Latins, Palatine Hill, and the Founding of Rome: Untangling the Timeline

The question contains a historical misconception. There is no archaeological or literary evidence for a "Latins entering Italy" event followed by settlement on the Palatine. Instead, the Latins were already an Italic tribe living in the Alban Hills and Latium plain long before Rome's traditional founding date of 753 BCE.

What the Sources Say

• Legend (Livy, Virgil): Romulus and Remus, descendants of the Latin kings of Alba Longa, found Rome on the Palatine.
• Archaeology: Hut foundations and burials on the Palatine date to the 10th–9th century BCE—predating the legendary founding by centuries. These early inhabitants were Latial culture bearers, ethnically Latin.

The Real Sequence

1. Latins settle the Alban Hills and Latium (Iron Age, ~1000 BCE).
2. Palatine Hill becomes a fortified village (~900–800 BCE).
3. Villages on Palatine, Esquiline, Quirinal, etc., coalesce into a proto-urban settlement (~750–700 BCE).
4. Traditional founding date 753 BCE marks the political birth of Rome, not the arrival of Latins in Italy.

So the premise is inverted: the Latins didn't "enter Italy" and then build on the Palatine; they were indigenous to the region, and the Palatine was one of their earliest documented strongholds.