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CASINUM

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 449 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CASINUM , an See also:

ancient See also:town 'of See also:Italy, probably of Volscian origin. See also:Varro states that the name was See also:Sabine, and meant See also:forum vetus, and also that the town itself was Samnite, but he is probably wrong. When it came under See also:Roman supremacy is not known, but it probably received the citizenship in 188 B.C. It was the most See also:south-easterly town in See also:Latium adjectum, situated on the Via See also:Latina about 40 M. N.W. of See also:Capua. It appears occasionally in the See also:history of the Hannibalic See also:War. Varro possessed a See also:villa near it, in which later on See also:Mark Antony held his orgies. Towards the end of the See also:republic it was a praefeclura, and under the See also:empire it appears as a See also:colony (perhaps founded by the triumvirs), though in two (not See also:local) See also:inscriptions it is called See also:municipium. See also:Strabo speaks of it as an important town; Varro mentions the See also:olive-oil of its See also:district as especially See also:good. The older Volscian Casinum must have stood on the See also:hill (1715 ft.) above the Roman town (148 ft.), where considerable remains of fortifications in Cyclopean See also:masonry, of finely cut blocks of See also:limestone, still exist. The site is now occupied by the See also:Benedictine monastery of See also:Monte Cassino (q.v.) founded by St See also:Benedict himself in 529. A number of Roman inscriptions from Casinum are preserved there.

The See also:

wall which runs south-See also:west and west starting from the west See also:side of the monastery, for a See also:total length of about 300 yds., is not so clearly traceable on the other side of the hill, though there is one fragment under the See also:east side of the monastery; but it seems to have defended the See also:summit and was perhaps the See also:original See also:acropolis. The Roman town See also:lay at the See also:foot of the See also:mountain, See also:close to the Via Latina. The See also:amphitheatre, erected by Ummidia Quadratilla (whose See also:passion for actors is mentioned by See also:Pliny, Epist. vii. 24, on the occasion of her See also:death at the See also:age of about eighty), is still existing: it is built of See also:opus reticulatum and the five entrances are by See also:arches of larger blocks of See also:stone; it is approximately circular in See also:plan. The See also:external walls are S9 ft. high. The seats in the interior have disappeared. Above it on the hillside is a See also:theatre of opus reticulatum, less well preserved. Close by is a See also:building V. 15converted into the Cappella del Crocefisso, originally perhaps a See also:tomb in the Via Latina; it is a chamber in the See also:form of a See also:Greek See also:cross, constructed of large masses of travertine, with a domed roof of the same material. On the opposite See also:bank of the Rapido are the ruins called Monticelli, attributed to the villa of Varro,apartof which was frequently See also:drawn by the architects of the 16th See also:century (T. See also:Ashby in Papers of the See also:British School at See also:Rome, ii. 19).

The See also:

medieval town of S. Germano, which resumed the name Cassino in 1871, lies a little to the See also:north. The See also:cathedral was founded in the 8th century, but the See also:present building was constructed in the 17th century. The See also:church of S. Maria delle Cinque Tcrri contains twelve ancient See also:marble columns; above the town is a picturesque medieval See also:castle. (T.

End of Article: CASINUM

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