The Palatine Museum (Museo Palatino), officially called Antiquarium del Palatino, is a museum located on the Palatine Hill in Rome. Founded in 1862 CE, it houses sculptures, fragments of frescoes, and archaeological material discovered on the hill. It was built in the western sector of the ancient Domus Augustana, later Farnese lodge.
The building comprises two floors, each consisting of four rooms. The ground floor is dedicated to the Palatine from its origins to the Republican era, while the first floor is dedicated to works from the imperial era.
circa 1862 CE-
The creation of the first Palatine Museum can be attributed to Pietro Rosa, who established it in the late 19th century within the ground floor of the Farnese building on Palatine Hill. This museum housed a collection of sculptures that had been excavated from the hill during the reign of Napoleon III. However, in 1882, the Farnese building was demolished by Rodolfo Lanciani to facilitate a connection between the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. During this period, Gherardo Ghirardini (1854–1920) catalogued the museum's holdings and transferred the collection to the Museum of the Baths of Diocletian, which later became the National Roman Museum in 1889.
In the 1930s, under the initiative of archaeologist Alfonso Bartoli, who was responsible for excavations on Palatine Hill and the discovery of numerous artifacts from the site of the Domus Augustana, a new museum site was established. This was done using the remaining portions of the demolished Villa Mills. Bartoli successfully brought back to the Palatine Hill part of the sculpture collection that had been housed in the Museum of the Baths, which had by then become the National Roman Museum. These pieces were displayed in a newly constructed building above the remains of the ancient imperial palace of Diocletian, where the Domus Flavia and Domus Augustana had once connected.
The collections, however, were moved once again during the Second World War for security reasons, leading to renewed disputes over their ownership between the Antiquarium of the Palatine and the National Roman Museum. The latter sought to retain the most significant pieces of the collection. The Ministry of Education, which oversaw both institutions, sided with the Roman National Museum, arguing that the primary interest of visitors to the Palatine was the archaeological site itself, with the museum being of secondary importance.
As a result, the Antiquarium came to focus exclusively on materials directly related to the history of the Palatine Hill. Following the passage of the 1981 law on the archaeological heritage of Rome, which prompted the reorganization of the Roman National Museum, the sculptures that had been found on the Palatine Hill were returned to the Antiquarium. The museum was fully reorganized under the guidance of the Special Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Rome, presenting a comprehensive overview of imperial artistic tastes, spanning from the reign of Augustus to Late Antiquity. In 2016, the Antiquarium was incorporated into the newly established Colosseum Archaeological Park.
circa 1862 CE-
Ground floor
Rooms I to III house a collection of stone objects (Room I) that provide evidence of human activity on the Palatine Hill, extending from the Middle Palaeolithic into the Upper Palaeolithic period. Excavations have also uncovered traces of a village of huts, dating at least to the eighth century BCE. These findings include locally made vases and other impasto utensils. Notably, the rooms also feature models of these huts, alongside the contents of an infant burial dating to the early 7th century BCE. A wall within these rooms allows for the reconstruction of the stratigraphy of Hut A, presenting the various discoveries in chronological order, from the most recent to the most ancient, reflecting the sequence in which they were uncovered.
Room IV is dedicated to works from the Archaic and Republican periods. Among the displayed items is an altar from the Silla period, inscribed with a dedication to "a god or a goddess." This vague phrasing, commonly found in other contexts, likely served to obscure the identity of the deity from potential enemies. The room also contains several antefixes, crafted from polychrome terracotta, which represent figures such as Juno Sospita, and possibly Jupiter and Apollo, spanning various periods.
First floor
Room V displays works from the time of Augustus, including an eclectic statue of Hermes that draws inspiration from the Greek sculptors Lysippus and Polykleitos. The room also houses a basalt statue of a victorious athlete, likely commissioned by Octavian following the Battle of Actium. Additional artifacts include antefixes and bas-relief plaques, reflecting the ongoing practice of terracotta art, a tradition inherited from the Etruscans. A notable fresco, uncovered in 1950 during excavations of the Scalae Caci, depicts Apollo, crowned with laurel, seated on a throne with a cithara in hand, positioned near the omphalos.
Room VI is dedicated to paintings and decorations in opus sectile from the Domus Transitoria, a palace built by Nero and later covered by the Domus Flavia.
Rooms VII and VIII showcase works from the Julio-Claudian period through to the Tetrarchy. Among the pieces displayed are several portraits, the most prominent of which include those of Nero, Agrippina Minor, Antoninus Pius, Hadrian, and Marcus Aurelius.
The rooms also feature the famous Alexamenos graffito, discovered in the Paedagogium in 1857. Initially housed at the Kircherian Museum and later transferred to the National Roman Museum, the graffito was returned to the Antiquarium of the Palatine in 1946. The crude drawing depicts a figure with the head of a crucified donkey, accompanied by another figure with an arm raised. A Greek inscription reading "Alexamenos venerates [his] god" separates the two figures. Dated to the third century CE, the graffito has sparked significant scholarly debate. It is widely interpreted as a satirical representation aimed at mocking a Christian accused of practicing onolatry, or the worship of a donkey, a belief also mentioned by Tertullian.
Room IX is a gallery that houses Roman copies of Greek statues, primarily sourced from the imperial palaces on the Palatine Hill.
circa 980 BCE
Earthenware From A Cremation Tomb
A "cremation tomb" was discovered in 1954 CE beneath the so-called House of Livia. It was part of a small shaft with a dolium. A funerary urn with a lid in the form of a hut roof contained the cremated remains of a young abult male aged approx. 20-22 and some miniature bronze objects (fibula buckle, razor, lance, and a knife); the other grave goods consisted of eight miniature vases places inside the doliu, above and around the urn. The tomb dates to the early Iron Age, in Latial phase IIA (circa 10th century BCE). The knife indicates that the deceased played a role connected to cult activities; he was probably a priest. The currenty isolated presence of this tomb, in addition to suggesting that there may also have been a burial ground on the Palatine Hill, may be linked to the particularly prestigious role of this individual.
circa 630/620 BCE
Grave Goods from a Child's Tomb
The earthen grave, belonging to a child aged approx. 2-3 years, was probably connected to a residential hut. It was discovered in 1949 CE beneath the so-called "royal hall" of the Flavian Palace. The grave goods, consisting of three pots in red clay, nine bucchero vases and three aryballoi, one Greek import and two Etrusco-Corinthian specimen, dates to circa 630-620 BCE (Latial phase IVB, late Orientalizing period). Burials of children, aged no more than four, and frequently documented inside settlements in Lazio from the end of phase IIB (circa 10th-9th century BCE) up to the late archaic period (late sixth to early fifth century BCE). This custom may have been how family groups identified and reinforced their ownership of specific areas inside the settlements.
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