The Capitoline Hill, between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome
The Capitoline Hill, between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. It was the citadel of the earliest Romans. The name capitol seems to have meant "dominant height", although ancient tradition places its origin in caput (a specific skull found while laying the Temple of Jupiter foundation). By the 16th century, Capitolinus had become Capitolino in Italian, with the alternative Campidoglio stemming from Capitolium, one of the three major spurs of the Capitolinus. The English word capitol derives from Capitoline. The Capitoline contains few ancient ground-level ruins, as they are almost entirely covered up by Medieval and Renaissance palaces (now housing the Capitoline Museums) that surround a piazza, a significant urban plan designed by Michelangelo. At this hill, the Roman maiden Tarpeia let in the Sabines, creeping to the Citadel. For this, she was the first to suffer the punishment for treachery of being flung from a steep cliff overlooking the Roman Forum. This cliff was later named the Tarpeian Rock after the Vestal Virgin, and became a frequent execution site. The Sabines, who immigrated to Rome following the Rape of the Sabine Women, settled on the Capitoline. The Vulcanal (Shrine of Vulcan), an 8th-century BC sacred precinct, occupied much of the eastern lower slopes of the Capitoline, at the head of what would later become the Roman Forum. The summit was the site of a temple for the Capitoline Triad, started by Rome's fifth king, Tarquinius Priscus (r. 616-579 BC), and completed by the seventh and last king, Tarquinius Superbus (535–496 BC). It was considered one of the largest and the most beautiful temples in the city (although little now remains). The city legend starts with the recovery of a human skull (the word for head in Latin is caput) when foundation trenches were being dug for the Temple of Jupiter at Tarquin's order. Recent excavations on the Capitoline uncovered an early cemetery under the Temple of Jupiter.
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Location: The Capitoline Hill, between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome
Photo credit: © Rik Hamilton / Alamy / Afripics
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Keywords: ancient, campus, capitol, capitoline, caput, caput., citadel, dominant, earliest, forum, height, hill, hills, martius, meant, origin, places, romans., rome., tradition
