Seven hills of Rome

For the film starring Mario Lanza, see Seven Hills of Rome (film).

The Seven Hills of Rome east of the Tiber form the heart of Rome. The Seven Hills of early Rome were the Cermalus, Cispius, Fagutal, Oppius, Palatium, Sucusa, and Velia, figuring prominently into Roman mythology, religion, and politics; the original city was held by tradition to have been founded by Romulus on the Palatine Hill (Collis Palatinus). The other six are now the Aventine (Collis Aventinus), the Capitoline (Capitolinus), the Quirinal (Quirinalis), the Viminal (Viminalis), the Esquiline (Esquilinus), and the Caelian (Caelius).

Initially and traditionally, the seven hills were occupied by small settlements and not grouped or recognized as a city called "Rome". The denizens of the seven hills began to participiate in a series of religious games which started to bond the groups together. The city of Rome thus came into being as these separate settlements acted as a group, draining the marshy valleys between them and turning them into markets and fora.

The now-famous Vatican Hill (Italian Vaticano, from Latin Collis Vaticanus) is northwest of the Tiber and is not one of the Seven Hills of Rome. Likewise, the Pincian Hill (Italian Pincio, from Latin Mons Pincius), to the north, and the Janiculum (Italian Gianicolo, from Latin Ianiculum), to the west, are not counted among the traditional Seven Hills.

Of the Seven Hills of current Rome, five (in Italian, Aventino, Celio, Esquilino, Quirinale, Viminale) are populated with monuments, buildings and parks; the Campidoglio (Capitol Hill) now hosts the Municipality of Rome; the Palatino is an archaeological area.

One of the most famous references that possibly refers to the Seven Hills of Rome is the prophetic imagery of the Book of Revelation. Revelation 17 makes reference to the "great harlot" seated on "a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names, with seven heads and ten horns," and the angel speaking to St. John says:

And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and, when he cometh, he must continue a short space. (Revelation 17:9-10)

The angel adds that:

And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth. (Revelation 17:18)

There remains considerable hermeneutic disagreement among Biblical scholars as to which city and which kings this passage refers to. Protestants have long considered Revelation 17 to identify the papacy and the Roman Catholic Church, as the Cathedra (seat) of the Bishop of Rome; some Papal properties are located at the Lateran Cathedral, which is on one of the seven hills of Rome, the Celio. However, this is within the territory of Italy, not strictly papal territory, as accorded by the Lateran Treaties. Thus, the actual territory of the papacy, the Vatican, is un-connected with the Seven Hills of Rome. At the time that Revelation was written, early christians, including those under the direction of the Bishopric of Rome (the office that became the papacy), were persecuted by the Roman Empire, which itself was historically known as the "City of Seven Hills". To some, this may refer instead to seven 'caesars' including Caesar Nero. It should be noted that in numerology, Nero's name added up to the number '666', which again implicates Rome.

Today, Catholic apologists would counter that Jerusalem ("the Holy City") is just as likely, that it was also sited on seven hills. Of the hills of Jerusalem, three are peaks on the same mountain, Mount Olive, and could be counted as 1. However, the rest of the prophecy certainly does not fit, as it was Rome, not Jerusalem, that had emperors who 'ruled over the kings of the Earth."

• See this list for other cities known for being built upon seven hills.
• Historicism.com[1] for the classic Protestant interpretation of Rome in Bible prophecy.
• Musesrealm.net[2] Map of the seven hills