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AQUILEIA

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 250 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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AQUILEIA , an See also:

ancient See also:town of See also:Italy, at the See also:head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about 6 m. from the See also:sea, on the See also:river Natiso (mod. Natisone), the course of which has changed somewhat since See also:Roman times. It was founded by the See also:Romans in 181 B.C. as a frontier fortress on the See also:north-See also:east, not far from the site where, two years before, Gaulish invaders had attempted to See also:settle. The See also:colony was led by two men of consular and one of praetorian See also:rank, and 3000 pedites formed the bulk of the settlers. It was probably connected by road with See also:Bononia in 175 B.c.; and subsequently with Genua in 148 B.c. by the Via See also:Postumia, which ran through See also:Cremona, Bedriacum and See also:Altinum, joining the first-mentioned road at See also:Concordia, while the construction of the Via See also:Popilia from See also:Ariminum to Ad Portum near Altinum in 132 B.C. improved the communications still further. In 169 B.C., 1500 more families were settled there as a reinforcement to the See also:garrison. The See also:discovery of the goldfields near the See also:modern See also:Klagenfurt in 150 B.C. (See also:Strabo iv. 208) brought it into See also:notice, and it soon became a See also:place of importance, not only owing to its strategic position, but as a centre of See also:trade, especially in agricultural products. It also had, in later times at least, considerable brickfields. It was originally a Latin colony, but, became a See also:municipium probably in 90 B.C. The customs boundary of Italy was See also:close by in See also:Cicero's See also:day.

It was plundered by the See also:

Iapydes under See also:Augustus, but, in the See also:period of See also:peace which followed, was able to develop its resources. Augustus visited it during the Pannonian See also:wars in 12-10 B.C. and it was the birthplace of Tiberius's son by Julia, in the latter See also:year. It was the starting-point of several important roads leading to the north-eastern portion of the empire—the road (Via Iulia See also:Augusta) by Iulium Carnicum to Veldidena (mod. Wilten, near See also:Innsbruck), from which branched off the road into See also:Noricum, leading by Virunum (Klagenfurt) to Lauricum (See also:Lorch) on the See also:Danube, the road into See also:Pannonia, leading to Emona (See also:Laibach)1 and Sirmium (Mitrowitz), the road to Tarsatica (near See also:Fiume) and Siscia (See also:Sissek), and that to See also:Tergeste (See also:Trieste) and the Istrian See also:coast. In the See also:war against the See also:Marcomanni in A.D. 167, the town was hard pressed; the . fortifications had fallen into disrepair during the See also:long peace. In A.D. 238, when the town took the See also:side of the See also:senate against the See also:emperor Maximinus, they were hastily restored, and proved of sufficient strength to resist for several months, until Maximinus, himself was assassinated. The 4th See also:century marks, however, the greatest importance of 1 This road is described in detail by O. Cuntz in Jahreshefte See also:des Osten. See also:Arch. Inst. v.

(1902), Beiblatt, pp. 139 seq. Aquileia; it became a See also:

naval station and, probably, the seat of the corrector Venetiarum et Histriae; a See also:mint was established here, the coins of which are very numerous, and the See also:bishop obtained the rank of See also:patriarch. An imperial See also:palace was constructed here, in which the emperors after the See also:time of See also:Diocletian frequently resided; and the See also:city often played a See also:part in the struggles between the rulers of the 4th century. At the end of the century, See also:Ausonius enumerated it as the ninth among the See also:great cities of the See also:world, placing See also:Rome, See also:Mediolanum and See also:Capua before it, and called it " moenibus et portu celeberrima." In A.D. 452, how-ever, it was destroyed by See also:Attila, though it continued to exist until the .Lombard invasion of A.D. 568. After this the patriarchate was transferred to See also:Grado. In 6o6 the See also:diocese was divided into two parts, and the patriarchate of Aquileia, protected by the See also:Lombards, was revived, that of Grado being protected by the See also:exarch of See also:Ravenna and later by the doges of See also:Venice. In 1027 and 1044 Patriarch See also:Poppo of Aquileia entered and sacked Grado, and, though the See also:pope reconfirmed the patriarch of the latter in his dignities, the town never recovered, though it continued to be the seat of the patriarchate until its formal transference to Venice in 1450. The seat of the patriarchate of Aquileia had been transferred to See also:Udine in 1238, but returned in 1420 when Venice annexed the territory of Udine. It was finally suppressed in 1751, and the See also:sees of Udine and Gorizia (See also:Gorz) established in its See also:stead.

Its buildings served as See also:

stone quarries for centuries, and no edifices of the Roman period remain above ground. Excavations have revealed one See also:street and the north-See also:west See also:angle of the town walls, while the See also:local museum contains over 2000 See also:inscriptions, besides statues and other antiquities. The See also:cathedral, a See also:flat-roofed See also:basilica, was erected by Patriarch Poppo in 1031 on the site of an earlier See also:church, and rebuilt about 1379 in the See also:Gothic See also:style by Patriarch Marquad. The See also:narthex and See also:baptistery belong to an earlier period. Of the palace of the patriarchs only two isolated columns remain See also:standing. The modern See also:village (pop. 2300) is rendered unhealthy by See also:rice-See also:fields. See T. W. See also:Jackson, See also:Dalmatia, See also:Istria and the Quarnero (See also:Oxford, 1887), iii. 377 seq.; H. Maionica, Aquileia zur ROmerzeit (Gorz, 1881), Fundkarte von Agnileia, (Gorz, 1893), " Inschriften in Grado (Roman inscriptions removed thither from Aquileia) in Jahreshefte des Osten..

Arch. Instituts, i. (1898), Beiblatt, 83, 125. (T.

End of Article: AQUILEIA

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