Archaeologists digging in Rome's Palatine Hill have found the remains of a large house which they believe is the birthplace of Rome's first emperor Augustus.
However, archaeologists are still not totally certain that it was the place where Augustus was born in 63 B.C.
Announced at the end of a 10-year excavation, the finding was partly uncovered in 2006, when a team led by Clementina Panella, professor at the University of Rome La Sapienza, unearthed part of a corridor and other fragments of "a very ancient aristocratic house" near the Arch of Titus on the northeastern side of the Palatine.
Extensive excavation in the past five years (founded by the Sapienza University and the Banca Nazionale delle Comunicazioni) and historical cross-checks have provided further weight to support the hypothesis that the house belonged to Gaius Octavius, Augustus's father.
"We have unearthed more than 10 rooms, beautiful mosaic floors and frescoed walls," Panella told Discovery News.
According to the archaeologist, the two story house looks like it almost climbed up on the Palatine, the most aristocratic of all the Roman hills. Built around an atrium (a large open space), the residence had great views, overlooking the Roman Forum and Esquiline Hill.
Beyond a tufa wall, the archaeologists also found the remains of a sanctuary.
"This is a crucial finding indeed. We have identified this area as the Curiae Veteres, the earliest shrine of the curies of Rome," Panella said.
According to tradition, Romulus, the city's founder, divided the Romans into 30 parts or curiae. These in turn were grouped into three sets of ten that were called tribes.
Mentioned by the Roman historian Tacitus (AD 56 – AD 117) as one point in the Palatine pomerium, which according to legend was the original line ploughed by Romulus to mark Rome's boundaries, the Curiae Veteres were an important gathering place.
The place housed the ritual obligations that the representatives of the thirty curiae had to carry on certain days of the year to reaffirm their membership.
Thousands of votive offerings and cult objects unearthed at the site indicate that the Curiae Veteres sanctuary was active for about 11 centuries -- from the 7th century BC to the 4th century AD.
The Roman historian and biographer Suetonius (about 69/75 – after 130), reported that Augustus was born on September 23, 63 BC, "in the region of the Palatine called Ad Capita Bubula (Ox Heads)."
Several scholars believe that the toponym probably indicated a place in the Curiae Veteres.
Born Gaius Octavius in 63 B.C., the future emperor was named adoptive son and heir of his great-uncle Julius Caesar when he was 18 years old.
After the civil wars that followed Caesar's assassination, Gaius Octavius was made emperor in 29 B.C., taking the name Augustus.
He was deified after his death in 14 A.D., and a calendar month -- Sextilis -- was renamed Augustus (August) in his honor.
The architect of the "Pax Romana" (Roman peace), a 200 -year period of peace and prosperity after years of civil war, Augustus was known for his fear of thunder and lightning and for his dislike of ostentation and excess.
"For more than 40 years, he used the same bedroom in winter and summer," Suetonius wrote in his "Life of Augustus."
Augustus lived in the house near the Curiae Veteres for just three years. His family then moved to the Carinae, a spur which stretched from the Esquiline towards the Palatine.
When he was 18 years old, Augustus bought a house near the Roman Forum; then, at 36, he moved again to the Palatine, where he bought the house of the orator Hortensius.
The choice of the residence was again symbolic. It was just above what is believed to be the grotto where Romans once worshiped the city's founders, Romulus and Remus.
Read more at Discovery News
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