ICCROM Mora Samples Collection
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Rome, Palatino: MRA-ITA-Rom079

Type Sample Item

Sample ID

MRA-ITA-Rom079

Sample Material Type

Mural painting

Sample Sub-type

fragment

Dimensions (cm)

Length
2.3
Width
1.2
Height
0.3

Geographic Location

Country
Italy
Place
Rome

Site/monument

Italy (ITA)
Rome
Palatino

Historical note about the site/monument

The Palatine Hill in Rome, rising 51 meters above sea level, is studded with archaeological sites and was a key place in the Roman historical imagination. It was here, the legend said, that the infants Romulus and Remus were rescued and raised by a she-wolf. These miracles were marked in ancient Rome by the construction of a vaulted sanctuary inside the hill itself in remembrance of the mother wolf’s den. The Palatine’s connection with the first royalty of Rome made it an attractive home for the affluent during the Republican period; Emperor Augustus made his residence on the hill, and part of Nero’s Domus Aurea was also located here. Other important archaeological sites on the Palatine include the House of Livia, Temples of Cybele and of Apollo Palatinus, Palace of Domitian, and the House of Tiberius.

Further reading:
Holloway, R. R. (2014). The archaeology of early Rome and Latium. Routledge.
Cerutti, S. M. (1997). The location of the houses of Cicero and Clodius and the Porticus Catuli on the Palatine Hill in Rome. American Journal of Philology118(3), 417-426.
Claridge, A., Toms, J., & Cubberley, T. (2010). Rome: an Oxford archaeological guide. Oxford University Press.

Chronological period (sample)

Roman period

Inventory