Seven hills of Rome

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For the film starring Mario Lanza, see Seven Hills of Rome (film).
Schematic map of Rome showing the seven hills
Schematic map of Rome showing the seven hills

The Seven Hills of Rome east of the river Tiber form the geographical heart of Rome, within the walls of the ancient city.

The seven hills are:

The original city was held by tradition to have been founded by Romulus on the Palatine Hill.

The seven hills of early Rome – the Cermalus, Cispius, Fagutal, Oppius, Palatium, Sucusa and Velia – figured prominently in Roman mythology, religion, and politics.

Initially and traditionally, the seven hills were occupied by small settlements and not grouped or recognized as a city called Rome. The denizens of the seven hills began to participate in a series of religious games which started to bond the groups together. The city of Rome thus came into being as these separate settlements acted as a group, draining the marshy valleys between them and turning them into markets and fora.

Of the seven hills of current Rome, five (Aventine, Caelian, Esquiline, Quirinal and Viminal hills) are populated with monuments, buildings, and parks. The Capitoline now hosts the Municipality of Rome, and the Palatine Hill is an archaeological area.

The now-famous Vatican Hill (Latin Collis Vaticanus) is northwest of the Tiber and is not one of the Seven Hills of Rome. Likewise, the Pincian Hill (Latin Mons Pincius), to the north, and the Janiculum Hill (Latin Ianiculum), to the west, are not counted among the traditional Seven Hills.

A mnemonic device can be used to memorize their names gives them in clockwise order, starting with the Quirinal. One is: Queen Victoria Eyes Caesar's Awfully Painful Corns.

[edit] Biblical reference

One possible reference to the Seven Hills of Rome is in the prophetic imagery of the Book of Revelation. Revelation 17 makes reference to the "great harlot" seated on "a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names, with seven heads and ten horns," and the angel, speaking to St. John, says:

The seven heads represent seven hills, upon which the woman sits. (Revelation 17:9 New American Bible)

The angel adds:

The woman whom you saw represents the great city that has sovereignty over the kings of the earth. (Revelation 17:18 New American Bible)

At the time that Revelation was written, the early Christians were persecuted by the Roman Empire, which itself was historically known as the "City of Seven Hills". It is widely believed that the "seven hills" mentioned refer to the seven hills of Rome. The footnotes of Revelation 17 in the New American Bible and the Jerusalem Bible, which are both Catholic translations, say that the seven hills in this chapter are the seven hills of Rome.

[edit] Fictional Reference

The Seven Hills are referred to as a place of riches in the book, Troy: Fall of Kings. Heliakon often calls the Seven Hills a safe haven which he discovered with his once good friend and now reluctant enemy Odysseus, the fabled storyteller.

[edit] External links