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PALATINUS MONS

Volume 15 · 164 words · 1810 Edition

or Palatium, the first mountain of Rome, occupied by Romulus, and where he fixed his residence and kept his court, as did Tullus Hostilius, Augustus, and all the succeeding emperors; and hence it is that the residence of princes is called palatium. The reason of the name is variously assigned: some say it is derived from the goddess Pales, or from the Palatini, who originally inhabited the place, or from balare or palare, the beatings of flutes, which were frequent there; or perhaps from the word palanter, wandering, because Evander, when he came to settle in Italy, gathered all the inhabitants, and made them all one society. To the east it has Mount Caelius, to the south the Aventine, to the west the Capitoline, and to the north the Forum.—Palatinus, the surname of Apollo from this place; where Augustus built a temple to that god, adorned with porticoes and a library, valuable for the various collections of Greek and Latin manuscripts which it contained.