PALATINO

      The museum is located in the Museum of Ceaser where, among the monuments collected from the hill site, various artefacts of Iron Age tombs and works of art from imperial buildings are exhibited. The most important of these works are the decorative pictures in the reading room of Isiaca. According to ancient tradition, it was on this hill that the first settlement of Rome was made by Romulus in the middle of the eighth century B.C. Excavations have

revealed huts and tombs from the Iron Age and, an ancient fortification. The Palatino was also the centre for some important cults such as, for example, that of Magna Mater (Cibele). Between the second and first centuries B.C. it became a residential district for the Roman aristocracy. In this period the House of Grifi, famous for its paintings, was built. The Emperor Augustus made the Palatino his official centre of power and initiated a building program: the construction of imperial palaces and various restructuring and enlargement of existing buildings built by previous emperors.