain by Hercules because he had stolen part of the Geryon cattle herd . According to the founding legend of Rome, the brothers Romulus and Remus left the decision to the gods as to which of them should have the right to lay out, name and rule the newly founded city. They agreed to have a bird show and whoever saw a flock of vultures first would be the winner. In the older version of the saga, which is tangible in the only fragmentary historical epic by the Roman poet Ennius , Romulus kept a bird's eye view from one of the two hills of the Aventine, while Remus looked elsewhere, probably from the southeastern hill of the Aventine. The more recent tradition, however, has Romulus perform the auspices on the Palatine and Remus on the Aventine. Romulus won the competition and founded Rome. After Remus was killed by his brother or one of his men, he was buried at the Remuria site , which, according to some authors, is said to have been on the Aventine.

According to most of the ancient tradition, the fourth king of Rome, Ancus Marcius , whose reign began in the second half of the 7th century BC. Is set, the first settlement of the Aventine caused. The sixth king of Rome, Servius Tullius , was then the builder of the Temple of Diana on the Aventine , which served as the common sanctuary of the Latin Covenant. Although the actual Aventine has been around since the 6th century BC. Was enclosed by the Servian city wall, which was supposedly built during the reign of Servius Tullius, it was outside the Pomerium .

After the end of the Roman royal period and the beginning of the republic, the Aventine was in state possession, so it represented an ager publicus . According to the around 456 BC. Lex Icilia decided on the local common land in small plots of the plebs . In contrast to the patrician Palatine Hill opposite , the Aventine was initially a plebeian settlement area and also a business district. In the time of the early republic, business was mainly on the northern slopes of the hill, such as the Forum Boarium . As early as 494 BC The plebeians are said to have moved out of Rome and, according to the older annalist Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi , to have gone to the Aventine, according to the more recent tradition, however, to the Mons Sacer in order to paralyze the economic life of Rome and thus to enforce their demands can. A second such secession of the plebs on the Aventine occurred in 449 BC. Occurs. 391 BC The politician and general Marcus Furius Camillus consecrated the temple of Juno Regina, which was built after the conquest of the Etruscan city ​​of Veji . On the Aventine there were also temples of the moon goddess Luna , Iuppiter Libertas and Minerva . Ennius owned a private house on the hill.

During the era of the republic, the Aventine was repeatedly a breeding ground for social unrest, for example under the tribunate of Gaius Sempronius Gracchus , who died shortly before his death in 121 BC. First fled to the Diana temple on the elevation. In the 1st century AD there was a slow change in the character of the Aventine, which now increasingly became a popular residential area for the wealthier classes of the population. In 47 AD, Emperor Claudius expanded the Pomerium of Rome so that the Aventine was now also part of it. The emperors Vitellius , Trajan and Hadrian lived temporarily on the hill, which also served as the location for the thermal baths of Lucius Licinius Sura built during the reign of Trajan (98–117) and the thermal baths of Decius built in 252. When the Visigoths conquered Rome under their King Alaric I in 410 , they looted and almost completely destroyed the wealthy villas on the Aventine.

In 1924, after the murder of Giacomo Matteotti , many anti-fascist MPs left the Italian Chamber of Representatives and, like the plebeians who were fighting for their rights, retired to the Aventine. With this step, this group called Aventinians ended their political activity. Their organization was dissolved after Benito Mussolini's position was consolidated .

Today the Aventine is a quiet, green, but also very expensive residential area in the Roman old town.

literature

Remarks

  1. ^ Servius , Commentary on Virgil , Aeneis 7, 657; Varro , De lingua Latina 5, 43 and 5, 48; among others
  2. ^ Virgil, Aeneis 8, 193-270.
  3. ↑ Ennius, Annales 1, 78-93.
  4. ^ Dionysios of Halicarnassus , Antiquitates Romanae 1, 87; Plutarch , Romulus 11.
  5. ^ Dionysios of Halicarnassus, Antiquitates Romanae 3, 43; Titus Livius , Ab urbe condita 1, 33.
  6. ↑ Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitates Romanae 4, 26; Livy, Ab urbe condita 1, 45; Varro, De lingua Latina 5, 8; among others
  7. ↑ Aulus Gellius , Noctes Atticae 13, 14.
  8. ^ Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitates Romanae 10, 31; Livy, Ab urbe condita 3, 31f.
  9. ^ Livy, Ab urbe condita 2, 32f .; among others
  10. ^ Livy, Ab urbe condita 3, 50ff .; among others
  11. ^ Livy, Ab urbe condita 5:22 ; Plutarch, Camillus 6; among others
  12. ↑ Ovid , Fasti 3, 883; Livy, Ab urbe condita 40, 2, 2; Appian , Civil Wars 1, 78; Vitruvius , De architectura 5, 5, 8; among others
  13. ^ Livy, Ab urbe condita 24, 16 and 24, 19; among others
  14. ↑ Fragment from Suetonius , p. 24 ed. Reifferscheid.
  15. ↑ CIL 6, 1231
  16. ↑ Cassius Dio , Roman History 68, 15.
  17. ↑ Eutropius , Breviarium ab urbe condita 9, 4.

Coordinates: 41 ° 53 ′ 2 "  N , 12 ° 28 ′ 53"  E