At
the heart of most cities lies another
city, otherwise known as the “old
city”. This is the “seed city”,
and Rome’s seed is Palatine. As
the unofficial archaeological centre of
Rome, Palatine contains relics of great
palaces and other structures from ancient
times, including the Palace of Septimus
Severus, the house of Augustus, the house
of Livia, and the Huts of Romulus.
Early in the first millennium BC, before
Rome was great, the Tiber River divided
the Italic peoples from the Etruscans
in the north and west. Near by were the
borders between the Sabines and the Latins,
two civilizations that would pay for being
so close to the fledgling Roman Empire.
The hills of Rome, free from the malaria
that had been the bane of the low-lying
plains of Latium, were a healthful and
relatively safe place to live and a meeting
ground for Latins, Sabines, and Etruscans.
It was this fortified elevation of the
Palatine that made sure that Etruscans
amalgamated the tiny hamlets about the
Palatine into a city-state. Eventually
it would be swallowed up by the growing
Rome across the river. It was probably
Etruscan rule that civilized Rome.
Today
Palatine is considered nothing more than
a historic Roman hill covered with the
destroyed houses of the once powerful
ruing families. It is a rich source of
information about what Rome was like before
Agustus.
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