AREA PALATINA
an open space on the Palatine, mentioned by Gellius
(XX. 1. 1:
in area Palatina cum salutationem Caesaris opperiemur;
cf. iv. 1. 1:
in vestibule aedium Palatinarum omnium fere ordinum
multitudo opperientes salutationem Caesaris constiterant), and in the
Notitia (Reg. X, om. Cur.), and probably to be identified with the
εὐρυχωρία of Josephus (Ant.
Iud. xix. 3. 2 (223):
ε᾽ν τῇ εὐρυχωρίᾳ δὲ τοϋ Παλατίου ... πρῶτοϝ δὲ οἰκηθῆϝαι τῆς Ῥωμαίων πόλεως τοῦτο παραδίδωσιϝ
ὁ περὶ αὐτῆς λόγος), through which the praetorians carried Claudius to their
barracks. The evidence points to a site between the domus Flavia
and the domus Tiberiana, at the top of the street leading up to the
Palatine from the porta Mugonia, now called the clivus Palatinus.
How early the term, area Palatina, came into use, and what were the
variations in its extent, it is not possible to determine (HJ 66;
Mitt.
1890, 77;
1896, 204;
BC 1910, 9-11).
