According to the historian Tacitus, Romulus (754/753 – 715 B.C.) constructed the first walls of Rome around the Palatine. In 1988, during the excavations conducted by the University of Rome “La Sapienza”, a stretch of walls datable to the second half of the 8th century B.C., which seems to confirm the information given by tradition, was found on the slopes of the hill toward the Roman Forum. The Palatine was the seat of important cults established, probably, already during the age of the kings and linked to the legend of the foundation by Romulus, such as those of the Goddess Pales and of the Luparcalia . The Palilia were celebrated in honour of Pales on April 21st, believed to be the day Rome was founded. The Luparcalia were celebrated on February 15th in honour of Lupercus and represented a purifying cult. In 191 B.C. it was dedicated the Temple of Magna Mater Cybele, whose cult statue is preserved in the nearby Palatine Museum. During the 2nd and 1st century B.C. the Palatine was the residential neighbourhood for the Roman aristocracy and ruling class. Famous personalities lived on this hill such as Cicero, Mark Antony and Agrippa. During his reign, Augustus (27 B.C. – 14 A.C.) lived in an unpretentious house East of the Temple of Apollo. His successors continued this tradition and chose the Palatine as their home. In the west part of the hill, Tiberius (14 – 37 A.C.) constructed his Domus Tiberiana , later enlarged by Caligula (37 – 41 A.C.) and annexed to the Domus Transitoria by Nero ( 54 – 68 A.C.). The east part of the Palatine was entirely taken up by the Palace constructed by Domitian (81 – 96 A.C.), later enlarged by Trajan (98 – 117 A.C.), Hadrian (117 – 138 A.C.) and Septimius Severus (193 – 211 A.C.). Between the 16th and the 17th century, a sizeable part of the Domus Tiberiana was covered by the Horti Farnesiani designed by Vignola and constructed by Rainaldi. The finds discovered during the excavations on the Palatine and on the Roman Forum are preserved in the Palatine Museum, which is located on one side of the Domus Flavia .