{"id":1017,"date":"2026-03-20T11:54:31","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T15:54:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/romeguide.hcc-nd.edu\/?page_id=1017"},"modified":"2026-05-02T19:40:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T23:40:28","slug":"aventine-hill","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/romeguide.hcc-nd.edu\/?page_id=1017","title":{"rendered":"Aventine\u00a0Hill\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Of Rome’s seven hills, the Aventine, the southernmost, stands out as the most attractive and the one closest to the Tiber River. In the myths of Rome\u2019 founding, the divinely sired Romulus and Remus contest with one another by means of augury over the right to establish a new colony. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remus\u00a0set\u00a0up\u00a0his\u00a0post\u00a0on\u00a0the\u00a0Aventine\u00a0and\u00a0Romulus\u00a0on\u00a0the\u00a0Palatine.\u00a0Each\u00a0observed\u00a0auspicious birds (aves), signs of divine approval, but Remus saw six while Romulus spotted twelve. Romulus founded the\u00a0City\u00a0on his site at the Palatine. Tradition has it that Remus, killed by his brother in a border dispute, lies buried on the lower side of this hill. Its name, Aventine,\u00a0possibly originated\u00a0from the Latin term,\u00a0aves\u00a0(birds). Because not enclosed within\u00a0the\u00a0sacred\u00a0boundary\u00a0of\u00a0Romulus (pomerium),\u00a0Romans\u00a0never\u00a0thought of the Aventine as part of the City\u2019s original foundation. According to ancient legend, Sabines once occupied part of the hill. Their king,\u00a0Titus\u00a0Tatius,\u00a0co-ruler\u00a0with\u00a0Romulus\u00a0after\u00a0the\u00a0Circus\u00a0Maximus\u00a0rape\u00a0of\u00a0Sabine\u00a0women<\/span><\/strong>, says the legend, lies buried here on its slope.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Titus\u00a0co-ruled\u00a0the\u00a0City\u00a0with\u00a0Romulus after\u00a0the\u00a0Sabine\u00a0peace.\u00a0The\u00a0hill became\u00a0incorporated\u00a0into\u00a0City\u00a0only\u00a0when\u00a0its\u00a06th<\/sup>\u00a0king,\u00a0Servius\u00a0Tullius, constructed the\u00a0Servian Wall<\/span><\/strong>, named in his honor.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Initially the Aventine with its two parts separated by a valley was home mostly to non- Romans, plebeians (plebs), foreigners, and merchants. A law enacted in 416 BC conferred the hill to the plebeians and incorporated it into the pomerium (religious boundary) of the\u00a0City\u00a0after which\u00a0Romans\u00a0spoke of it as the \u201chill of the people\u201d.\u00a0The Hill\u00a0played\u00a0an important role\u00a0during\u00a05th<\/sup>\u00a0century\u00a0BC Secession of the Plebs under\u00a0Mennius\u00a0Agrippa<\/strong>. The Secession of 409 BC resulted in major political gains for the plebeian class including the right to\u00a0elect\u00a0a Tribune of the People. When the plebs moved gradually to the area of\u00a0Trastevere\u00a0the Aventine became an aristocratic area in the Augustan Age, populated with villas and extensive gardens.\u00a0The Hill also functioned as a kind of staging process for the gradual incorporation of foreign cults into the religious life of Rome.\u00a0In the monarchic period, for example, a\u00a0temple to Diana\u00a0<\/strong>was erected on the Hill and in the Republican era temples to Luna, Ceres, Juno Regina, Minerva, and others. During the imperial era, however,\u00a0the Hill\u00a0became very desirable\u00a0to\u00a0aristocrats\u00a0who\u00a0increasingly\u00a0built\u00a0their\u00a0homes\u00a0there. Trajan\u00a0and Hadrian lived on the Hill before they became emperors. Emperor Vitellius owned a house there as well as the emperor\u00a0Decius constructed baths<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>there in 252 AD.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In 289 BC officials paved the\u00a0Clivio\u00a0dei\u00a0Publicii<\/strong>, the principal road to the summit\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0Hill\u00a0and\u00a0the\u00a0City\u2019s\u00a0first\u00a0pedestrian\u00a0walkway.\u00a0Caius\u00a0Gracchus,\u00a0<\/strong>the Roman tribune in 121\u00a0BC\u00a0found refuge on the hill before he fled to the Janiculum Hill where he committed suicide. The\u00a0German Emperor Otto III\u00a0<\/strong>built his\u00a0imperial palace\u00a0<\/strong>here in 1000-1002.\u00a0Converted into a medieval fortress and palace by the Savelli family,\u00a0the Rocca\u00a0dei\u00a0Savelli<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>stood in the space now dedicated to a\u00a0park (Savelli)<\/strong>,\u00a0blanketed with orange trees<\/strong>.\u00a0Honorius\u00a0IV\u00a0(Giacomo\u00a0Savelli),\u00a0the\u00a0great\u00a0nephew\u00a0of\u00a0Honorius\u00a0III,\u00a0and a relative of the Colonna and Orsini, reigned as pope from 1285 to 1287.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He made his residence in a palace here on the hill throughout his relatively short papacy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The\u00a0Savelli\u00a0park\u00a0today\u00a0provides\u00a0visitors\u00a0one\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0best\u00a0panoramic\u00a0views\u00a0of the\u00a0City<\/span><\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As\u00a0a\u00a0young\u00a0boy\u00a0Hildebrand\u00a0(Pope\u00a0Gregory\u00a0VII)\u00a0lived\u00a0on\u00a0the\u00a0hill\u00a0next\u00a0door\u00a0to a monastery whose abbot was his uncle.\u00a0The hill\u00a0remains\u00a0one of Rome\u2019s\u00a0most\u00a0elegant\u00a0residential\u00a0areas<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>with\u00a0many\u00a0sites\u00a0of historical, architectural, and religious interest.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Of Rome’s seven hills, the Aventine, the southernmost, stands out as the most attractive and the one closest to the Tiber River. In the myths of Rome\u2019 founding, the divinely sired Romulus and Remus contest with one another by means of augury over the right to establish a new colony.  Remus\u00a0set\u00a0up\u00a0his\u00a0post\u00a0on\u00a0the\u00a0Aventine\u00a0and\u00a0Romulus\u00a0on\u00a0the\u00a0Palatine.\u00a0Each\u00a0observed\u00a0auspicious birds (aves), signs of divine approval, but Remus saw six while Romulus spotted twelve. Romulus founded the\u00a0City\u00a0on his site at the Palatine. Tradition has it that Remus,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1017","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/romeguide.hcc-nd.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/romeguide.hcc-nd.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/romeguide.hcc-nd.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/romeguide.hcc-nd.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/romeguide.hcc-nd.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/romeguide.hcc-nd.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1017\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/romeguide.hcc-nd.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}