Palatine Hill, the central and one of the oldest inhabited of Rome’s seven hills, was a foundational landscape in both myth and history. Roman tradition linked it to the Lupercal, Romulus and Remus, Romulus’s choice of the site for Rome’s founding, and Hercules’ defeat of Cacus, while archaeology shows settlement there from the 10th century BC. In early Rome it became a prestigious residential district, then under Augustus after 27 BC it was transformed into the center of imperial power. Palaces, houses, frescoed rooms, gardens, and later villas reveal centuries of change, making the hill a uniquely concentrated record of Rome’s origins and political life.

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