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Ager Vaticanus
In ancient Rome, the Ager Vaticanus ([ˈa.ɡɛr waː.t̪iːˈkaː.n̪ʊs], "Vatican Field") was the alluvial plain on the right (west) bank of the Tiber. It was also called Ripa Veientana or Ripa Etrusca, indicating the Etruscan dominion during the archaic period. It was located between the Janiculum, the Vatican Hill, and Monte Mario, down to the Aventine Hill and up to the confluence of the Cremera creek.
About the etymology of Vātī̆cānus there are several hypotheses: according to Barthold Georg Niebuhr, the toponym perhaps refers to an archaic Etruscan settlement called Vaticum; Varro derives the name from a childbirth deity named Vaticanus or Vagitanus, the god of the vagiti ("wailings"), since va was supposed to be the first syllable pronounced by a child; Aulus Gellius on his part derives the name from vāticinium, a prophecy elicited by the flight of the birds or from the study of the liver of the victims of sacrifices and inspired by the god who controlled the area: the science of the Vaticini, the aruspicina or Etrusca Disciplina, had been introduced in Rome by the Etruscans. This term was ultimately derived from vātēs ("soothsayer, prophet") and canō ("to sing").
During the first centuries of Rome, the Ager Vaticanus was the boundary between Rome and the powerful Etruscan city of Veii. After the Roman conquest of the rival city in 396 BC, the Centuriate Assembly kept the tradition of raising an ensign on the summit of the Janiculum hill, to signal a possible Etruscan raid. The hill was known as Antipolis ("anti-city" in Greek), in contrast with the Capitoline Hill.
By the laws of the Duodecim Tabulae, particularly Table III, insolvent debtors could be sold into slavery, but only on the right bank of the Tiber. After Cincinnatus paid a large punitive fine for his son, it was recorded that he retired "like an exiled man" to his property in the Ager Vaticanus, although the plain was already Roman territory.
The toponym Ager Vaticanus is attested until the 1st century AD: afterwards, another toponym appeared, Vaticanus, denoting an area much more restricted: the Vatican Hill, today's St. Peter's Square, and possibly today's Via della Conciliazione.
The Ager Vaticanus lowland was exposed to the periodic floods of the Tiber, hosted vegetable gardens and vineyards, and was known for its unhealthy climate and bad wine until the end of the first century BC, when the development of local roads along the Via Cornelia (towards the port of Caere), the via Triumphalis towards Veii and the via Aurelia nova made possible for the families of the aristocracy the construction of luxurious private suburban residences (Horti).
Excavations carried out in various periods in the area that stretches from Santo Spirito in Sassia to the Palazzaccio have brought to light traces of 1st and 2nd century buildings, pertinent to the Horti Agrippinae ("Agrippina's gardens"), belonging to Agrippina the Elder, wife of Germanicus. After her death, the Horti passed to her son Caligula, who had a hippodrome built there (the Circus Gaianus). To mark its spina, Caligula erected in the circus an Egyptian obelisk (the only one always standing, among the numerous obelisks in Rome); it was later moved in 1586 by Pope Sixtus V (r. 1590–95) to St. Peter's Square.
The circus and the Horti were inherited by Nero, who used both to lodge the Romans damaged by the great fire of 64, and to carry out the executions of the Christians accused of the fire itself. Because of that, until the end of the Middle Ages the popular name of the area beyond the Tiber north of Trastevere remained Prata Neronis ("Nero's meadows").
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Ager Vaticanus
In ancient Rome, the Ager Vaticanus ([ˈa.ɡɛr waː.t̪iːˈkaː.n̪ʊs], "Vatican Field") was the alluvial plain on the right (west) bank of the Tiber. It was also called Ripa Veientana or Ripa Etrusca, indicating the Etruscan dominion during the archaic period. It was located between the Janiculum, the Vatican Hill, and Monte Mario, down to the Aventine Hill and up to the confluence of the Cremera creek.
About the etymology of Vātī̆cānus there are several hypotheses: according to Barthold Georg Niebuhr, the toponym perhaps refers to an archaic Etruscan settlement called Vaticum; Varro derives the name from a childbirth deity named Vaticanus or Vagitanus, the god of the vagiti ("wailings"), since va was supposed to be the first syllable pronounced by a child; Aulus Gellius on his part derives the name from vāticinium, a prophecy elicited by the flight of the birds or from the study of the liver of the victims of sacrifices and inspired by the god who controlled the area: the science of the Vaticini, the aruspicina or Etrusca Disciplina, had been introduced in Rome by the Etruscans. This term was ultimately derived from vātēs ("soothsayer, prophet") and canō ("to sing").
During the first centuries of Rome, the Ager Vaticanus was the boundary between Rome and the powerful Etruscan city of Veii. After the Roman conquest of the rival city in 396 BC, the Centuriate Assembly kept the tradition of raising an ensign on the summit of the Janiculum hill, to signal a possible Etruscan raid. The hill was known as Antipolis ("anti-city" in Greek), in contrast with the Capitoline Hill.
By the laws of the Duodecim Tabulae, particularly Table III, insolvent debtors could be sold into slavery, but only on the right bank of the Tiber. After Cincinnatus paid a large punitive fine for his son, it was recorded that he retired "like an exiled man" to his property in the Ager Vaticanus, although the plain was already Roman territory.
The toponym Ager Vaticanus is attested until the 1st century AD: afterwards, another toponym appeared, Vaticanus, denoting an area much more restricted: the Vatican Hill, today's St. Peter's Square, and possibly today's Via della Conciliazione.
The Ager Vaticanus lowland was exposed to the periodic floods of the Tiber, hosted vegetable gardens and vineyards, and was known for its unhealthy climate and bad wine until the end of the first century BC, when the development of local roads along the Via Cornelia (towards the port of Caere), the via Triumphalis towards Veii and the via Aurelia nova made possible for the families of the aristocracy the construction of luxurious private suburban residences (Horti).
Excavations carried out in various periods in the area that stretches from Santo Spirito in Sassia to the Palazzaccio have brought to light traces of 1st and 2nd century buildings, pertinent to the Horti Agrippinae ("Agrippina's gardens"), belonging to Agrippina the Elder, wife of Germanicus. After her death, the Horti passed to her son Caligula, who had a hippodrome built there (the Circus Gaianus). To mark its spina, Caligula erected in the circus an Egyptian obelisk (the only one always standing, among the numerous obelisks in Rome); it was later moved in 1586 by Pope Sixtus V (r. 1590–95) to St. Peter's Square.
The circus and the Horti were inherited by Nero, who used both to lodge the Romans damaged by the great fire of 64, and to carry out the executions of the Christians accused of the fire itself. Because of that, until the end of the Middle Ages the popular name of the area beyond the Tiber north of Trastevere remained Prata Neronis ("Nero's meadows").