Palatine Hill

The Palatine Hill (ˈpælətaɪn; Classical Latin: Palatium; Neo-Latin: Collis/Mons Palatinus; Palatino palaˈtiːno), which relative to the seven hills of Rome is the centremost, is one of the most ancient parts of the city and has been called "the first nucleus of the Roman Empire." The site is now mainly a large open-air museum while the Palatine Museum houses many finds from the excavations here and from other ancient Italian sites. Imperial palaces were built there, starting with Augustus. Before imperial times the hill was mostly occupied by the houses of the rich. The hill originally had two summits separated by a depression; the highest part was called Palatium and the other Germalus (or Cermalus). Using the Forma Urbis its perimeter enclosed ; while the Regionary Catalogues of the 4th century enclose . According to Livy (59 BC – AD 17) the Palatine hill got its name from the Arcadian settlers from Pallantium, named from its founder Pallas, son of Lycaon. More likely, it is derived from the noun palātum "palate"; Ennius uses it once for the "heaven", and it may be connected with the Etruscan word for sky, falad. The name of the hill is the etymological origin of the word palace and its cognates in other languages (Greek: παλάτιον, palazzo, palais, Spanish: palacio, Portuguese: palácio, Palast, palác, palača, etc.). The Palatine Hill is also the etymological origin (via the Latin adjective ) of "palatine", a 16th-century English adjective that originally signified something pertaining to the Caesar's palace, or someone who is invested with the king's authority. Later its use shifted to a reference to the German Palatinate. The office of the German count palatine (Pfalzgraf) had its origins in the comes palatinus, an earlier office in Merovingian and Carolingian times. Another modern English word, "", came into usage to refer to any distinguished knight (especially one of the Twelve Peers of Charlemagne) under Charlemagne in late renditions of the Matter of France.

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Palatine Hill