fbpx
Wikipedia

Caelian Hill

April 15, 2024

The Caelian Hill (/ˈsiːliən/ SEE-lee-ən; Latin: Collis Caelius; Italian: Celio [ˈtʃɛːljo]) is one of the famous seven hills of Rome.

Geography edit

 
The Caelian Hill seen from the Aventine Hill.

The Caelian Hill is a sort of long promontory about 2 km (1.2 mi) long, 400 m (0.25 mi) to 500 m (0.31 mi) wide, and 50 m (160 ft) tall in the park near the Temple of Claudius.[1] The hill overlooks a plateau from which the Esquiline, Viminal and Quirinal hills also arise.

Caeliolus (also Caeliculus or Caelius Minor) corresponds to a section of the hill, maybe the westernmost one, towards the valley that houses the Colosseum, or the one now occupied by the Basilica dei Santi Quattro Coronati.

History edit

Archaic age edit

 
Schematic map of Rome showing the seven hills and Servian wall.

Under the reign of Tullus Hostilius, the entire population of Alba Longa was forcibly resettled on the Caelian Hill.[2] According to a tradition recounted by Varro,[3] the hill received its name from the Etruscan folk hero Caelius Vibenna, because he either settled there or was honored posthumously by his friend Servius Tullius. Other authors have linked the name to the Latin caelum, "heaven".[4] Nevertheless, the former name of the hill probably was Querquetulanus mons due to the abundance of oaks (Latin: Quercus). Scholarship suggests that there existed the ethnic name Querquetulani as a designation of the previous inhabitants of Caelius, in pre-Etruscan times.[5]

 
Detail of a facsimile of a fresco in the François Tomb at Vulci. Caelius Vibenna is the far left. 4th century BC

Mons Caelius would have been included in the city perimeter under the reign of Ancus Marcius.[6] The list of Septimontium mentions it, and it was part of the 1st city quarter (Suburana) in the division made by Servius Tullius. In the later Augustan division, it became the Regio II Caelimontium.

A trace of the archaic period remains in the memory of cults of woods and sources, such as that of the nymph Egeria in the wood of Camenae, just outside Porta Capena. Numa Pompilius is said[by whom?] to have been particularly devoted to his sanctuary.

Republican age edit

In Republican age (as well in Imperial Rome) the Caelian Hill was a fashionable residential district and the site of residences of the wealthy. A section of Pliny the Elder's Natural History, "Who Was the First to Encrust the Walls of Houses at Rome with Marble", attests to this.[7] Mamurra, a soldier who served under Julius Caesar in Gaul and profited tremendously from corruption, achieved this expensive feat on the Caelian Hill; Horace and Catullus mocked him accordingly.[8]

Most of the hill was outside the boundaries of the pomerium, therefore temples to foreign divinities were allowed to be built, such as the Temple of Minerva Capta or the old Sacellum of Diana, outside the Servian Wall.

Some sepulchres, such as the burial chamber in Via Celimontana, just before Piazza di San Giovanni in Laterano, date back to this period.

Imperial age edit

 
This basanite statue of Agrippina the Younger as a priestess of the divine Claudius, 54–59 AD, was discovered on the Caelian Hill in 1885.

Under Augustus the Caelian Hill was one of the 14 divisions of the town, called Caelimontium. The area between the Lateran and Porta Maggiore was included in the v Regio (Esquiliae), though physically it is part of the hill.

On the higher point of the side facing the Colosseum, the Temple of Claudius was erected on a huge supporting platform. It was dedicated to the Emperor Claudius and begun by his widow Agrippina after his death and deification in 54 AD; it was not ultimately finished until the reign of Vespasian.[9] Nero added a grand nymphaeum (tiered water fountain) to the eastern retaining wall of this platform, with semi-circular and rectangular niches.[10] The water to supply this fountain was supplied by a special branch of the Aqua Claudia, called the Arcus Neroniani, which extended 2 kilometres west from the Claudia at Porta Maggiore and terminated on the southern side of the Caelian Hill in a structure called the Aqueductium. The Aqueductium distributed the water via conduits to reservoirs behind the nymphaeum and to the site of the temple.[10][11]

The remains found in the area of the hill allow one to reconstruct a conspicuous housing phase in the second half of the 2nd century AD, while former buildings of the 1st century BC were probably destroyed by a fire in AD 27.

Jerome alleges that Marcus Aurelius was born on the Caelian Hill in AD 121.[7]

In the 4th century rich domus, surrounded by vast parks, stood on the hill, such as the ones belonging to the Symmachi (near which rose the Basilica hilariana) and Tetrici families, as well as the domus Faustae, maybe belonged to the wife of Constantine I. The property of the Annii, of Domitia Lucilla Minor (the mother of Marcus Aurelius) and of the Quintilii became part of the Domus Vectiliana of Commodus.

In the interurban area of the hill several barracks were built for the troops stationed in the capital: in the site of the Basilica of Saint Stephen in the Round there were the Castra Peregrina (built under Trajan and restored several times in the following centuries), close to a large house of the Valerii (domus Valerii). Opposite, stood the headquarters of the V Cohort of the Vigiles (stazio cohortis V vigilum).

In a land possession of the Laterani family Septimius Severus built between 193 and 197 the castra nova equitum singularium, a new barrack for the knights corps of the imperial guard, opposite the former barrack built under Trajan (castra priora equitum singularium). When Constantine I dissolved the corps, the new basilica dedicated to the Messiah, which later became the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, partially occupied the area of the Severian camp.

The decisive battle in the 271 revolt of mint workers, led by Felicissimus, took place on the Caelian Hill.[12] It is possible that this uprising was somehow connected with the senatorial and equestrian classes, as Aurelian executed several senators.

The buildings of the Caelian hill were badly damaged during the sack of Alaric in 410; starting from this period, the hill was subject to increasing abandonment and ruralization.

Middle Ages edit

In the 6th century it was part of the II Roman ecclesiastical region due to its proximity to the Lateran basilica, so much so that the toponym of "Laterano" was often used for the entire hill. The erection of the Patriarchium, probably still in 6th Century, gave rise to the creation of various tituli (the oldest places of Christian worship, often within private houses) and xenodochia (centers for the assistance and reception of pilgrims and sick).

New churches continued to be built, initially to replace and above the former tituli, later independently, such as the Basilica of Saints John and Paul, the Basilica of the Four Crowned Martyrs, the Basilica of St. Mary in Domnica, the Basilica of St. Stephen in the Round, the church of San Giovanni a Porta Latina, the church of San Gregorio al Celio, the church of San Tommaso in Formis, the church of San Sisto Vecchio

Monasteries, often surrounded by estates and gardens, were also founded on the hill, as well as some towers of noble families, mainly in the 10th and 11th centuries. A new destruction was suffered with the sack of 1084.

Since the 12th century, it was part of the Regio Montium, which even extended to the Quirinal Hill.

Later history edit

Today the Caelian Hill is included in the Rione of the same name and, continuing its vocation for assistance, hosts the Policlinico Militare del Celio, built on a project by Salvatore Bianchi and Filippo Laccetti.

George Santayana lived in a room at the Convent of English Blue Sisters on the Caelian Hill from 1912 until his death.

Monuments edit

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ . Archived from the original on March 24, 2018. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
  2. ^ Titus Livy. "28–30". From the Founding of the City: Book 1: The Earliest Legends of Rome. Canon Roberts (translator). Retrieved January 23, 2011 – via Wikisource.
  3. ^ Marcus Terentius Varro, On the Latin Language, 5.46
  4. ^ Anderson, Benedict (July 6, 2017). Buried City, Unearthing Teufelsberg: Berlin and its Geography of Forgetting. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781317170686 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ Loicq, Jean. "Sur les peuples de nom «vénète» ou assimilé dans l’Occident européen". In: Etudes Celtiques, vol. 35, 2003. p. 146. DOI: 10.3406/ecelt.2003.2153.
  6. ^ Strabo, Geographica, V, 3,7.
  7. ^ a b Mann, Euphemia M. (March 1, 1926). "Some Private Houses in Ancient Rome". The Classical Weekly. 19 (16): 127–132. doi:10.2307/30107860. JSTOR 30107860.
  8. ^ Bostock, John. "Pliny the Elder, Natural History". Perseus Project. Tufts University. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  9. ^ "Stanford Forma Urbis Romae Project". formaurbis.stanford.edu. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  10. ^ a b Andrea Carandini (2017). Atlas of Ancient Rome. Princeton University Press. p. 347.
  11. ^ Rodolfo Lanciani (1897). The Ruins and Excavations of Ancient Rome. Houghton Mifflin & Co. p. 351.
  12. ^ Syvänne, Ilkka (2020). Aurelian and Probus: The Soldier Emperors Who Saved Rome. Yorkshire: Pen and Sword Military. p. 84. ISBN 978-1-5267-6750-9.

Bibliography edit

  • Filippo Coarelli, Guida archeologica di Roma, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Verona 1984.
  • Caelius I Santa Maria in Domnica San Tommaso in Formis e il clivus Scauri, edited by A. Englen, Erma di Bretschneider, Rome 2003
  • Livy, Book One

External links edit

  • Samuel Ball Platner, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome: Caelian Hill

41°53′06″N 12°29′48″E / 41.88500°N 12.49667°E / 41.88500; 12.49667

April 15, 2024
caelian, hill, latin, collis, caelius, italian, celio, ˈtʃɛːljo, famous, seven, hills, rome, seven, hills, romelatin, namecollis, caeliusitalian, nameceliorioneceliobuildingsbaths, caracalla, villa, celimontanachurchessanti, giovanni, paolo, santo, stefano, ro. The Caelian Hill ˈ s iː l i e n SEE lee en Latin Collis Caelius Italian Celio ˈtʃɛːljo is one of the famous seven hills of Rome Caelian HillOne of the seven hills of RomeLatin nameCollis CaeliusItalian nameCelioRioneCelioBuildingsBaths of Caracalla Villa CelimontanaChurchesSanti Giovanni e Paolo Santo Stefano Rotondo San Gregorio Magno al Celio San Tommaso in Formis Santa Maria in DomnicaPeopleTullus Hostilius Caelius Vibenna Servius Tullius Contents 1 Geography 2 History 2 1 Archaic age 2 2 Republican age 2 3 Imperial age 2 4 Middle Ages 2 5 Later history 3 Monuments 4 See also 5 References 6 Bibliography 7 External linksGeography edit nbsp The Caelian Hill seen from the Aventine Hill The Caelian Hill is a sort of long promontory about 2 km 1 2 mi long 400 m 0 25 mi to 500 m 0 31 mi wide and 50 m 160 ft tall in the park near the Temple of Claudius 1 The hill overlooks a plateau from which the Esquiline Viminal and Quirinal hills also arise Caeliolus also Caeliculus or Caelius Minor corresponds to a section of the hill maybe the westernmost one towards the valley that houses the Colosseum or the one now occupied by the Basilica dei Santi Quattro Coronati History editArchaic age edit nbsp Schematic map of Rome showing the seven hills and Servian wall Under the reign of Tullus Hostilius the entire population of Alba Longa was forcibly resettled on the Caelian Hill 2 According to a tradition recounted by Varro 3 the hill received its name from the Etruscan folk hero Caelius Vibenna because he either settled there or was honored posthumously by his friend Servius Tullius Other authors have linked the name to the Latin caelum heaven 4 Nevertheless the former name of the hill probably was Querquetulanus mons due to the abundance of oaks Latin Quercus Scholarship suggests that there existed the ethnic name Querquetulani as a designation of the previous inhabitants of Caelius in pre Etruscan times 5 nbsp Detail of a facsimile of a fresco in the Francois Tomb at Vulci Caelius Vibenna is the far left 4th century BCMons Caelius would have been included in the city perimeter under the reign of Ancus Marcius 6 The list of Septimontium mentions it and it was part of the 1st city quarter Suburana in the division made by Servius Tullius In the later Augustan division it became the Regio II Caelimontium A trace of the archaic period remains in the memory of cults of woods and sources such as that of the nymph Egeria in the wood of Camenae just outside Porta Capena Numa Pompilius is said by whom to have been particularly devoted to his sanctuary Republican age edit In Republican age as well in Imperial Rome the Caelian Hill was a fashionable residential district and the site of residences of the wealthy A section of Pliny the Elder s Natural History Who Was the First to Encrust the Walls of Houses at Rome with Marble attests to this 7 Mamurra a soldier who served under Julius Caesar in Gaul and profited tremendously from corruption achieved this expensive feat on the Caelian Hill Horace and Catullus mocked him accordingly 8 Most of the hill was outside the boundaries of the pomerium therefore temples to foreign divinities were allowed to be built such as the Temple of Minerva Capta or the old Sacellum of Diana outside the Servian Wall Some sepulchres such as the burial chamber in Via Celimontana just before Piazza di San Giovanni in Laterano date back to this period Imperial age edit nbsp This basanite statue of Agrippina the Younger as a priestess of the divine Claudius 54 59 AD was discovered on the Caelian Hill in 1885 Under Augustus the Caelian Hill was one of the 14 divisions of the town called Caelimontium The area between the Lateran and Porta Maggiore was included in the v Regio Esquiliae though physically it is part of the hill On the higher point of the side facing the Colosseum the Temple of Claudius was erected on a huge supporting platform It was dedicated to the Emperor Claudius and begun by his widow Agrippina after his death and deification in 54 AD it was not ultimately finished until the reign of Vespasian 9 Nero added a grand nymphaeum tiered water fountain to the eastern retaining wall of this platform with semi circular and rectangular niches 10 The water to supply this fountain was supplied by a special branch of the Aqua Claudia called the Arcus Neroniani which extended 2 kilometres west from the Claudia at Porta Maggiore and terminated on the southern side of the Caelian Hill in a structure called the Aqueductium The Aqueductium distributed the water via conduits to reservoirs behind the nymphaeum and to the site of the temple 10 11 The remains found in the area of the hill allow one to reconstruct a conspicuous housing phase in the second half of the 2nd century AD while former buildings of the 1st century BC were probably destroyed by a fire in AD 27 Jerome alleges that Marcus Aurelius was born on the Caelian Hill in AD 121 7 In the 4th century rich domus surrounded by vast parks stood on the hill such as the ones belonging to the Symmachi near which rose the Basilica hilariana and Tetrici families as well as the domus Faustae maybe belonged to the wife of Constantine I The property of the Annii of Domitia Lucilla Minor the mother of Marcus Aurelius and of the Quintilii became part of the Domus Vectiliana of Commodus In the interurban area of the hill several barracks were built for the troops stationed in the capital in the site of the Basilica of Saint Stephen in the Round there were the Castra Peregrina built under Trajan and restored several times in the following centuries close to a large house of the Valerii domus Valerii Opposite stood the headquarters of the V Cohort of the Vigiles stazio cohortis V vigilum In a land possession of the Laterani family Septimius Severus built between 193 and 197 the castra nova equitum singularium a new barrack for the knights corps of the imperial guard opposite the former barrack built under Trajan castra priora equitum singularium When Constantine I dissolved the corps the new basilica dedicated to the Messiah which later became the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran partially occupied the area of the Severian camp The decisive battle in the 271 revolt of mint workers led by Felicissimus took place on the Caelian Hill 12 It is possible that this uprising was somehow connected with the senatorial and equestrian classes as Aurelian executed several senators The buildings of the Caelian hill were badly damaged during the sack of Alaric in 410 starting from this period the hill was subject to increasing abandonment and ruralization Middle Ages edit In the 6th century it was part of the II Roman ecclesiastical region due to its proximity to the Lateran basilica so much so that the toponym of Laterano was often used for the entire hill The erection of the Patriarchium probably still in 6th Century gave rise to the creation of various tituli the oldest places of Christian worship often within private houses and xenodochia centers for the assistance and reception of pilgrims and sick New churches continued to be built initially to replace and above the former tituli later independently such as the Basilica of Saints John and Paul the Basilica of the Four Crowned Martyrs the Basilica of St Mary in Domnica the Basilica of St Stephen in the Round the church of San Giovanni a Porta Latina the church of San Gregorio al Celio the church of San Tommaso in Formis the church of San Sisto VecchioMonasteries often surrounded by estates and gardens were also founded on the hill as well as some towers of noble families mainly in the 10th and 11th centuries A new destruction was suffered with the sack of 1084 Since the 12th century it was part of the Regio Montium which even extended to the Quirinal Hill Later history edit Today the Caelian Hill is included in the Rione of the same name and continuing its vocation for assistance hosts the Policlinico Militare del Celio built on a project by Salvatore Bianchi and Filippo Laccetti George Santayana lived in a room at the Convent of English Blue Sisters on the Caelian Hill from 1912 until his death Monuments editTemple of Claudius Basilica dei Santi Quattro Coronati Clivus Scauri Library of Pope Agapetus I Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo Sant Andrea al Celio Church of San Gregorio al Celio Basilica di Santa Maria in Domnica Arch of Dolabella Villa Celimontana Obelisk of villa Celimontana Church of San Tommaso in Formis Porta Metronia Porta Latina Church of San Giovanni a Porta Latina Oratory of San Giovanni in Oleo Tomb of the Scipios Basilica of San Sisto Vecchio Basilica di Santo Stefano Rotondo al Monte CelioSee also edit nbsp Ancient Rome portalAventine Hill Aventino Capitoline Hill Capitolino Cispian Hill Cispio Janiculum Hill Gianicolo Monte Mario Oppian Hill Oppio Palatine Hill Palatino Pincian Hill Pincio Vatican Hill Vaticano Velian Hill Velia References edit From Geo OnLine of Regione Lazio Technical Regional Chart 1 5000 2002 RM VT LT IWS 2015 Archived from the original on March 24 2018 Retrieved March 15 2018 Titus Livy 28 30 From the Founding of the City Book 1 The Earliest Legends of Rome Canon Roberts translator Retrieved January 23 2011 via Wikisource Marcus Terentius Varro On the Latin Language 5 46 Anderson Benedict July 6 2017 Buried City Unearthing Teufelsberg Berlin and its Geography of Forgetting Taylor amp Francis ISBN 9781317170686 via Google Books Loicq Jean Sur les peuples de nom venete ou assimile dans l Occident europeen In Etudes Celtiques vol 35 2003 p 146 DOI 10 3406 ecelt 2003 2153 Strabo Geographica V 3 7 a b Mann Euphemia M March 1 1926 Some Private Houses in Ancient Rome The Classical Weekly 19 16 127 132 doi 10 2307 30107860 JSTOR 30107860 Bostock John Pliny the Elder Natural History Perseus Project Tufts University Retrieved March 4 2019 Stanford Forma Urbis Romae Project formaurbis stanford edu Retrieved September 28 2020 a b Andrea Carandini 2017 Atlas of Ancient Rome Princeton University Press p 347 Rodolfo Lanciani 1897 The Ruins and Excavations of Ancient Rome Houghton Mifflin amp Co p 351 Syvanne Ilkka 2020 Aurelian and Probus The Soldier Emperors Who Saved Rome Yorkshire Pen and Sword Military p 84 ISBN 978 1 5267 6750 9 Bibliography editFilippo Coarelli Guida archeologica di Roma Arnoldo Mondadori Editore Verona 1984 Caelius I Santa Maria in Domnica San Tommaso in Formis e il clivus Scauri edited by A Englen Erma di Bretschneider Rome 2003 Livy Book OneExternal links editSamuel Ball Platner A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome Caelian Hill 41 53 06 N 12 29 48 E 41 88500 N 12 49667 E 41 88500 12 49667 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Caelian Hill amp oldid 1216849029, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.