Aventīnus

, a son of Hercules by Rhea, who a isted Turnus against Æneas, and distinguished himself by his valour. Virgil , Æneid , bk. 7 , li. 657 .――A king of Alba, buried upon mount Aventine. Ovid , Fasti , bk. 4 , li. 51 .――One of the seven hills on which part of the city of Rome was built, it was 13,300 feet in circumference, and was given to the people to build houses upon, by king Ancus Martius. It was not reckoned within the precincts of the city till the reign of the emperor Claudius, because the soothsayers looked upon it as a place of ill omen, as Remus had been buried there, whose blood had been criminally shed. The word is derived, according to some, ab avibus , because birds were fond of the place. Others suppose that it receives its name because A vent in us, one of the Alban kings, was buried upon it. Juno, the Moon, Diana, Bona Dea, Hercules, and the godde of Victory and Liberty, had magnificent temples built upon it. Varro , de Lingua Latina , bk. 4 .— Virgil , Æneid , bk. 8 , li. 235 .— Livy , bk. 1 , ch. 33 .