Seven hills of Rome
From Freepedia
- For the movie starring Mario Lanza, see Seven Hills of Rome (film).
The Seven Hills of Rome east of the Tiber form the heart of Rome. The Seven Hills of early Rome were the Cermalus, Cispius, Fagutal, Oppius, Palatium, Sucusa, and Velia. They figure prominently into Roman mythology, religion, and politics; the original city was held by tradition to have been founded by Romulus on the Palatine Hill (Collis Palatinus). The other six of the Seven Hills of later Rome are the Aventine Hill (Collis Aventinus), the Capitoline Hill (Collis Capitolinus), the Quirinal Hill (Collis Quirinalis), the Viminal Hill (Collis Viminalis), the Esquiline Hill (Collis Esquilinus), and the Caelian Hill (Collis Caelius). The now-famous Vatican Hill (Collis Vaticanus) is west of the Tiber and is not one of the Seven Hills of Rome.
The most famous reference is the prophetic imagery of the Book of Revelation; Revelation 17 makes reference to the "great harlot" seated on "a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names, with seven heads and ten horns", and the angel speaking to St. John says:
- Rev 17:9 (KJV) And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
- Rev 17:10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
The angel adds that:
- Rev 17:18 (KJV) And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
There remains considerable hermeneutic disagreement among Biblical scholars as to which city and which kings this passage refers to. Protestants have long considered Revelation 17 to identify the papacy and the Roman Catholic Church, as the Cathedra (seat) of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, is located at the Lateran Cathedral, which is on one of the seven hills of Rome, the Celio. Today, Catholic apologists would counter that Jerusalem ("the Holy City") is just as likely, that it was also sited on seven hills.
Of the Seven Hills of later Rome, five of them (in Italian) (Aventino, Celio, Esquilino, Quirinale, Viminale) are populated areas with monuments, buildings and parks; the Campidoglio (Capitol Hill) now hosts the Municipality of Rome; the Palatino is an archaeological area.
For other cities known for being built upon seven hills see: List of cities claiming to be built on seven hills.
