Aventinus: Street

A street along the central depression of the *Aventine, branching off the *Via Ostiensis in the S at a point near the *Sepulcrum: C. Cestius, and then running NE between the two heights of the Aventine ridge and further to the *Circus Maximus. In modern scholarship, this street has been called “Vicus Portae R(a)udusculanae,” in its S part and, in the N, the “Vicus Piscinae Publicae” (Lanciani, FUR pl. 44, 41, 35; Scagnetti; Richardson; De Spirito, for the S part), yet no sufficient reasoning has been advanced to warrant these names. Each is derived from the respective neighborhood recorded on the Capitoline Base (CIL VI 975=ILS 6073, Regio XII, A.D. 136). The undated fragment of a compital altar found at the street’s N part (Panciera) does not contain the name of its vicus, but may well indicate the crossing of streets at its find-spot (junction of the modern Viale Aventino and Via Aventino). While both the existence and course of the street are not directly attested for periods before the Aurelian Wall (in connection with it the porta Ostiensis was built; the preserved stretch of pavement inside this gate, shown on Lanciani, FUR pl. 41 and 44, may be from that or an even later period), it is most likely that this important traffic connection between Ostia and the bulk of the S and E parts of the city already existed by the Augustan period. In addition, the alignment of Cestius’ pyramid tomb seems to have responded to the street’s axis. We therefore include this street on our map (while not insisting on its generally agreed end at the Circus Maximus: Rodríguez Almeida, Forma pl. 5, frag. 7e), yet we refrain from using its insecure modern names. Finally, if the street is acceptable for the late-Republican and early-Imperial periods, its course can help determine the location of a gate (perhaps the *Porta Rauduscula) at its intersection with the *Servian Wall.