The Augustan Palatine
Peter Wiseman reconstructs the splendour and intrigue of Imperial Rome
When in Rome, if you are interested in history, you go to the Forum. It is, of course, a marvellous site, which can keep the serious visitor busy for hours. But don't forget that on the same entrance ticket you can explore the Palatine Hill (Palatium) and the ruins of the imperial palaces (palatia) that took their name from it.
Go up the Via Sacra, past Professor Carandini's new excavations, with the great vaults of the Basilica of Maxentius towering on your left, till you get to the Arch of Titus. Turn right, and the path will bring you out into an open, sloping area of grass, with pine trees offering welcome shade. This is the site of the Area Palatina, a piazza. which by the end of the first century AD was entirely surrounded by imperial residences.
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