The Aventine plateau overlooks the curving Tiber river.
Remus favored the Aventine hill, which is the most south of the seven hills, for the building of Roma. Remus sat there to watch for the auspices, and he saw a flight of six white vultures.

Here also Gaius Gracchus' supporters, led by Flaccus, held an angry mass demonstration. Some of them made the fatal mistake of carrying weapons. The consul Lucius Opimius now proceded to the Aventine Hill to restore order. He was the most prominent and bitter rival of Gracchus and Flaccus. Opimius put a militia of legionary infantry and archers on the Aventine hill and the result was a massacre. Gaius, realizing the situation was hopeless, ordered his personal slave to stab him to death. Following the massacre another 3000 of Gracchus' supporters are believed to have been arrested, taken to jail and strangled.




The Aventine is now one of the most peaceful residential places in Roma. When the emperors took over the Palatine, the displaced wealthy folk moved here to the Aventine and build these lovely villas, and Varro his extensive library.

At the foot of the hill are the Temples of the Forum Boarium and Circus Maximus, where we will begin today's tour.

The round Temple of Hercules and the Temple of Portunus are the best preserved of our Republican temples. They were built in the 2nd c. BC and have a combination of Greek and Roman architectural elements.
The small circular Temple of Hercules is oftened refered to as the Temple of Vesta, because of its similar shape, but the Temple of Vesta is in the Forum, we will visit it later. The idea of a round temple, is a very ancient form that dates back to the circular hut.



The rectangular Temple of Portunus, (the god of rivers and ports) was built to honor the guardian of the nearby port of Rome. This Temple has sometimes been called the Temple of Fortuna Virilis. Set on a podium, the temple has four Ionic Ionictravertine columns fluted at the front and 12 pilasters, embeded in the tufa wall of the cella.
Much marble from foreign quarries like that of Synnada in Phrygia and the red marble of Chios was transported on ships called naves lapidariae, and unloaded at Ostia. The marble was transported up the Tiber to a depot at the foot of the Aventine still called Marmorata.





The Circus Maximus is our largest stadium. It was continually embellished and expanded from the 329 BC to our time now here in the reign of our Emperor Septimius Severus. The grandstands hold 250,000 spectators for the horse and chariot races, and betting is furious throughout the day. Let's wander around the outside first. It has three superimposed arcades covered with marble, the arches here at ground level are occupied by taverns, wine-sellers and other merchants.
The circus is used about 240 days a year. Augustus would give 12 races a day, Caligula 34 races a day, and the Flavians gave 100 races a day.

Most commonly raced were the four-horse (quadrigae) or two-horse (bigae) chariots. The most famous stables belong to the Greens, the Blues, the Reds and the Whites.
Other events include footraces, athletics (mainly boxing, wrestling, and long distance running), and the Troy Game (maneuvers performed on horseback by young boys of noble birth).
There are also grand spectacles and shows, both Caesar and Augustus staged shows with elephants.
Let's move through this entranceway on the curved side, notice the triumphal arch with vaults, erected in 81 AD by Domitian in honor of Titus. Inside, you see the first section of seating is made of stone, and the upper two sections are made of wood.

The Circus has a central dividing barrier, the spina, with seven large bronze egg-shaped objects on it used for counting the laps of a race, these are called the metae. In 33 BC seven bronze dolphins were added that serve the same purpose. Each chariot has to complete seven laps of the course.
Along the spina are the shrines of the god Consus and the goddess Pollentia and the statues of other divinities that favor the sports. Augustus added that great obelisk of Ramses II from Heliopolis in Egypt to the spina in 10 BC.
On the end opposite to the entrance are the starting stalls, from which the signal for the beginning of the race is given.

The Temple of Diana is on the Aventine Hill, dedicated by Servius Tullius. He intended it to replace, as a center of federal Latin worship, the Temple of Diana at Nemi, which had been built by the cities of the Latin League under Tusculum after the destruction of the city of Alba Longa. Horses are not allowed in the Temple of Diana, nor are any men, except for the doomed sacred king of the old year and his replacement, when that custom was still in place.

Other temples here are those dedicated to Juno, Luna,
Cerere, and Minerva; and the Armilustrium, where arms are ritually purified.

Notice the Aquaduct, called the Aqua Marcia, which was built in 144-140 BC by the praetor Quintus Marcius Rex. It is 36 miles long coming from the springs near Subiaco. Its water runs in canals for 30 miles underground, then for the last 6 miles on arches. In addition to serving the Aventine, this aquaduct also serves Caelian and Quirinal areas.

Let's wander further, over to a most curious structure on the Aventine, the pyramid of Caius Cestius. Cestius was a wealthy praetor who died in 12 BC. You probably read about him in Cicero's works, but his fame is his tomb, this imposing pyramid set in the Aurelian Wall. It is 118 ft (36 m) high and took 330 days to build. The core of Cestius' pyramid is good brick-faced Roman concrete on a solid travertine base. Its outer surface is overlaid with slabs of white Italian luna marble. The burial chamber inside is about six meters by four meters and five meters high with painted and stucco decorations.



And now we continue our walk over to the next hill, the Caelian.