Velia (Rome)

View from the Palatine Hill to the hill Velia in front of it with Maxentius Basilica , Arch of Titus and (hidden) Temple of Venus and Roma .

The Velia (rarely also in the plural Veliae ) was an early settled hill in Rome , which met the Palatine to the northeast and connected this hill with the Oppius . In the older settlement history, the Velia was one of the seven hills of Rome that were distinguished in connection with the Roman festival of Septimontium in December. Later the ridge was almost completely leveled by the imperial buildings (further demolitions were carried out under Benito Mussolini during the construction of the Via dei Fori Imperiali ) and was no longer counted among the seven hills of Rome. The exact extent of the area known as Velia is not clear.

Rome in 753 - The Velia is in the north of the Palatine Hill

Sanctuaries and settlements were built on the Velia at an early stage. The temple for Iupiter Stator and the sanctuary (aedes) of the Penates used to be located there . Remains of the temple of Venus and Roma built on the highest point , the Arch of Titus and the Via Sacra have been preserved . Next to the Velia, the Maxentius basilica was built on a large, artificial terrace .

Temple of Venus and Roma on the highest point (from the Colosseum )

literature

• Samuel Ball Platner , Thomas Ashby : A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome . Oxford University Press, London 1929, p. 550 ( online ).
• Christoph Höcker : Velia [2]. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 12/1, Metzler, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-476-01482-7 .
• Gerhard Radke : Velia 2. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 5, Stuttgart 1975, Sp. 1158.