Editing Aventine Hill

{{short description|One of the seven hills of Rome, Italy}}
{{other uses|Aventinus (disambiguation)|Aventine Renewable Energy}}
[[File:Ripa - Aventino - CavalieriDiMalta.JPG|thumb|260px|[[Ripa (rione of Rome)|Ripa]]: the Aventine towards the Tiber, with the palace of the Knights of Malta]]
{{Infobox Hill of Rome
| name         = Aventine Hill
| Latin name   = Collis Aventinus
| Italian name = Aventino
| seven hills  = yes
| rione        = [[Ripa (rione of Rome)|Ripa]]
| people       = [[Ancus Marcius]], [[Lucius Vorenus]], [[Lucius Opimius]], [[Marcus Fulvius Flaccus (consul 125 BC)|Marcus Fulvius Flaccus]], [[Gnaeus Naevius|Naevius]], [[Pope Sixtus III]]
| events       = [[Aventine Secession (494 BC)]], <br />[[Aventine Secession (20th century)]]
| religion     = Temples to [[Diana (goddess)|Diana]], [[Ceres (Roman mythology)|Ceres]], [[Liber]] and [[Libera (mythology)|Libera]], [[Bona Dea]].
}}

The '''Aventine Hill''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|æ|v|ᵻ|n|t|aɪ|n|,_|-|t|ɪ|n}}; {{langx|la|Collis Aventinus}}; {{langx|it|Aventino}} {{IPA|it|avenˈtiːno|}}) is one of the [[Seven hills of Rome|Seven Hills]] on which ancient [[Rome]] was built. It belongs to [[Ripa (rione of Rome)|Ripa]], the modern twelfth ''[[rione]]'', or ward, of [[Rome]].

==Location and boundaries==
[[File:Seven Hills of Rome.svg|thumb|left|Schematic map of Rome showing the [[Seven hills of Rome|seven hills]] and [[Servian Wall]].]]

The Aventine Hill is the southernmost of Rome's seven hills. It has two distinct heights, one greater to the northwest (''Aventinus Major'') and one lesser to the southeast (''Aventinus Minor''), divided by a steep cleft that provides the base for an ancient roadway between the heights. During the [[Roman Republic|Republican era]], the two hills may have been recognized as a single entity.<ref>Lawrence Richardson, ''A new topographical dictionary of ancient Rome,'' Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992, p.47 [https://books.google.com/books?id=K_qjo30tjHAC&dq=Aventine+etymology&pg=PA47 googlebooks preview]. Richardson asserts the single identity of the two heights as Aventine during the Republican era as commonly accepted in modern scholarship. O. Skutsch, "Enniana IV: Condendae urbis auspicia", ''The Classical Quarterly, New Series'', Vol. 11, No. 2 (Nov., 1961), pp. 252-267, argues that they were originally considered and named as separate hills: the Aventine was the northwestern height only, and the slightly lower southeastern height was ''Mons Murca''.</ref>

The [[Augustus#Octavian becomes Augustus|Augustan reforms]] of Rome's urban neighbourhoods (''[[Vicus (Rome)|vici]]'') recognised the ancient road between the two heights (the modern Viale Aventino) as a common boundary between the new Regio XIII, which absorbed Aventinus Maior, and the part of Regio XII known as Aventinus Minor.<ref>Lawrence Richardson, ''A new topographical dictionary of ancient Rome,'' Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992, p.47 [https://books.google.com/books?id=K_qjo30tjHAC&dq=Aventine+etymology&pg=PA47 googlebooks preview]. Richardson asserts the single identity of the two heights as Aventine during the Republican era as commonly accepted in modern scholarship. O. Skutsch, "Enniana IV: Condendae urbis auspicia", ''The Classical Quarterly, New Series'', Vol. 11, No. 2 (Nov., 1961), pp. 252-267, argues that they were originally considered and named as separate hills: the Aventine was the northwestern height only, and the slightly lower southeastern height was ''Mons Murca''.</ref>

==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>

==History==

===Roman===
According to Roman tradition, the Aventine was not included within Rome's original foundation, and lay outside the city's ancient sacred boundary ([[pomerium]]). The Roman historian [[Livy]] reports that [[Ancus Marcius]], Rome's fourth king, defeated the [[Latins (Italic tribe)|Latins]] of [[Politorium]], and resettled them on the Aventine.<ref>Livy, ''[[Ab Urbe Condita Libri (Livy)|Ab urbe condita]]'', 1.33.</ref> The Roman geographer [[Strabo]] credits Ancus with the building of a city wall to incorporate the Aventine.<ref>Strabo. [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/5C*.html "Geography"], November 6, 2006.  Retrieved on May 8, 2007.</ref> Others credit the same wall to Rome's sixth king, [[Servius Tullius]]. The remains known as the [[Servian Wall]] used stone quarried at [[Veii]], which was not conquered by Rome until c.393 BC, so the Aventine might have been part-walled, or an extramural suburb.

The Aventine appears to have functioned as some kind of staging post for the legitimate ingress
of foreign peoples and foreign cults into Rome. During the late regal era, Servius Tullius built a [[Temple of Diana (Rome)|temple to Diana]] on the Aventine, as a Roman focus for the new-founded [[Latin League]].  At some time around 493 BC, soon after the expulsion of [[Tarquinius Superbus|Rome's last King]] and the establishment of the [[Roman Republic]], the [[Roman Senate]] provided a temple for the so-called [[Aventine Triad]] of [[Ceres (mythology)|Ceres]], [[Liber]] and [[Libera (mythology)|Libera]], patron deities of the Roman commoners or [[plebs]]; the dedication followed one of the first in a long series of threatened or actual plebeian secessions. The temple overlooked the [[Circus Maximus]] and the [[Temple of Vesta]], and faced the [[Palatine Hill]]. It became an important repository for plebeian and senatorial records. The Aventine's outlying position, its longstanding association with Latins and plebeians and its extra-pomerial position reflect its early marginal status.<ref>Cornell, T., ''The beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c.1000–264 BC)'', Routledge, 1995, p. 264.</ref>

It is presumed that the Aventine was [[Ager publicus|public land]], owned by the state on behalf of the Roman people. In c.456 BC a ''Lex Icilia'' allowed or granted the plebs property rights there. By c.391 BC, the city's overspill had overtaken the Aventine and the [[Campus Martius]], and left the city vulnerable to attack; around that year, the [[Gauls]] overran and temporarily held the city. After this, the walls were rebuilt or extended to properly incorporate the Aventine; this is more or less coincident with the increasing power and influence of the Aventine-based [[Aedile|plebeian aediles]] and [[tribunes]] in Roman public affairs, and the rise of a plebeian nobility.<ref>Carter, Jesse Benedict. "The Evolution of the City of Rome from Its Origin to the Gallic Catastrophe"], ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society'', September 2, 1909, pp. 132 - 140. [https://books.google.com/books?id=VlMLAAAAIAAJ&q=Aventine&pg=PA129 googlebooks preview] (link updated 27 November 2010).</ref>

Rome absorbed many more foreign deities via the Aventine: "No other location approaches [its] concentration of foreign cults". In 392 BC, [[Marcus Furius Camillus|Camillus]] established a [[Temple of Juno Regina (Aventine)|Temple of Juno Regina]]. Later introductions include [[Summanus]], c. 278, [[Vortumnus]]  c. 264, and at some time before the end of the 3rd century, [[Minerva]].<ref>Orlin, Eric M., Foreign Cults in Republican Rome: Rethinking the Pomerial Rule, ''Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome'', Vol. 47 (2002), pp. 4-5. For Camillus and Juno, see Stephen Benko, ''The virgin goddess: studies in the pagan and Christian roots of mariology,'' BRILL, 2004, p.27.</ref> 

====Imperial era====
In the imperial era the character of the hill changed and it became the seat of numerous aristocratic residences, including the private houses of [[Trajan]] and [[Hadrian]] before they became emperors and of [[Lucius Licinius Sura]], friend of Trajan who built the private [[Baths of Licinius Sura]]. The emperor [[Vitellius]] and the ''[[Praefectus urbi]]'' [[Lucius Fabius Cilo]] also lived there at the time of [[Septimius Severus]]. The Aventine was also the site of the [[Baths of Decius]], built in 252.

This new character of an aristocratic neighbourhood was probably the cause of its total destruction during the sack of Rome by [[Alaric I]] in 410. {{clarify|date=March 2021}}

The poorer population had meanwhile moved further south, to the plain near the port (''Emporium'') and to the other bank of the Tiber.{{cn|date=March 2021}}

===Modern period===
[[File:Santa Sabina (Rome) - Esterno.jpg|thumb|Basilica [[Santa Sabina]]]]
During the [[Fascism|Fascist]] period, many deputies of the opposition retired on this hill after the [[murder]] of [[Giacomo Matteotti]], here ending—by the so-called "[[Aventine Secession (20th century)|Aventine Secession]]"—their presence at the Parliament and, as a consequence, their political activity.

The hill is now an elegant residential part of Rome with a wealth of architectural interest, including palaces, churches, and gardens, for example, the basilica of [[Santa Sabina]], [[Santi Bonifacio ed Alessio]] and the [[Rome Rose Garden]].

==Cultural references==
The Aventine Hill is portrayed as a rough working-class area of ancient Rome in the popular ''Falco'' series of [[historical novels]] written by [[Lindsey Davis]] about [[Marcus Didius Falco]], a 'private informer' who occasionally works for the [[Vespasian|Emperor Vespasian]] and lives in the Aventine.

The same image is portrayed in much of [[Rome (TV series)|the series ''Rome'']], in which the Aventine is the home of [[Lucius Vorenus (Rome character)|Lucius Vorenus]]. In season two, Vorenus and his friend [[Titus Pullo#Rome|legionary Titus Pullo]] seek to maintain order over the various [[collegia]] competing there for power.

The ''Vesta''-class of starships in the [[List of Star Trek novels|''Star Trek'' novels]] are named for Rome's seven hills. The most featured ship is the U.S.S. ''Aventine'' under Captain Ezri Dax.

In the British television series, ''[[Plebs (TV series)|Plebs]]'', the neighbourhood in which the three main plebs live is depicted as the Aventine.

== See also ==
{{portal|Ancient Rome}}
* [[Forum Pistorium]]
* [[Temple of Bona Dea]]

'''Seven hills'''
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* [[Seven hills of Rome]]
* [[Caelian Hill|Caelian Hill (Celio)]]
* [[Capitoline Hill|Capitoline Hill (Capitolino)]]
* [[Esquiline|Esquiline Hill (Esquilino)]]
* [[Palatine Hill|Palatine Hill (Palatino)]]
* [[Quirinal Hill|Quirinal Hill (Quirinale)]]
* [[Viminal Hill|Viminal Hill (Viminale)]]
}}
'''Other Roman hills'''
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* [[Janiculum Hill|Janiculum Hill (Gianicolo)]]
* [[Monte Mario]]
* [[Cispius|Cispian Hill (Cispio)]]
* [[Oppian Hill|Oppian Hill (Oppio)]]
* [[Pincian Hill|Pincian Hill (Pincio)]]
* [[Vatican Hill|Vatican Hill (Vaticano)]]
* [[Velian Hill|Velian Hill (Velia)]]
}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Rome landmarks}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:Seven hills of Rome]]
[[Category:Rome R. XII Ripa]]