1738. That on the left, Santa Maria di Loreto, begun by Antonio
da Sangallo the Younger in 1507 (?), has a picturesque octagonal
interior and a rich coffered cupola. The portal and the strange
lantern on the crown of the dome were added in 1580 by Giov. del
Duca ( 1580). In the choir, over the 2nd door on the left, is a noble
statue of St. Susanna by Duquesnoy.
d. The Palatine.
The Palatine Hill, situated on the S. side of the Forum, rises
in the form of an irregular quadrangle, about 1960 yds. in circuit.
Like the Capitoline Hill it consisted originally of two summits of
almost equal height (San Bonaventura to the S., 168 ft; Farnese
Gardens to the N., 165 ft.) separated by a saddle; building oper-
ations have, however, materially altered its appearance. Tradition
places on this hill the dwellings of its heroes before the foundation
of the city, Evander and Faustulus; and their memory was pre-
served down to a very late period by a number of ancient temples
and shrines. The Palatine was the nucleus and the centre of the
mistress of the world, the site of the Roma Quadrata, various
fragments of whose walls have been brought to light. In the re-
publican period it was occupied by private dwellings; the orator
Hortensius, Cicero, Milo, and their bitter enemy the tribune Clo-
dins possessed houses here. Augustus was born on the Palatine,
and after the battle of Actium he transferred his residence to this
seat of the ancient kings. His buildings cover a considerable portion
of the E. hill. They include besides the palace proper (Domus
Augustiana) a large temple of Apollo and the rich Greek and Latin
library. Tiberius built another palace on the N. side of the hill,
perhaps near his ancestral house (see p. 316). Caligula enlarged
the palace by an addition at the N.E. angle, by which the Temple
of Castor (p. 297) was converted into a vestibule of the im-
perial residence; but his buildings soon disappeared. The Pala-
tine did not afford scope enough for the senseless extravagance
of Nero, who built himself the Golden House, extending from the
Palatine to the Esquiline (p. 303). The emperors of the Flavian
dynasty once more transferred the imperial residence to the Pala-
tine, enlarging and adorning the buildings of Augustus. Trajan
and Hadrian had private palaces in the S. part of the city, but
the latter preferred his villa near Tibur. The Antonines resided
mainly in the palace of Tiberius, which they seem to have enlarged.
Septimius Severus extended the imperial abode to the S. beyond
the limits of the hill. Part of the Septizonium, a colonnaded
edifice of many stories, erected by him to improve the view from
the Via Appia, which ends here, was still standing in the 16th cent.,
but it was at length removed by Sixtus V. The Palatium parti-