Founding of Rome - Archaeology

Archaeology

The original Italian people inhabited the Alban Hills. They later moved down into the valleys, which provided better land for agriculture. The area around the Tiber river was particularly advantageous and offered notable strategic resources: the river was a natural border on one side, and the hills could provide a safe defensive position on the other side. This position would also have enabled the Latins to control the river and the commercial and military traffic on it from the natural observation point at Isola Tiberina. Moreover, road traffic could be controlled since Rome was at the intersection of the principal roads to the sea coming from Sabinum (in the northeast) and Etruria (to the northwest).

The development of the town is presumed to have started from the development of separate small villages located at the top of hills. They eventually joined together to form Rome.

Although recent studies suggest that the Quirinal hill was very important in ancient times, the first hill to be inhabited seems to have been the Palatine (therefore confirming the legend), which is also at the center of ancient Rome. Its three peaks, the minor hills (Cermalus or Germalus, Palatium, and Velia), were united with the three peaks of the Esquiline (Cispius, Fagutal, and Oppius), and then villages on the Caelian Hill and Suburra.

These hills had expressive names. The Caelian Hill was also called Querquetulanus, from "quercus"" (oak), nd "Fagutal" (pointing to beech-woods, from "fagus" meaning "beech"). Recent discoveries revealed that the Germalus on the northern part of the Palatine was the site of a village (dated to the 9th century BC) with circular or elliptic dwellings. It was protected by a clay wall (perhaps reinforced with wood), and it is likely that this is where Rome was really founded.

The territory of this federation was surrounded by a sacred border called the pomerium, which enclosed the so-called Roma quadrata (Square Rome). This was extended with the inclusion of the Capitoline Hill and Tiber Island when Rome became an oppidum, or fortified town. The Esquiline still was a satellite village that would be included at the time of the Servian expansion of Rome.

Festivals for the Septimontium (literally "of the seven hills"), on December 11, were in the past considered related to the foundation. However, because April 21 is the only date for Rome's foundation upon which all the legends agree, it has been recently argued that Septimontium celebrated the first federations among Roman hills: a similar federation was, in fact, celebrated by the Latins at Cave, Italy, or at Monte Cavo (in Castelli).