It was originally called the Hill of Saturn (Dionysius, ii. 1), being
occupied by Romulus as a defence for the Palatine Hill (Plutarch, in
"Rom."), and was betrayed to the Sabines by Tarpeia, the daughter of
the commandant of the fortress (Livy, i. 11). When the Palatine and
Capitoline Hills were united into one city, and the two kings reigned
together, the name of the hill was changed and called the Tarpeian
Hill. In the 138th year after the foundation of Rome, when Tarquin the
Great was making the foundations for the great Temple of Jupiter, they
found a human head; and the oracle told them that the spot where the
head was found should become the head of the world; and so they
changed the name of the hill again, and called it the Capitoline
Hill,--from _caput_, a head (Livy, i. 55; Pliny, xxviii. 4). The whole
hill was the Arx or Citadel of Rome, just the same as at Athens, Veii,
Tusculum, &c. Several ancient authors agree in this. The shape of the
hill is a saddle-back,--the centre being depressed, with an eminence
at each end. The one on our left is known as the Ara Cœli height,
and the one on our right as the Caffarella height. On the Ara Cœli
height stood the great Temple of Jupiter, facing south, and approached
from the Area Capitolina (Piazza del Campidoglio) by a flight of
steps. On the opposite or Caffarella height stood the Temple of Juno
Moneta or the Mint, and the Temple of Concord, both built by Camillus;
and the Temple of Jupiter Feretrius, founded by Romulus. Many other
temples, altars, and shrines occupied the space inside the citadel,
which was approached by three ascents upon its eastern side,--the
Clivus Capitolinus, the Pass of the Two Groves, and the Hundred Steps.
The ascents upon its western side date from 1348, when the marble
stairs on our left, leading up to the Ara Cœli, were erected out of
the stairs that led up to the Temple of Quirinus (Romulus) upon the
Quirinal Hill. The ascent to the Square was made in 1536 for the entry
of Charles V. The roadway on its right is quite recent. In forming it
some remains of the tufa walls that protected the arx on this side
were found, and can still be seen inside the iron gate.
On the balustrade at the bottom of the ascent to the Capitol are two
Egyptian lionesses. At the top of the ascent are two colossal statues
of Castor and Pollux, found in the Ghetto, and by their side are the
miscalled Trophies of Marius. They belonged to the decorations of the
Nymphæum of Alexander Severus, the picturesque ruins of which are on
the Esquiline Hill, and which are represented on a coin. They were
placed upon the balustrade of the Capitol, their present site, by Pope
Sixtus V. Originally they formed part of the ornamentation of the
Basilica Ulpia, and were erected in honour of Trajan by the
Apollinarian and Valerian legions. Next to the trophies are two
statues of Cæsar and Augustus Constantine; and in the same row, on the
left, the stone that marked the seventh and, on the right, the stone
that marked the first mile on the Via Appia.
_In the centre of the Square is_