Viminalis, Collis

One of the seven traditional hills of Rome, it extended from the plateau E of the city and was separated by deep valleys from the *Cispian and *Quirinal (De Caprariis, LTUR). Along the N face of the hill, retaining walls of opus quadratum and opus incertum were needed to support the steep slope (De Caprariis 1987, 115, n.39; id. 1988, 40-44; Lanciani, FUR pl. 16-17). Little development is attested atop this small, narrow tongue of land, which seems to have been primarily a residential zone in the Augustan era (Blake 250, 261, 270). Some indications of residences from the Republican period survive (*Domus: Viminal [1], [2], [3], [4]; De Caprariis 1988, 44) and Pliny notes that one of the finest Republican domus stood on the Viminal, that of C. Aquilius Gallus (NH 17.1.2; Palombi); unfortunately, even an approximate location of this residence remains unknown, and thus it could not be indicated on our map. One neighborhood, the *Vicus Collis Viminalis, lay in the area S of the Stazione Termini; this vicus name is commonly associated with the hill’s main throughfare which ran from the *Porta Viminalis down the central ridge of the Viminal, perhaps descending into the *Subura (though the distance between the street and neighborhood suggests this is a misnomer). Some portions of paving were unearthed near the Baths of Diocletian (CAR III G165, 210-11a; Lega; Lanciani, FUR pl. 17, there hesitantly labeled “Vicus Portae Viminalis?”), but little other archaeological evidence for the street has been recovered (Lega). Given its probable course across the ridge of the Viminal, construction of the thermae Diocletianae almost certainly required relocating the road, so the remains known today may date to the 3rd c. A.D. (Richardson; Lega) and the Augustan course may have run further to the N. The Altar of *Iuppiter Viminus stood near the intersection of Via Cavour and Piazza dei Cinquecento, and the 2nd-c. B.C. Altar of Verminus abutted the *Agger just N of the Porta Viminalis (Chioffi; Lanciani, FUR pl. 10). Perhaps a statio of the third cohort of the Augustan urban watchmen stood just within the Porta Viminalis (*Cohortes Vigilum: Stationes). Numerous archaeological finds suggest the hill underwent substantial development in the 2nd c. A.D. with the erection of several expansive, sumptuous domus (with additional development in the 4th-5th c. A.D.: De Caprariis 1987; Sediari; cf. Juv. 3.71). Two fragments of the Severan Marble Plan (frags. 543, 570; Rodríguez Almeida, Forma 86-87, pl. 10) which correspond to the SE slope of the Viminal depict fairly dense building (probably of the 2nd c. A.D., Coarelli 289-90). Coarelli identifies a group of buildings immediately S of this complex as three refined Republican domus each with an atrium (289). However, caution is warranted when seeking a reflection of the Augustan city in this Severan depiction, since not only did the region blossom in the Imperial period, but a number of the structures indicated on the fragments have been associated with extant ruins firmly dated to the 2nd c. A.D. or later (De Caprariis 1987, 115). Two naming traditions survive. Varro holds that the hill is named after the Altar to Iuppiter Viminus (Ling. 5.51: collis Viminalis a Iove Vimino quod ibi ara eius), while Festus maintains that the collis is named after the stands of willows which once graced its slopes (516-17: viminum fuisse videtur silva). The atypical epithet of the Iuppiter cult (Aronen) and Varro’s claim that each of the five Roman colles derived their names from a titular shrine (loc. cit.; Richardson) suggest that Varro’s account may be the earlier one.