Nova Via

Ancient street running along the N slope of the *Palatine, roughly parallel to the *Sacra Via (Santangeli Valenzani and Volpe, LTUR; Varro, Ling. 6.59: … ut Novae viae, quae via iam diu vetus); street pavers and building remains which predate the fire of A.D. 64 (s.v. *Domus: Nova Via) were unearthed in recent excavations near the point of intersection between the Nova Via and the *“Clivus Palatinus” (Santangeli Valenzani and Volpe 1989-90). Together with Steinby’s research at the NW corner of the Palatine near the *Scalae Graecae, these archaeological remains suggest that prior to A.D. 64 the Nova Via followed the contours of the Palatine’s N flank on a roughly E–W axis (Santangeli Valenzani and Volpe, LTUR; for remains of an Augustan-era retaining wall flanking the street: Krause 192; for its post-A.D. 64 route, Lanciani, FUR pl. 29). There is no indication that the street continued beyond the Scalae Graecae or joined another running along the W side of the Palatine (Santangeli Valenzani and Volpe 1989-90, 24; s.v. *Clivus Victoriae; contra, Richardson). Literary sources pinpoint the top and bottom of the street, the summa Nova via and infima Nova via, respectively. Solinus writes that Tarquinius Priscus lived near the *Porta Mugonia ‘above the heights of the Nova Via’, supra summam Novam viam (1.24; cf. Livy 1.41.4, who attests to the nearby presence of *Iuppiter Stator); this region is traditionally identified with the E end of the Nova Via, near its intersection with the “Clivus Palatinus” (Santangeli Valenzani and Volpe, LTUR). The infima Nova via, on the other hand, is known to have been close to the *Velabrum (Varro, Ling. 5.43, 6.24). Livy is even more specific, relating the lowest part of the Nova Via to the section above the Temple of *Vesta (5.32.6: supra aedem Vestae); thus this toponym corresponds to the W end of the street (Santangeli Valenzani and Volpe, LTUR). Several archaic altars and shrines were in this area, including the altar and tomb of Acca Laurentia, the sacellum of Angerona, the shrine of Volupia, the altar of Larunda, and the sanctuary of Aius Locutius (on these, s.v. *Palatium). Coarelli’s radical theory of a Nova Via which extended from the NW angle of the Palatine to the Maxentian “Temple of Romulus” has been soundly refuted (for a summary and references: Santangeli Valenzani and Volpe, LTUR).