The Viminal Hill is between the Esquiline and the Quirinal Hills. It is considered a collis, (high hill) rather than a mons (mountain).




Here we find the Aqua Marcia, which was the only aqueduct built by Praetor Q. Marcius Rex, constructed between 144 and 140 B.C. The Aqua Marcia provided clean water to the city that was expanding as a result of military success against Carthage and Macedonia. Its source was a series of springs located on the right bank of the Upper Anio, through several underground catchment channels and the run-off from the slopes of the Simbruini ridge. The Aqua Marcia, incorporating both sub-channels and arches, entered the city through the Porta Maggiore and terminated in a large tank on the Viminal hill, located north of Diocletian's Baths.



The Baths of Diocletian, on the north-east of the Viminal, are the main attraction on this hill. They are the largest in Roma, with a surface area of 1,210,000 square feet and are capable of accommodating more than 2000 bathers. They took ten years to build. The exterior, like that of the thermae of Caracalla and of the curia, is faced with white stucco in imitation of construction in blocks of white marble.
Sometimes the modest bathing fee of one quadrans is remitted by the generosity of the Emperor, who might make himself responsible for the entire costs of the baths for a day, or even for a year.




Moving on, I'd like to show you something.
It's an intersting stelle that comes from a loving couple who lived here on the Viminal about 80 BC. The stele is made of Tiburtine stone.



The Main inscription reads:

Lucius Aurelius Hermia, freedman of Lucius, a butcher of the Viminal Hill.
She who went before me in death, my one and only wife, chaste in body, a loving woman of my heart possessed, lived faithful to her faithful man; in fondness equal to her other virtues, never during bitter times did she shrink from loving duties.

Beneath: a picture of a man and woman holding hands with an inscription beneath:

Aurelia, freedwoman of Lucius.
[Lucius Aurelius Hermia, freedman of Lucius]



Very lovely, shall we proceed now to the Quirinal Hill...