Alta Semita

Last updated December 02, 2023

The Alta Semita ("High Path") was a street in ancient Rome that gave its name to one of the 14 regions of Augustan Rome.

The Alta Semita brought traffic into Rome from the salt route (Via Salaria) that had existed since prehistoric times. The great antiquity of the street is also suggested by semita, a Latin word usually meaning "footpath" and not used for any other Roman street.^[1] It ran most likely along the modern Via del Quirinale and Via Venti Settembre, on the spine of the Quirinal Hill, creating a straight route southwest from the Porta Collina in the Servian Wall to a major temple from the Hadrianic era on the Collis Salutaris. It probably connected to the Vicus Iugarius.^[2]

It may also be that the street called Alta Semita in the Roman Republic was not the same as the one known in the later Empire.^[3]

The regional catalogues name Regio VI as Alta Semita, after the street.^[4] The temple of the Flavian family (Templum Gentis Flaviae) was located in Alta Semita, according to the regional catalogue.^[5]

Related Research Articles

In Sabine and ancient Roman religion and myth, Luna is the divine embodiment of the Moon. She is often presented as the female complement of the Sun, Sol, conceived of as a god. Luna is also sometimes represented as an aspect of the Roman triple goddess, along with Diana and either Proserpina or Hecate. Luna is not always a distinct goddess, but sometimes rather an epithet that specializes a goddess, since both Diana and Juno are identified as moon goddesses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus</span> Temple on the Capitoline Hill of Ancient Rome

The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, also known as the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus was the most important temple in Ancient Rome, located on the Capitoline Hill. It was surrounded by the Area Capitolina, a precinct where numerous shrines, altars, statues and victory trophies were displayed.

The Theatre (UK) or Theater (US) of Pompey, also known by other names, was a structure in Ancient Rome built during the latter part of the Roman Republican era by Pompey the Great. Completed in 55 BC, it was the first permanent theatre to be built in Rome. Its ruins are located at Largo di Torre Argentina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Via Sacra</span> Street of ancient Rome

The Via Sacra was the main street of ancient Rome, leading from the top of the Capitoline Hill, through some of the most important religious sites of the Forum, to the Colosseum.

The Temple of Castor and Pollux is an ancient temple in the Roman Forum, Rome, Central Italy. It was originally built in gratitude for victory at the Battle of Lake Regillus. Castor and Pollux were the Dioscuri, the "twins" of Gemini, the twin sons of Zeus (Jupiter) and Leda. Their cult came to Rome from Greece via Magna Graecia and the Greek culture of Southern Italy.

<i>Milliarium Aureum</i> Road origin monument in Ancient Rome

The Milliarium Aureum, also known by the translation Golden Milestone, was a monument, probably of marble or gilded bronze, erected by the Emperor Augustus near the Temple of Saturn in the central Forum of Ancient Rome. All roads were considered to begin at this monument and all distances in the Roman Empire were measured relative to it. On it perhaps were listed all the major cities in the empire and distances to them, though the monument's precise location and inscription remain matters of debate among historians.

In 7 BC, Augustus divided the city of Rome into 14 administrative regions. These replaced the four regiones—or "quarters"—traditionally attributed to Servius Tullius, sixth king of Rome. They were further divided into official neighborhoods.

The Gardens of Sallust was an ancient Roman estate including a landscaped pleasure garden developed by the historian Sallust in the 1st century BC. It occupied a large area in the northeastern sector of Rome, in what would become Region VI, between the Pincian and Quirinal hills, near the Via Salaria and later Porta Salaria. The modern rione is now known as Sallustiano.

The Ludus Magnus was the largest of the gladiatorial schools in Rome. It was built by the emperor Domitian in the late first century C.E., alongside other building projects undertaken by him such as three other gladiatorial schools across the Roman Empire.

The main road to the Roman Capitol, the Clivus Capitolinus starts at the head of the Roman Forum beside the Arch of Tiberius as a continuation of the Via Sacra; proceeding around the Temple of Saturn and turning to the south in front of the Portico Dii Consentes, it then climbs up the slope of the Capitoline Hill to the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus at its summit. This was traditionally the last and culminating portion of all Roman triumphs.

The topography of ancient Rome is the description of the built environment of the city of ancient Rome. It is a multidisciplinary field of study that draws on archaeology, epigraphy, cartography and philology. The word 'topography' here has its older sense of a description of a place, now often considered to be local history, rather than its usual modern meaning, the study of landforms.

The Arch of Dolabella and Silanus or Arch of Dolabella is an ancient Roman arch. It was built by senatorial decree in 10 AD by the consuls P. Cornelius Dolabella and C. Junius Silanus.

The lautumiae were tufa quarries that became a topographical marker in ancient Rome. They were located on the northeast slope of the Capitoline Hill, forming one side of the Graecostasis, where foreign embassies gathered prior to appearing before the Roman Senate.

Fortuna Huiusce Diei was an aspect of the goddess Fortuna, known primarily for her temple in the Area Sacra di Largo Argentina at Rome. Cicero lists her among the deities who should be cultivated in his ideal state, because "she empowers each day". She thus embodies an important aspect of time as it figures in Roman religion: every day of the year had a distinct and potent nature, which the public priests were responsible for knowing and aligning the community with by means of the religious calendar.

In ancient Roman religion, the Mamuralia or Sacrum Mamurio was a festival held on March 14 or 15, named only in sources from late antiquity. According to Joannes Lydus, an old man wearing animal skins was beaten ritually with sticks. The name is connected to Mamurius Veturius, who according to tradition was the craftsman who made the ritual shields (ancilia) that hung in the temple of Mars. Because the Roman calendar originally began in March, the Sacrum Mamurio is usually regarded as a ritual marking the transition from the old year to the new. It shares some characteristics with scapegoat or pharmakos ritual.

The Carmental Gate, also known by its Latin name as the Porta Carmentalis, was a double gate in the Servian Walls of ancient Rome. It was named for a nearby shrine to the goddess or nymph Carmenta, whose importance in early Roman religion is also indicated by the assignment of one of the fifteen flamines to her cult, and by the archaic festival in her honor, the Carmentalia. The shrine was to the right as one exited the gate.

The Argiletum was a street in ancient Rome, which crossed the popular district of Suburra up to the Roman Forum, along the route of the current Via Leonina and Via della Madonna dei Monti.

The Arcus Novus was an ancient arch in Rome, located on the Via Lata, at the site of the church of Santa Maria in Via Lata.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regio VI Alta Semita</span> Historical region of Rome

The Regio VI Alta Semita is the sixth regio of imperial Rome, under Augustus's administrative reform. Regio VI took its name from the street passing over the Quirinal Hill. It was a large regio that also encompassed the Viminal Hill, the lower slopes of the Pincian, and the valleys in-between.

References

↑ Lawrence Richardson, A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992), p. 5.
↑ Richardson, A New Topographical Dictionary, p. 5.
↑ Kim J. Hartswick, The Gardens of Sallust: A Changing Landscape (University of Texas Press, 2004), p. 150, note 10, citing the arguments of Rodríguez-Almeida.
↑ Richardson, A New Topographical Dictionary, p. 5.
↑ Penelope J. E. Davies (28 June 2010). Death and the Emperor: Roman Imperial Funerary Monuments from Augustus to Marcus Aurelius. University of Texas Press. pp. 25–. ISBN 978-0-292-78956-2.

This Ancient Rome–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Lawrence Richardson, A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992), p. 5.

[2] Richardson, A New Topographical Dictionary, p. 5.

[3] Kim J. Hartswick, The Gardens of Sallust: A Changing Landscape (University of Texas Press, 2004), p. 150, note 10, citing the arguments of Rodríguez-Almeida.

[4] Richardson, A New Topographical Dictionary, p. 5.

[Davies2010-5] Penelope J. E. Davies (28 June 2010). Death and the Emperor: Roman Imperial Funerary Monuments from Augustus to Marcus Aurelius. University of Texas Press. pp. 25–. ISBN 978-0-292-78956-2.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]