The Curia Hostilia, on the southern side of the forum. Three walls only of this building remain; they were originally covered with marble, and the facade was probably decorated with columns.
The Milliarium Aureum, or Golden Milestone, from which distances were measured, stood near the temple of Saturn and close to the arch of Septimius Severus, in the Forum Romanum. It is a circular pillar on a circular basement lined with marble, and was erected by Augustus.
The Circus Maximus, situated in the valley at the south side of the Palatine Hill, was founded by•Tarquinitr Priscus, aud restored and enlarged by Julius Caesar. Augustus erected the obelisk of the spins. It was burnt in the great fire of Rome under Nero. Veapasiau restored and perhaps enlarged it. Trojan embellished it, and under Constantine the Great it was again repaired and beautified, and his son Constantius erected the second obelisk. Of this vast edifice the general form only is distinguishable in the vineyard in which it now stands.
The Circus of Romulus, commonly called the Circus of Caracalla, is adjoining to the Temple of Romulus, and is of the same style of brick construction. This circus was consecrated by Maxentius, A.D. 311, according to the inscription upon it..
General Ibpegraphy.—The part of Rome built by Romulus about B.C. 752 occupied the Palatine Hill on the eastern side of the Tiber. This town, built in a square form, was intersected by two main streets, one running from north to eouth, the other from east to west. This square town existed till a very late period, and was surrounded by a wall pierced by three gates. The Pomerium, that is, the precincts within which auguria could be taken, ran, according to Gellius (xiii. 14, 2), round the foot of the hill ; but was afterwards extended. Towards the Capitoline and the Aventine respectively the town was surrounded by swamps and ponds. Between the Palatine and Crelian the valley was not so deep, and it contained a long tract of elevated ground called the Vella, on which side the town, being easy of access, required fortifications.
As early as the time of Romulus, Etruscan settlements existed on the Crelian Hill, and extended over Mons Cispius and Oppius, which are parts of the Esquiline. They were compelled by the Romans to abandon their emita on the hills, and to descend into the plains between the Crelian and the Eaquiline, whence the Vices Tuscus in that district derived its name.
The three hills north of the Palatine, that is, the Quirinal, Vitninal, and Capitoline, were occupied by the Sabines, and the last of these hills was their citadel When the Latin and Sabine towns became united, the valleys between the hills must have been drained, and the cloacae by which this was effected belong to the earliest architectural remains of Rome. The valley between the Palatine and Capitoline was set apart as the place of meeting for the two nations! (Comitium and Forum Romanum). and the boundary between the territories of the two towns was probably marked by the Via Sacra, which came down from the top of the Vella, ran between the Quirinal and the Palatine, and then making a bend proceeded between the latter hill and the Capitoline, as far as the temple of Vesta, whence it turned right across the Comitium towards the gate of the Palatine.
The Seven Hills inhabited by these three different nations were united into one town, and surrounded by a wall by king Servius Tullius'. The new fortification consisted in some places of a wall, probably with towers at certain intervals; in other places the steep aides of the hills rendered artificial fortifications onnecessm7, for instance on the western side of the Capitoline. The north-eastern part from the Collins to the Eequiline gate, seven-eighths of a mile in length, was fortified by a wall, or rather mound. From the border of a moat 100 feet broad and 30 feet deep, was raised a wall 50 feet wide and above 60 feet high, faced towards the moat with flagstones, and (tanked with towers. Traces of this gigantic work are still visible. The walls of Servius were above six miles in circuit and had above 20 gates, the sites of almost all of which are determined. They included considerable tracts of land which were not °coupled by buildings, bet were either pasture-grounds or covered with wood or thickets, such as great parts of the Esquiline and ViminaL It was however principally the inner space near the wall itself which was not occupied by buildings until a very late period.