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ALETRIUM (mod. Alatri)

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 543 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ALETRIUM (mod. Alatri) , a See also:town of the See also:Hernici, about 6 m. due N. of Frusino, See also:Italy, mentioned in 306 B.C. for its fidelity to See also:Rome. In See also:Cicero's See also:time it was a See also:municipium, and continued in this position throughout the imperial See also:period. It is chiefly remarkable for its finely preserved fortifications constructed of See also:tetrahedral and polygonal blocks of See also:local See also:limestone well jointed, with maximum dimensions of about 3 by 1 ft.; the See also:outer See also:circuit of the See also:city See also:wall See also:measures about 2 m. It is almost entirely an embanking wall, as is the See also:rule in the cities of this See also:part of Italy, with a maximum height, probably, of about 30 ft. Two of the See also:gates (of which there were perhaps five) are still to some extent preserved, and three posterns are to be found. In the centre of the city rises a See also:hill (1647 ft.) which was adopted as the citadel. Remains of the fortifications of three successive periods can be traced, of'which the last, perhaps a little more See also:recent than that of the city wall, is the best preserved. In the first two periods the construction is rough, while in the third the blocks are very well and finely jointed, and the faces smoothed; they are mostly polygonal in See also:form and are much larger (the maximum about ro by 6 ft.) than those of the city wall. A See also:flat See also:surface was formed partly by smoothing off the See also:rock and partly by the erection of huge See also:terrace walls which rise to a height of over 50 ft., enclosing a roughly rectangular See also:area of 235 by 115 yds. Two approaches to the citadel were constructed, both passing through the wall; the openings of both are rectangular. The See also:architrave of the larger, known as Porta di Civita, measures about 17 ft. in length, 5 ft. in height, 6 ft. in thickness; while that of the smaller is decorated with three phalli in See also:relief.

Later, though probably in See also:

ancient times, a ramp was added on the See also:northern See also:side. In the centre of the arx was a See also:building on the site of the See also:present See also:cathedral, of which only a small portion is preserved. Remains of a high-pressure See also:aqueduct, which supplied the town with See also:water and was constructed with other public buildings (Corp. Inscr. See also:Lat. x., See also:Berlin, 1883, p. 5807) by L. Betilienus Varus, may still be traced. A See also:temple was excavated in 1889 about :1m. to the See also:north of the town, and many fragments of the painted terra-cottas with which it was decorated were found. A reconstruction of it has been erected in the Museo di See also:Villa Giulia at Rome. The present town (pop. in 1Q01, 15,322) has a picturesque aspect, and contains many buildings in the See also:Gothic See also:style. See R. Bassel, Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung, 1881, I21, p.

134; H. Winnefeld, Ramische Mitteilungen, 1889, 126; G. Fiorelli in Notizie degli Scavi, 1882, 417. (T.

End of Article: ALETRIUM (mod. Alatri)

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