Remoria

A site placed by most ancient sources on the *Aventine and connected with Remus’ rival city foundation, specifically as the point where he was thought to have taken auspices and, later, to have been buried (for the name ‘Remoria’: Dion. Hal., Ant. Rom. 1.85.6, 1.86.2, 1.87.3; Plut., Rom. 11.1; Paulus, in Festus 345; further, Remuria: [Aur. Vict.] Orig. 23.1 Pichlmayr; Remonion, Rignarion: Plut., Rom. 9.4; for Remus’ auspices on the Aventine: Livy 1.6.4; Sen., Brevit. 13.8; Plut., loc.cit.; Paulus, loc. cit.). Despite a competing tradition, which places the Remoria at a greater distance from Rome (Dion. Hal., Ant. Rom. 11.85.6; Orig. 23.1; cf. Aronen 206 for a possible Palatine sanctuary of Remus), most ancient sources situate the Remoria (or terms akin) on the Aventine, more specifically ‘on the highest part of the Aventine’ (in summo Aventino: Paulus, in Festus 345; Dion. Hal., Ant. Rom. 1.86.2; Livy 1.6.4-1.7.1; Ov., Fast. 5.149-52: at the Saxum of *Bona Dea; differently, with Romulus taking the auspices on the Aventine: Enn., Ann. 1.75-76 Skutsch). Ovid (loc. cit.) presents what may have been an Augustan-period mainstream view: that Remus took his ill-fated auspices on the mighty Saxum above the *Bona Dea sanctuary. It is the location of the Saxum that allows the area of the Remoria to be specified. Since Bona Dea’s sanctuary is listed by the Regionary Catalogues in Regio XII, its location on the Aventine’s SE height (the “Lesser Aventine”) is certain, and the prominent cliff forming its N angle — a strategic point included within the Servian Wall (s.v. *Muri: Aventinus) — most likely represents the Saxum (Platner–Ashby, Skutsch, Richardson, Chioffi, Wiseman, Aronen 205; contra, Ziolkowski, who suggests, inconclusively, a site near S. Saba c. 0.5 km SW). Outside the defenses to the S, the cliff extended for c. 70 m to S. Balbina, while inside the circuit a massive mid-Republican retaining wall (*Aventinus: Retaining Wall) expanded the rock face into a sizeable plateau. Remains of luxurious residential complexes dating from the 2nd to 4th c. A.D., including perhaps the Severan domus Cilonis, cover the entire region (Di Manzano and Quinto 81, with reference to an alleged Augustan-period building found in 1839; Guidobaldi; cf. Lanciani, FUR pl. 41). While the possible imperial ownership of this numinous place (cf. Chioffi; Guidobaldi) neither confirms nor contradicts the identification of the cliff as the Saxum, the presence of the grand retaining wall clearly demonstrates an effort to highlight the natural prominence of the site. With due caution, we accept the cliff as the Saxum, and recognize its perceived rôle as Remus’ augurial site, the Remoria of most sources; it is marked with an index number on our map.