Rome
An Italian archaeologist discovered what he said was the palace of the first Roman kings, Rome’s Il Messaggero reported this week. Andrea Carandini unearthed an enormous building, with wooden walls and a ceramic tile roof, some 20 feet below the Imperial Forum. A section of the floor, he said, dates to the eighth century B.C., which puts it in the era of Romulus, who is said to have founded Rome in 753 B.C. Until now, the earliest evidence of the city’s history was from the fifth century B.C. “This palace endured at least until 64 A.D.,” Carandini said, “in other words, for eight centuries.” In addition to identifying an enormous banquet hall, Carandini said he found the quarters of the vestal virgins, the priestesses who attended to the Roman kings.
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