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BONONIA (mod. Bologna)

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 213 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BONONIA (mod. See also:Bologna) , the See also:chief See also:town of See also:ancient Aemilia (see AEMILIA, VIA), in See also:Italy. It was said by classical writers to be of See also:Etruscan origin, and to have been founded, under the name Felsina, from Perusia by Aucnus or Ocnus. Excavations of See also:recent years have, however, led to the See also:discovery of some 600 ancient See also:Italic (Ligurian?) huts, and of cemeteries of the same and the succeeding (Umbrian) periods (800-600? B.C.), of which the latter immediately preceded the Etruscan See also:civilization (c. 600-400 B.C.). An extensive Etruscan See also:necropolis, too, was discovered on the site of the See also:modern See also:cemetery (A. Zannoni, Scavi della Certosa, Bologna, 1876), and others in the public See also:garden and on the Arnoaldi Veli See also:property (Notizie degli Scavi, indite 1876-1900, s.v. "Bologna"). In 196 B.C., when the town first appears in See also:history, it was already in the See also:possession of the See also:Boii, and had probably by this See also:time changed its name, and in 189 B.C. it became a See also:Roman See also:colony. After the See also:conquest of the See also:mountain tribes, its importance was assured by its position on the Via Aemilia, by which it was connected in 187 B.C. with See also:Ariminum and Placentia, and on the road, constructed in the same See also:year, to See also:Arretium; while another road was made, perhaps in 175 B.C., to Aquilelia. It thus became the centre of the road See also:system of See also:north Italy.

In 90 B.C. it acquired Roman citizenship. In 43 B.C. it was used as his See also:

base of operations against See also:Decius See also:Brutus by See also:Mark Antony, who settled colonists here; See also:Augustus added others later, constructing a new See also:aqueduct from the Letta, a tributary of the Rhenus, which was restored to use in 1881 (G. Gozzadini in Notizie degli Scavi, 1881, 162). After a See also:fire in A.D. 53 the See also:emperor See also:Claudius made a subvention of 10 million sesterces (£I,o87,5oo). Bononia seems, in fact, to have been one of the most important cities of ancient Italy, as Bologna is of modern Italy. It was able to resist See also:Alaric in 410 and to preserve its existence during the See also:general ruin. It afterwards belonged to the See also:Greek exarchate of See also:Ravenna. Of remains of the Roman See also:period, however, there are none above ground, though various discoveries have been made from time to time within the See also:city walls, the modern streets corresponding more or less, as it seems, with the ancient lines. Remains of the See also:bridge of the Via Aemilia over the Rhenus have also been found—consisting of parts of the parapets on each See also:side, in See also:brick-faced See also:concrete which belong to a restoration, the See also:original construction (probably by Augustus in 2 B.C.) having been in blocks of Veronese red marble—and also of a massive protecting See also:wall slightly above it, of See also:late date, in the construction of which a large number of Roman tombstones were used. The See also:bed of the See also:river was found to have risen at least 20 ft. since the collapse of this bridge (about A.D. 1000), the See also:total length of which must have been about 65o ft. and the width between the parapets 382 ft.

See E. Brizio in Notizie degli Scavi (1896), 125, 450; (1897) 330; (1898) 465; (1902) 532. (T.

End of Article: BONONIA (mod. Bologna)

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