Originally posted on July 14, 2012 by Canicus

The Capitoline

There are seven hills in Rome. Please note that the Vatican is not one of the seven, nor was it a part of the actual ancient city of Rome which is on the opposite side of the Tiber river; so those preachers who interpret the Apocalypse as referring to the Vatican have both their geography and history wrong. One of the actual Seven Hills of Rome is the Capitoline. The Roman Forum lies at the foot of this hill to the east. There were apparently small dwellings on top of this hill in the Iron and Bronze Age. Its importance dates to the Etruscan Kings in the 7th century BC. They turned this hill into the city’s acropolis (literally, the “high city”).

A fortified hill top makes a good defensive site to which the people can flee in times of attack. But it is also the theologically correct place for a Temple to one or more of the gods of high places, such as the Olympians. Thus, in Athens, the Parthenon is located atop a high hill overlooking the city. (Note, that even YHWH was such a God with his Temple atop Mount Zion.) All this in contrast to the gods of the underworld who were worshiped in caves and other “low places.” (Consider the Witch of Endor whom Saul sought in a cave to conjure up the ghost of Elijah the prophet.

So the Etruscan kings of Rome fortified the Capitoline and began the construction of a huge temple dedicated to Jupiter the Greatest and Best, his wife, Juno, and Diana. The Capitoline became Rome’s acropolis. It was not the place of ordinary business (that would be done down in the Forum). But it was a refuge in 390 BC when the Gauls sacked Rome. We are told that during that episode, a garrison defended the acropolis. The Gauls did find a way to scale the difficult Tiber side of the hill, but the defenders were alerted to their attempt by Juno’s sacred geese and the attackers were repelled.

The modern Capitoline Museum is atop the hill today. In it one can visit the massive blocks that made up the podium of the temple and the Tabularum, which was the records building of Rome that is located at the extreme western end of the Forum and which affords a spectacular “aerial” view of the Forum. The museum contains a lot of classical sculptures and inscriptions. This year there was also a special exhibit of mostly medieval documents on lone from the Vatican Library, which apparently displaced many regular exhibits. One that was displaced was one of my favorites – the Spinario or Boy with a Thorn. It probably is a favorite because I too was a boy who got stuck by stickers going barefoot; however, we usually were not completely naked.

Canicus Modius