Editing Aventine Hill (section)

==Etymology and mythology==
Most Roman sources trace the name of the hill to a legendary [[Aventinus (king)|king Aventinus]]. [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]] identifies two kings of that name, one ancient Italic, and one Alban, both said to have been buried on the hill in remote antiquity. Servius believes that the hill was named after the ancient Italic king ''Aventinus''. He rejects Varro's proposition that the Sabines named the hill after the nearby Avens river (modern-day [[Velino]]); likewise, he believes that the [[Aventinus (mythology)|Aventinus]] who was fathered by [[Hercules]] on [[Rhea Silvia]] was likely named after the Aventine Hill.<ref>Maurus Servius Honoratus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Serv.+A.+7.657 Commentary on the Aeneid of Vergil], 7. 657.</ref>

The Aventine was a significant site in [[Roman mythology]]. In [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'', a cave on the Aventine's rocky slope next the river is home to the monstrous [[Cacus]], killed by Hercules for stealing [[Geryon|Geryon's cattle]].<ref>''Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World''. [http://www.paulyonline.brill.nl.turing.library.northwestern.edu/bnp.asp "Cacus"], 2002. Retrieved on May 4, 2007.</ref> In Rome's founding myth, the divinely fathered twins [[Romulus and Remus]] hold a contest of [[augury]], whose outcome determines the right to found, name and lead a new city, and to determine its site. In most versions of the story, Remus sets up his [[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#auguraculum|augural tent]] on the Aventine; Romulus sets his up on the [[Palatine Hill|Palatine]].<ref>For discussion of Remus in Roman founder-myth, see [[T.P. Wiseman]], ''Remus: a Roman myth'', Cambridge University Press, 1995, p.7 ff. For discussion of Ennius' much copied, corrupted and problematic text, particularly his ''Mons Murca'' as the lesser Aventine hill, see O. Skutsch, "Enniana IV: Condendae urbis auspicia", ''The Classical Quarterly, New Series'', Vol. 11, No. 2 (Nov., 1961), pp. 255-259.</ref>

Each sees a number of auspicious birds (''aves'') that signify divine approval but Remus sees fewer than Romulus. Romulus goes on to found the city of Rome at the site of his successful augury. An earlier variant, found in [[Ennius]] and some later sources, has Romulus perform his augury on one of the Aventine Hills. Remus performs his elsewhere, perhaps on the southeastern height, the lesser of the Aventine's two hills, which has been tentatively identified with Ennius' ''Mons Murcus''.<ref>For discussion of Remus in Roman founder-myth, see [[T.P. Wiseman]], ''Remus: a Roman myth'', Cambridge University Press, 1995, p.7 ff. For discussion of Ennius' much copied, corrupted and problematic text, and particularly his ''Mons Murca'' as the lesser Aventine hill, see O. Skutsch, "Enniana IV: Condendae urbis auspicia", ''The Classical Quarterly, New Series'', Vol. 11, No. 2 (Nov., 1961), pp. 255-259.</ref>

Skutsch (1961) regards Ennius' variant as the most likely, with Romulus's Palatine augury as a later development, after common usage had extended the Aventine's name &ndash; formerly used for only the greater, northeastern height &ndash; to include its lesser neighbour. Augural rules and the mythos itself required that each twin take his auspices at a different place; therefore Romulus, who won the contest and founded the city, was repositioned to the more fortunate Palatine, the traditional site of Rome's foundation. The less fortunate Remus, who lost not only the contest but later, his life, remained on the Aventine: Servius notes the Aventine's reputation as a haunt of "inauspicious birds".<ref>Otto Skutsch, "Enniana IV: Condendae urbis auspicia", ''The Classical Quarterly, New Series'', Vol. 11, No. 2 (Nov., 1961), pp. 252-267.</ref><ref>Maurus Servius Honoratus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Serv.+A.+7.657 Commentary on the Aeneid of Vergil], 7. 657.</ref>