House of Augustus, Palatine Hill, Rome

This week I went to visit the Palatine hill in Rome, it is a very interesting area, the original hill was made larger by the building of huge platforms which extended the overall total surface of the hill so more and more, palaces and temples could be located on the hill, after all the Palatine was the prime neighborhood of Rome. It was originally a small hill but as we can see today, huge arches in concrete and brick were built as foundation so palaces could be built. The Palatine has been inhabited since the earliest time, Romulus and Remus are said to have had their thatched huts on that very hill, today you can still see the foundations markers of those huts built some 2800 years ago. 

This visit took us to the newly re-opened house of Augustus, about 18 months ago, the house in which Gaius Julius Octavius lived as an adult was re-opened to the public after 50 years of restoration.  Gaius Julius Octavius who became known as Augustus first Emperor of Rome was born in September of 63 BC and died at Nola near Naples in 14 AD at the age of 76 from eating too many figs, his favorite fruit. He was the nephew of Gaius Julius Caesar and his heir. He was not in Rome when his uncle was assassinated on 15 March 44 BC but he was waiting for him with the legions in Greece for a new military campaign near what is Iraq today. The reading of the will of Julius Caesar on the Rostra of the Roman Forum declaring Octavius sole heir started his political career and ascension to power.

The house we see today is connected to the larger official palace. This house is very cleverly situated, next to all the sacred site of the foundation of Rome, it is next to the hut of Romulus, the house is also above the grotto where the She-Wolf suckled the twins Romulus and Remus. The grotto recently discovered in 2008 still has to be excavated. It is also next to the temple of the Cybele the Mater Magna, (Earth Mother) and between the Lares, protective spirits of good and evil and the Temple of Apollo, god of music and poetry and so many other things.

The house is small and not the sort of Imperial Palace you would expect. Augustus lived modestly, his wife Livia made his tunic from a rough wool, simple and practical, he ate simple food, slept in a simple little room all his life and wore thick sole sandals to give himself a boost, he was a short little guy, though very good looking. You first enter the house by a service door at the back, you are at the foot of a great staircase which connected the larger palace above, to your left, a door gives into a large room for audiences, capacity about 30 people maximum and next to this room his study, a rather small room with enough room for 5 people no more, one desk and a chair. The rooms are beautifully painted with scenes from mythology, Pompeian red very much in fashion then, dominates, you can see that the best artist worked on the decorations and motifs of those rooms, money was no object. The floors of the most beautiful colored marble. The house was a great political project for Augustus, it was started even before he became Emperor and August, Father of the Country, everyone in Rome knew of the house and its symbolism, all was thought out, no detail was left to chance. It is wonderful to be able to visit for a few minutes these rooms and imagine that Augustus who left his mark on his world, also left us with a large legacy, in laws and concepts that still influence our society, lived and worked there. To me this was by far the best visit ever of any ancient site, a priviledge moment.  

The only photos are by special permission only, I found only these 2 photos of the ceiling in the entrance and of the north wall of the dining room, the paintings on the walls and ceilings are still fresh and vibrant, even after 2000 years. 

In November, Rome will celebrate the 2000 birthday of yet another great Emperor, Vespasian of the Flavian dynasty which succeeded Nero in 69AD who was the last of the Julio-Claudian family. Vespasian was born in Rieti near Rome in the year 9 AD. He is the emperor who built the famous Amphitheater of the Flavians, also know as the Colosseum, for this reason the Forum is alive with his memory and many teams of archeologists at this time busy working on digs everywhere, tourists seem like an unwanted distractions.