PALATINE HILL, Mons Palatinus, the central hill of the famous seven on which ancient Rome was built, and, according to traditic,n, the scat of the earliest Roman set tlements. In point of historical interest, it ranks next to the capitol and the forum. Its summit is about 160 ft. above the sea. The form of the hill is irregularly quadrangular. Its north-western slope, towards the Capitoline hill and the Tiber, was called Getmalus or Cermalus. The origin of the name is uncertain, although several derivations are given connecting it with legendary stories. Romulus is said to have founded the city upon this bill, and on Germalus grew the sacred fig-tree (near to the Lupereal) under which he and his brother, Remus, were found sucking the she-wolf. Upon the Palatine hill were the temple of Jupiter Stator, the temple of Cybele, the sacred square inclosure called Roma quadrate, and other sacred places and edifices, besides many of the finest houses in Rome. Augustus and Tiberius had ,their residences here, whence Tacitus termed it
ipsa imperil arx (the very citadel of government); and at last Nero included it entirely within the precincts of hie aurea domus, which Vespasian subsequently restricted to the hill. From the time of Alexander Severus it ceased to be the residence of the emperors, but the name palace (palativan), derived from it, was given to the abodes of sovereigns and great princes, and has been adopted into modern languages. Recent excavations have brought to light numerous remains of the palatial and other structures with which the Palatine bill was once covered; and these lire now among the most interesting sights of the Eternal City.