Florus described the Carinae as the "most celebrated part of the city" (celeberrima pars urbis).

[2] The Carinae occupied the western end of the southern spur of the Esquiline hill in Rome.

The slopes of the neighborhood near the Velia were crossed by the vicus Cyprius, where, according to a Roman tradition taken up by Livy, Tullia would have killed her father Servius Tullius, overwhelming him with her chariot pulled by horses.

[6] The district housed the residences of Marcus Tullius Cicero and Gnaeus Pompeius, whose house was later owned by Mark Antony and then became a possession of the imperial state property (Emperor Tiberius lived there for some time).

According to Servius, the name of the district comes from the fact that certain buildings rising close to the Temple of Tellus represented the keels (carinae in Latin) of ships.