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Northern Latium was home to the small tribe of Latin people and later it was called Ancient Latium. It was situated between Etruria and Campania. The river Tiber connected Latius with the midland and the Tyrrhenian sea was an area of a brisk trade between Carthage, Etruria and Greek. Everywhere in Latium there were traces of volcanic activity. The volcanic ash-particles were wonderful fertilizer and made the soil very rich and productive. Agriculture and cattle breeding were the main activities of the population in that region. Their domestic animals were bulls, sheep, hogs. Horses were also used but mainly for battles. The climate was very wet and there were a lot of marshes in that area. According to the Protolatins (Latin ancestors) were the first settlers of Alban hills of Latium. These hills later became the unification centre of primitive Latin city-states (The Alban Federation known as Latin League – 7th century BC). Downstream the river Tiber there were another group of hills. They occupy very strategic position. Some of them had very steep slopes and were very easy to defend (Capitol, Palatine). People there was obtaining salt from the sea water and along the left bank of the river Tiber there was a road called “The Salt road” (Via Salaria).

Palatine hill was the first of the main hills that was settled. The hill was surrounded by a lot of marshes and it was very easy to defend. The river Tiber was near, the Salt road was near so it is not difficult to understand the reasons it was settled first. So the first Palatine hill community was the Protolatin community (9-10 BC). At the end of 9th BC was founded the Esquiline hill Protosabines community which was very near the Palatine hill.
There were four phases of the growth of the city during its Kingdom period. The fist phase was called “Square Rome” (Roma Quadrata). According to the so was named the first Palatine hill settlement by some Roman writers. The second phase was “The city of the seven hills” but relative to this period there were no clear evidence about what territory exactly was included in the city.

The third phase of the growth of the city was so called “The city of the four districts”. The four districts were as follows: Palatine hill, Caelian hill, Quirinal hill and Viminal hill. This way the city was expanded to include five main hills: Palatine hill, Esquiline hill, Caelian hill, Viminal hill and Quirinal hill. Obviously the other two hills – Capitoline hill and Aventine hill were not settled at that time or if they were, they were not included in the pomerium (the sacred body of the city of Rome) of the city. The last phase was so called “The city of Servius Tullius” (Servius Tullius was the sixth legendary king of Ancient Rome. He expanded the city to include the Capitoline hill). So the Capitoline hill was within the pomerium of the city. Aventine hill was the last of the main hills included.