The Palatine sanctuary of Apollo: the site and its development, 6th to 1st c. B.C.

Dedicated in 28 B.C., Octavian's Palatine sanctuary of Apollo remained one of the most important religious sites throughout the empire. Textual sources suggest that its site, at least partly, was sacred ground beforehand, as it accommodated one or several earlier cult places, but the pre-Augustan construction phases, as well as the archaeology of its cultic prehistory, remain largely unknown. One of the main reasons is a lack of a comprehensive architectural documentation ever since G. Carettoni's excavations between 1956 and 1984. In this preliminary field report I present the new architectural documentation of an area that is located in front (southwest) of the temple of Apollo, the sanctuary's focal point (figs. 1–2). This documentation was produced during fieldwork campaigns conducted in 2009–13 by kind permission of the Soprintendenza Archeologica di Roma. My architectural survey revealed the fragmentary remains of a previously-excavated but never-identified site of the Archaic period. I will first discuss the discovery of the Archaic site through on-site documentation and a possible reconstruction of its plan as a small shrine. Next, I analyze the long-term development and the spatial complexity of the site's architectural context in a series of evidence-based digital models. In contrast to previous contentions, my analysis suggests that the assemblage of structural remains in this area was intentionally preserved on this spot over the course of centuries. Thus the evidence presented here sheds new light on the architectural history of the site of the Palatine sanctuary of Apollo.