Esquiline Hill
Esquiline Hill | |
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One of the seven hills of Rome | |
Latin name | Collis Esquilinus |
Italian name | Esquilino |
Rione | Esquilino |
Buildings | Domus Aurea, baths of Trajan, nymphaeum misassociated with Minerva Medica |
Ancient Roman religion | Temple of Minerva Medica (non-extant) |
Roman sculptures | Discobolus |
The Esquiline Hill (/ˈɛskwɪlaɪn/; Latin: Collis Esquilinus; Italian: Esquilino [eskwiˈliːno]) is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. Its southernmost cusp is the Oppius (Oppian Hill).
Etymology
The origin of the name Esquiline is still under much debate. One view is that the hill was named after the abundance of aesculi (Italian oaks) growing there. Another view is that, during Rome's infancy, the Capitolium, the Palatinum, and the northern fringes of the Caelian were the most-populated areas of the city, whose inhabitants were considered inquilini ("in-towners"); those who inhabited the external regions – Aurelian, Oppius, Cispius, Fagutal – were considered exquilini ("suburbanites").
History
The Esquiline Hill includes three prominent spurs, which are sometimes called "hills" as well:[1]
- Cispian (Cispius) – northern spur
- Oppian (Oppius) – southern spur
- Fagutal (Fagutalis) – western spur
Rising above the valley in which was later built the Colosseum, the Esquiline was a fashionable residential district.
According to Livy, the settlement on the Esquiline was expanded during the reign of Servius Tullius, Rome's sixth king, in the 6th century BC. The king also moved his residence to the hill in order to increase its respectability.[2]
The political advisor and art patron Maecenas (70–8 BC) sited his gardens, the first in the Hellenistic-Persian garden style in Rome, on the Esquiline Hill, atop the Servian Wall and its adjoining necropolis. It contained terraces, libraries and other aspects of Roman culture. At the Oppius, Nero (37 AD–68 AD) confiscated property to build his extravagant, mile-long Golden House,[3] and later still Trajan (53–117) constructed his bath complex, both of whose remains are visible today. The 3rd-century Horti Liciniani, a group of gardens (including the relatively well-preserved nymphaeum formerly identified as the non-extant Temple of Minerva Medica), were probably constructed on the Esquiline Hill. Farther to the northeast, at the summit of the Cispius, is the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.
In 1781, the first known copy of the marble statue of a discus thrower – the Discobolus of Myron – was discovered on the Roman property of the Massimo family, the Villa Palombara, on the Esquiline Hill. The famous Esquiline Treasure, now in the British Museum, was found on the Esquiline Hill.
Namesakes
- The tiny hamlet of El Esquilinchuche in Honduras is named after the Esquiline Hill.
See also
References
- ^ Amanda Claridge: Rome: An Oxford Archaeological Guide, Oxford University Press, 2010, page 5
- ^ Livy, Ab urbe condita, 1.44
- ^ Roth, Leland M. (1993). Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History and Meaning (First ed.). Boulder, CO: Westview Press. pp. 227. ISBN 0-06-430158-3.
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landmarks
Triumphal arches | |
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Aqueducts | |
Sewers | |
Public baths | |
Religious |
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Fora | |
Civic | |
Entertainment | |
Palaces and villae | |
Column monuments | |
Commerce | |
Tombs |
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Bridges |
basilicas
- Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran
- Basilica of Saint Mary Major
- Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls
- Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican
- S. Lorenzo fuori le mura
- S. Agnese fuori le mura
- S. Agostino
- S. Anastasia al Palatino
- S. Andrea delle Fratte
- S. Andrea della Valle
- S. Antonio da Padova in Via Merulana
- S. Apollinare alle Terme
- Ss. Apostoli
- S. Balbina
- S. Bartolomeo all'Isola
- Ss. Bonifacio ed Alessio
- S. Camillo de Lellis
- S. Carlo al Corso
- S. Cecilia in Trastevere
- Ss. Celso e Giuliano
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- Ss. Cosma e Damiano
- S. Crisogono
- S. Croce in Via Flaminia
- S. Croce in Gerusalemme
- S. Eugenio
- S. Eustachio
- S. Francesca Romana
- S. Giovanni a Porta Latina
- S. Giovanni dei Fiorentini
- Ss. Giovanni e Paolo
- S. Lorenzo in Damaso
- S. Lorenzo in Lucina
- S. Maria Ausiliatrice
- S. Marco
- S. Maria degli Angeli
- S. Maria in Montesanto
- S. Maria in Cosmedin
- S. Maria in Domnica
- S. Maria in Aracoeli
- S. Maria del Popolo
- S. Maria sopra Minerva
- S. Maria in Trastevere
- S. Maria in Via
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- S. Maria della Vittoria
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- Ss. Nereo e Achilleo
- S. Nicola in Carcere
- S. Pancrazio
- Pantheon
- S. Pietro in Vincoli
- S. Prassede
- S. Pudenziana
- Ss. Quattro Coronati
- S. Saba
- S. Sabina
- Sacro Cuore di Maria
- Sacro Cuore di Cristo Re
- Sacro Cuore di Gesù a Castro Pretorio
- S. Sebastiano fuori le mura
- S. Silvestro in Capite
- S. Sisto Vecchio
- S. Sofia a Via Boccea
- S. Stefano Rotondo
- S. Teresa
- S. Vitale
- Arx
- Casa dei Cavalieri di Rodi
- Castel Sant'Angelo
- Domus Internationalis Paulus VI
- Palazzo Aragona Gonzaga
- Palazzo Barberini
- Palazzo Barberini ai Giubbonari
- Palazzo Borghese
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- Palazzo Chigi
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- Palazzo della Consulta
- Palazzo Farnese
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- Palazzo Giustinani
- Lateran Palace
- Palazzo Madama
- Palazzo Malta
- Palazzo di Giustizia
- Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne
- Palazzo Mattei
- Palazzo del Quirinale
- Palazzo Pamphilj
- Palazzo Poli
- Palazzo Riario
- Palazzo Ruspoli
- Palazzo Spada
- Palazzo Valentini
- Palazzo Vidoni-Caffarelli
- Palazzo del Viminale
- Palazzo Wedekind
- Palazzo Zuccari
- Villa Farnesina
- Villa Giulia
- Villa Madama
- Api
- Acqua Felice
- Acqua Paola
- Babuino
- Barcaccia
- Il Facchino
- Marforio
- Moro
- Nasone
- Navicella
- Neptune
- Nettuno
- del Pantheon
- Pianto
- di Piazza d'Aracoeli
- di Piazza Colonna
- di Piazza Farnese
- della Piazza dei Quiriti
- di Piazza Nicosia
- in Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere
- di Ponte Sisto
- Quattro Fiumi
- Quattro Fontane
- Tartarughe
- Trevi Fountain
- Tritons
- Tritone
- Altare della Patria (Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of Italy)
- Campo Verano
- Capocci Tower
- Column of the Immaculate Conception
- Conti Tower
- Hospital of the Holy Spirit
- Milizie Tower
- Sisto Bridge
- Spanish Steps
and public spaces
- Appian Way
- Campo de' Fiori
- Clivus Capitolinus
- Piazza Colonna
- Piazza d'Aracoeli
- Piazza del Popolo
- Piazza della Minerva
- Piazza della Repubblica
- Piazza Farnese
- Piazza Navona
- Piazza San Pietro
- Piazza di Spagna
- Piazza Venezia
- Via dei Coronari
- Via del Corso
- Via della Conciliazione
- Via dei Fori Imperiali
- Via Sacra
- Via Veneto
and zoos
art galleries
- Boncompagni Ludovisi Decorative Art Museum
- Capitoline Museums
- Casa di Goethe
- Galleria Borghese
- Galleria Comunale d'Arte Moderna
- Galleria Doria Pamphilj
- Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica
- Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna
- Giorgio de Chirico House Museum
- Galleria Spada
- Jewish Museum of Rome
- Keats–Shelley Memorial House
- MAXXI
- Museo Archeologico Ostiense
- Museo Barracco di Scultura Antica
- Museo Civico di Zoologia
- Museo delle anime del Purgatorio
- Museo delle Mura
- Museo di Roma
- Museo di Roma in Trastevere
- Museo nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia
- Museo Nazionale Etrusco
- Museo Nazionale Romano
- Museo Storico Nazionale dell'Arte Sanitaria
- Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome
- Museum of Roman Civilization
- Museum of the Ara Pacis
- Museum of the Liberation of Rome
- National Museum of Oriental Art
- Palazzo Colonna
- Palazzo delle Esposizioni
- Pigorini National Museum
- Porta San Paolo Railway Museum
- Santa Cecilia Musical Instruments Museum
- Venanzo Crocetti Museum
Seven Hills | |
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of Rome Capital
41°53′44″N 12°29′48″E / 41.89556°N 12.49667°E / 41.89556; 12.49667