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LATIUM ,' in See also:ancient See also:geography, the name given to the portion of central See also:Italy which was bounded on the N.W. by See also:Etruria, on the S.W. by the Tyrrhenian See also:Sea, on the S.E. by See also:Campania, on the E. by Samnium and on the N.E. by the mountainous See also:district inhabited by the See also:Sabini, See also:Aequi and See also:Marsi. The name was, however, applied very differently at different times. Latium originally means the See also:land of the See also:Latini, and in this sense, which alone is in use historically, it was a See also:tract of limited extent; but after the overthrow of the Latin confederacy, when the neighbouring tribes of the See also:Rutuli, See also:Hernici, See also:Volsci and See also:Aurunci, as well as the Latini properly so called, were reduced to the See also:condition of subjects and citizens of See also:Rome, the name of Latium was extended to comprise them all. It thus denoted the whole See also:country from the See also:Tiber to the mouth of the Savo, and just included the See also:Mons See also:Massicus, though the boundary was not very precisely fixed (see below). The See also:change thus introduced, though already See also:manifest in the See also:composition of the Latin See also:league (see below) was not formally established till the reign of See also:Augustus, who formed of this larger Latium and Campania taken together the first region of Italy; but it is already recognized by See also:Strabo (v. 3. 2. p. 228), as well as by See also:Pliny, who terms the additional territory thus incorporated Latium Adjectum, while he designates the'See also:original Latium, extending from the Tiber to Circeii, as Latium Antiquum. 1. LATIUM ANNTIQUUn1 consisted principally of an extensive See also:plain, now known as the Campagna di See also:Roma, bounded towards the interior by the See also:Apennines, which rise very abruptly from the plains to a height of between 4000 and 5000 ft. Several of the Latin cities, including See also:Tibur and See also:Praeneste, were situated on the See also:terrace-like underfalls of these mountains,2 while Cora, See also:Norba and See also:Setia were placed in like manner on the slopes of the Volscian mountains (Monti Lepini), a rugged and lofty See also:limestone range, which runs parallel to the See also:main See also:mass of the Apennines, being separated from them, however, by the valley of the Trerus (Sacco), and forms a continuous barrier from there to See also:Terracina. No volcanic eruptions are known to have taken See also:place in these mountains within the historic See also:period, though See also:Livy sometimes speaks of it " raining stones in the See also:Alban hills " (i. 31, See also:xxxv. S—on the latter occasion it even did so on the Aventine). It is asserted, too, that some of the earliest tombs of the See also:necropolis of See also:Alba Longa (q.v.) were found beneath a stratum of See also:peperino. Earthquakes (not of a violent See also:character within See also:recent centuries, though the ruin of the Colosseum is probably to be ascribed to this cause) are not unknown even at the See also:present See also:day in Rome and in the Alban Hills, and a seismograph has been established at Rocca di Papa. The See also:surface is by no means a See also:uniform plain, but is a broad undulating tract, furrowed throughout by numerous depressions, with precipitous See also:banks, serving as See also:water-courses, though rarely traversed by any considerable stream. As the See also:general level of the plain rises gradually, though almost imperceptibly, to the See also:foot of the Apennines, these channels by degrees assume the character of ravines of a formidable description. ' Latium, from the same See also:root as See also:lotus, See also:side; later, See also:brick; 10ar1n, See also:flat; Sans. prath: not connected with lotus, wide. 2 In the See also:time of Augustus the boundary of Latium extended as far E. as Treba (Trevi), 12 M. S.E. of Sublaqueum (See also:Subiaco). Four main periods may be distinguished in the See also:geological See also:history of Rome and the surrounding district. The hills on the right See also:bank Oeoiogy. of the Tiber culminating in See also:Monte See also:Mario (455 ft.) belong to the first of these, being of the See also:Pliocene formation; they consist of a See also:lower bluish-See also:grey See also:clay and an upper See also:group of yellow sands and gravels. This clay since See also:Roman times has supplied the material for brick-making, and the valleys which now See also:separate the different summits (Janiculum, Vatican, Monte Mario) are in considerable measure artificial. On the See also:left bank this clay has been reached at a lower level, at the foot of the Pincian See also: The strength of the renowned Roman concrete is largely due to the use of pozzolana (see See also:PUTEOLI), which also is found in plenty in the Campagna. Between the volcanic tract of the Campagna and the sea there is a broad See also:strip of sandy plain, evidently formed merely by the See also:accumulation of See also:sand from the sea, and constituting a barren tract, still covered almost entirely with See also:wood as it was in ancient times, except for the almost uninterrupted See also:line of villas along the ancient See also:coast-line, which is now marked by a line of sandhills, some 1 m. or more inland (see See also:LAVINIUM, TIBER). This See also:long See also:belt of sandy See also:shore extends without a break for a distance of above 30 M. from the mouth of the Tiber to the promontory of See also:Antium (See also:Porto d'Anzio); a See also:low rocky headland, projecting out into the sea, and forming the only considerable See also:angle in this line of coast. Thence again a low sandy shore of similar character, but with extensive shore lagoons which served in Roman times and serve still for See also:fish-breeding, extends for about 24 M. to the foot of the Monte Circeo (Circeius Mons, q.v.). The region of the Pomptine Marshes (q.v.) occupies almost the whole tract between the sandy belt on the sea-shore and the Volscian mountains, extending from the See also:southern foot of the Alban Hills below See also:Velletri to the sea near Terracina. The district sloping down from Velletri to the dead level of the Pontine (Pomptine) Marshes has not, like the western and See also:northern Drainage. slopes of the Alban Hills, drainage towards the Tiber. The subsoil too is differently formed: the surface consists of very absorbent materials, then comes a stratum of less permeable tufa or peperino (sometimes clay is present), and below that again more permeable materials. In ancient, and probably pre-Roman, times this district was drained by an elaborate See also:system of cuniculi, small drainage tunnels, about 5 ft. high and 2 ft. wide, which ran, not at the bottom of the valleys, where there were sometimes streams already, and where, in any See also:case, erosion would have broken through their See also:roofs, but along their slopes, through the less permeable tufa, their See also:object being to drain the hills on each side of the valleys. They had probably much to do with the relative healthiness of this district in See also:early times. Some of them have been observed to be earlier in date than the Via Appia (312 B.C.). They were studied in detail by R. de la Blanchere. When they See also:fell into desuetude, See also:malaria gained the upper See also:hand, the lack of drainage providing breeding-places for the malarial See also:mosquito: Remains of similar drainage channels exist in many parts of the Campagna See also:Romana and of southern Etruria at points where the natural drainage was not sufficient, and especially in cultivated or inhabited hills (though it was not necessary here, as in the neighbourhood of Velletri, to create a drainage system, as streams and See also:rivers were already present as natural collectors) and streams very frequently pass through them at the present day. The drainage channels which were dug for the various crater lakes in the neighbourhood of Rome are also interesting in this regard. That of the Alban Lake is the most famous; but all the other crater lakes are similarly provided. As the drainage by cuniculi removed the moisture in the subsoil, so the drainage of the lakes by emissaria, outlet channels at a low level, prevented the permeable strata below the tufa from becoming impregnated with moisture which they would otherwise have derived from the lakes of the Alban Hills. The slopes below Velletri, on the other hand, derive much of their moisture from the space between the inner and outer ring of the Alban See also:volcano, which it was impossible to drain: and this in turn receives much moisture from the basin of the See also:extinct inner crater.' Numerous isolated See also:palaeolithic See also:objects of the See also:Mousterian type have been found in the neighbourhood of Rome in the See also:quaternary gravels of the Tiber and Anio; but no certain traces of the See also:neolithic period have come to See also:light, as the many Pre" See also:flint implements found sporadically See also:round Rome See also:pro- historic bably belong to the period which succeeded neolithic remains. (called by See also:Italian archaeologists the eneolithic period) inasmuch as both stone and See also:metal (not, however, See also:bronze, but See also:copper) were in use.' At Sgurgola, in the valley of the Sacco, a See also:skeleton was found in a See also:rock-cut See also:tomb of this period which still bears traces of See also:painting with See also:cinnabar. A similar rock-cut tomb was found at Mandela, in the Anio valley. Both are outside the limits of the Campagna in the narrower sense; but similar tombs were found (though less accurately observed) in travertine quarries between Rome and See also:Tivoli. Objects of the Bronze See also:age too have only been found sporadically. The earliest cemeteries and hut See also:foundations of the Alban Hills belong to the See also:Iron age, and cemeteries and objects of a similar character have been found in Rome itself and in southern Etruria, especially the characteristic hut-urns. The objects found in these cemeteries show See also:close See also:affinity with those found in the terremare of See also:Emilia, these last being of earlier date, and hence Pigorini and Helbig consider that the Latini were close descendants of the inhabitants of the terremare. On the other hand, the ossuaries of the See also:Villanova type, while they occur as far south as See also:Veii and See also:Caere, have never so far been found on the left bank of the Tiber, in Latium proper (see L. Pigorini in Rendiconti dei Lincei, See also:ser. v. vol. xvi., 1907, p. 676, and xviii., 1909). We thus have at the beginning of the Iron age two distinct currents of See also:civilization in central Italy, the Latin and that of Villanova. As to the See also:dates to which these are to be attributed, there is not as yet See also:complete See also:accord, e.g. some archaeologists assign to the 11th, others (and with far better reasons) to the 8th See also:century B.c., the earliest tombs of the Alban necropolis and the coeval tombs of the necropolis recently discovered in the See also:Forum at Rome. In this last necropolis See also:cremation seems slightly to precede inhumation in date. For the prehistoric period see Bullettino di paleontologia Italiana, passim, B. Modestov, Introduction a l'histoire romaine (See also:Paris, 1907), and T. E. Peet, The Stone and Bronze Ages in Italy (See also:Oxford, 1909). It is uncertain to what extent reliance can be placed upon the traditional accounts of the See also:gradual spread of the supremacy of Rome in Latium, and the question cannot be discussed here.' The See also:list of the See also:thirty communities be- longing to the Latin league, given by See also:Dionysius of See also:Halicarnassus ' See R. de la Blanchere in Daremberg and Saglio, Dictionnaire See also:des antiquites, s.vv. Cuniculus, Emissarium, and the same author's Chapitre d'histoire pontine (Paris, 1889). See G. A. Colini in Bullettino di palentologia Italiana, xxxi. (1905).
' The most important results will be found stated at the outset of the articles RoME: History (the See also:chief being that the Plebeians of Rome probably consisted of Latins and the See also:Patricians of Sabines), See also:LIGURIA, See also:SICULI and See also:ARICIA. For the See also:Etruscan dominion in the Latin plain see ETRURIA. See also:Special mention may here be made of one or two points of importance. The legends represent the Latins of the See also:historical period as a See also:fusion of different races, Ligures, See also:Veneti and Siculi among them; the See also:story of the See also:alliance of the Trojan settler See also:Aeneas with the daughter of See also:Latinus, See also: 61), is, however, of great importance. It is considered by Th. See also:Mommsen (Roman History, i. 448) that it dates from about the See also:year 370 B.C., to which period belong the closing of the confederacy, no fresh communities being afterwards admitted to it, and the consequent fixing of the boundaries of Latium. The list is as follows: Ardeates, See also:Aricini, Bovillani,l Bubentani, Cabani, Carventani, Circeiates, Coriolani, Corbintes, Corni (probably Corani), Fortinei (?), Gabini, Laurentini, Lavinates, Labicani, Lanuvini, Nomentani, Norbani, Praenestini, Pedani, Querquetulani, Satricani, Scaptini, Setini, Tellenii, Tiburtini, Tolerini, Tusculani, Veliterni. These communities may be briefly described according to their See also:geographical arrangement. Laurentum and Lavinium, names so conspicuous in the legendary history of Aeneas, were situated in the sandy strip near the sea-coast--the former only 8 m. S.E. of See also:Ostia, which was from the first merely the See also:port of Rome, and never figured as an See also:independent city. Farther S.E. again See also:lay See also:Ardea, the ancient See also:capital of the Rutuli, and some distance beyond that Antium, situated on the sea-coast, which does not occur in the list of Dionysius, and is, in the early See also:annals of Rome, called a Volscian See also:town—even their chief city. On the southern underfalls of the Alban mountains, commanding the plain at the foot, stood See also:Lanuvium and Velitrae; Aricia See also:rose on a neighbouring hill, and See also:Corioli was probably situated on the lower slopes. The See also:village of the Cabani (probably identical with the Cabenses) is possibly to be sought on the site of the See also:modern Rocca di Papa, N. of Monte Cavo. The more important city of Tusculum occupied one of the northern summits of the same group; while opposite to it, in a commanding situation on a lofty offshoot of the Apennines, rose Praeneste, now See also:Palestrina. Bola and Pedum were probably in the same neighbourhood, See also:Labici on an outlying See also:summit (Monte Compatri) of the Alban Hills below Tusculum, and Corbio (probably at Rocca Priora) on a rocky summit See also:east of the same city. Tibur (Tivoli) occupied a height commanding the outlet of the See also:river Anio. Corniculum, farther See also:west, stood on the summit of one of three conical hills that rise abruptly out of the plain at the Iistance of a few See also:miles from Monte Gennaro, the nearest of the Apennines, and which were thence known as the Montes Corniculani. See also:Nomentum was a few miles farther north, between the Apennines and the Tiber, and close to the Sabine frontier. The boundary between the two nations was indeed in this See also:part very fluctuating. Nearly in the centre of the plain of the Campagna stood See also:Gabii; See also:Bovillae was also in the plain, but close to the See also:Appian Way, where it begins to ascend the Alban Hills. Several other cities—Tellenae, Scaptia and Querquetulam—mentioned in the list of Dionysius were probably situated in the Campagna, but the site cannot be determined. See also:Satricum, on the other hand, was certainly south of the Alban Hills, between Velitrae and Antium; while Cora, Norba and Setia (all of which retain their ancient names with little modification) crowned the rocky heights which form advanced posts from the Volscian mountains towards the Pontine Marshes. Carventum possibly occupied the site of Rocca Massima N. of See also:Cori, and Tolerium was very likely at Valmontone in the valley of the Sacco (anc. TrerusorTolerus). The cities of the Bubentani and Fortinei are quite unknown. A considerable number of the Latin cities had before 370 B.C. either been utterly destroyed or reduced to subjection by Rome, and had thus lost their independent existence. Such were See also:Antemnae and Caenina, both of them situated within a few miles of Rome to the N., the See also:conquest of which was ascribed to See also:Romulus; See also:Fidenae, about 5 M. N. of the city, and close to the Tiber; and See also:Crustumerium, in the hilly tract farther north towards the Sabine frontier. Suessa Pometia also, on the See also:borders of the Pontine Marshes, to which it was said to have given name, was a city of importance, the destruction of which was ascribed to Tarquinius Superbus. In any case it had disappeared before 370 B.C., as it does not occur in the list of the Latin league attributable to that date. It is probably to be sought between Velletri and Cisterna. But by far the most important of these extinct cities was Alba, on the lake to which it gave its name, which was, according to universally received tradition, the See also:parent of Rome, as well as of numerous other cities within the limits of Latium, including Gabii, Fidenae, See also:Collatia, Nomentum and other well-known towns. Whether or not this tradition deserves to See also:rank as historical, it appears certain that at a still earlier period there existed a confederacy of thirty towns, of which Alba was the supreme See also:head. A list of those who were wont to participate in the sacrifices on the Alban Mount is given us by Pliny (N.H. iii. 5. 69) under the name of populi albenses, which includes only ' The See also:MSS. read f3oi'XXav6lv or f3oiXavwv: the Latin See also:translation has Bolanorum. It is difficult to say which is to be preferred. The list gives only twenty-nine names, and Mommsen proposes to insert Signini.six or at most eight of those found in the list of Dionysius;2 and these for the most part among the more obscure and least known of the names given by him. Many of the See also:rest are unknown; while the more powerful cities of Aricia, Lanuvium and Tusculum, though situated immediately on the Alban Hills, are not included, and appear to have maintained a wholly independent position. This earlier league was doubtless broken up by the fall of Alba; it was probably the increasing See also:power of the Volsci and Aequi that led to the formation of the later league, including all the more powerful cities of Latium, as well as to the alliance concluded by them with the See also:Romans in the consulship of Spurius See also:Cassius (493 B.C.). Other cities of the Latin league had already (according to the traditional dates) received Latin colonies—Velitrae (494 B.C.), Norba (492), Ardea (442), Labici (418), Circei (393), Satricum (385), Setia (382).
The cities of the Latin league continued to hold general meetings or assemblies from time to time at the See also: 230) at a place called Tajo--rot between the 5th and 6th mile. The See also:identification (cf. Hiflsen in Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclopadie, vi. 2223) of this locality with the grove of the Arval See also:brothers at the 5th mile of the Via Portuensis, to the W. of Rome, and of the Ambarvalia with the festival celebrated by this brotherhood in May of each year, is now generally accepted. But Roman sway must either from the first, or very soon, have extended to Ostia, the port of Rome at the mouth of the Tiber: and it was as the See also:emporium of Latium that Rome acquired her first importance.6 s See also:Albani, Aesolani (probably E. of Tibur), Accienses, Abolani, Bubetani, Bolani, Cusuetani (Carventani ?), Coriolani, Fidenates, Foreti (Fortinei ?), Hortenses (near Corbio), Latinienses (near Rome itself), Longani, Manates, Macrales, Munienses (Castrimoenienses?), Numinienses, 011iculani, Octulani, Pedani, Poletaurini, Querquetulani, See also:Sicani, Sisolenses, Tolerienses, Tutienses (not, one would think, connected with the small stream called Tutia at the 6th mile of the Via See also:Salaria; Liv. See also:xxvi. 11), Vimitellari, Velienses, Venetulani, Vitellenses (not far from Corbio). 3 To an earlier See also:stage of the Latin league, perhaps to about 430 B.C. (Mommsen, op. cit. 445 n. 2) belongs the See also:dedication of the grove of See also:Diana by a See also:dictator Latinus, in the name of the See also:people of Tusculum, Aricia,Lanuvium, Laurentum, Cora,Tibur,Suessa Pometia and Ardea. Of the genies from which these tribes took their names, six entirely disappeared in later days, while the other ten can be traced as patrician—a See also:proof that the patricians were not noble families in origin (Mommsen, Romische Forschungen, i. io6). For the tribes see W. Kubitschek, De Romanarum tribuum origin (See also:Vienna, 1882). We have various traces of the early antagonism to Gabii, e.g. the opposition between ager See also:Romanus and ager Gabinus in the augural See also:law. c For the early See also:extension of Roman territory towards the sea, cf. See also:Festus, p. 213, See also:Mull., s.v. " Pectuscum:" Pectuscum Palati dicta est See also:ea regio urbis, quam Romulus obversam posuit, ea parte, in qua plurimum erat agri Romani ad See also:mare versus et qua mollissinie adibatur Urbo, cum Etruscorum agrum a Romano Tiberis discluderet, ceterae vicinae civitates colles aliquos haberent oppositos. The boundary of the Ager Romanus antiquus towards the north-west is similarly fixed by the festival of the Robigalia at the 5th milestone of the Via See also:Clodia. Within this p unitive See also:area fall the districts inhabited by the earliest tribes, tribes. so far.as these are known to us. The tribus Romilia was settled on the right bank of the Tiber near the sanctuary of the Arvales, the Galeria perhaps a little farther west on the lower course of the stream now known as Galera, and the Fabia perhaps on the See also:Cremera towards Veii. We know that the pagus Letnonius was on the Via See also:Latina, and that the tribus Pupinia dwelt between Tusculum and the city, while the territory of the Papiria possibly lay nearer Tusculum, as it was to this tribe that the Roman citizens in Tusculum belonged in later days. It is possible that the Camilia was situated in the direction of Tibur, inasmuch as this town was afterwards enrolled in this tribe. The tribus Claudia, probably the last of the 16 older tribus rusticae, was according to tradition founded in 504 B.C. Its territory lay beyond the Anio, between Fidenae and Ficulea (Liv. ii. 16; See also:Dion. See also:Hal. v. 40). The locality of the pagi round which the other tribes were grouped is not known to us. With the earliest extensions of the Roman territory coincided the first beginnings of the Roman road system. The road to Ostia may have existed from the first: but after the Latin See also:corn- Road munities on the lower Anio had fallen under the dominion system. of Rome, we may well believe that the first portion of the Via Salaria, leading to Antemnae, Fidenae (the fall of which is placed by tradition in 428 B.c.) and Crustumerium, came into existence. The formation (according to the traditional dating in 495 or 471 B.c.) of the tribus Clustumina (the only one of the earlier twenty-one tribes which bears a See also:local name) is both a consequence of an extension of territory and of the See also:establishment of the See also:assembly of the See also:plebs by tribes, for which an inequality of the See also:total number of divisions was desirable (Mommsen, History of Rome, i. 360). The correlative of the Via Salaria was the Via Campana, so called because it led past the grove of the Arvales along the right bank of the Tiber to the Campus Salinarum Romanarum,i the See also:salt marshes, from which the Via Salaria took its name, inasmuch as it was the route by which Sabine traders came from the interior to fetch the salt. To this period would also belong the Via Ficulensis, leading to Ficulea, and after-wards prolonged to Nomentum, and the Via Collatina, which led to Collatia. Gabii became Roman in fairly early times, though at what period is uncertain, and with its subjugation must have originated the Via Gabina, afterwards prolonged to Praeneste. The Via Latina too must be of very early origin; and tradition places the foundation of the Latin See also:colony at Sigma (to which it led) as early as 495B.C. Not long after the See also:capture of Fidenae, the main outpost of Veii, the chief city itself fell (396 B.c.) and a road (still traceable) was probably made thither. There was also probably a road to Caere in early times, inasmuch as we hear of the See also:flight of the Vestals thither in 389 B.C. The origin of the rest of the roads is no doubt to be connected with the gradual establishment of the Latin league. We find that while the later (long distance) roads See also:bear as a rule the name of their constructor, all the See also:short distance roads on the left bank of the Tiber bear the names of towns which belonged to the league—Nomentum, Tibur, Praeneste, Labici, Ardea, Laurentumwhile Ficulea and Collatia do not appear. The Via Pedana, leading to Pedum, is known to us only from an inscription (See also:Bull. See also:Soc. Antiquaires de See also:France, 1905, p. 177) discovered in See also:Tunisia in 1905, and may be of much later origin; it was a See also:branch of the Via See also:Praenestina. There must too have been a road, along the line of the later Via Appia, to Bovillae, Aricia, Lanuvium and Velitrae, going thence to Cora, Norba and Setia along the foot of the Volscian Mountains; while nameless roads, which can still be traced, led See also:direct from Rome to Satricum and to Lavinium. We can trace the advance of the Roman supremacy with greater ease after 387 B.C., inasmuch as from this year (adopting the traditional dating for what it is See also:worth) until 299 B.C. every See also:accession of territory is marked by the foundation of a group of new tribes; the limit of 35 in all was reached in the latter year. In 387, after the departure of the' Gauls, southern Etruria was conquered, and four new tribes were formed: Arnensis (probably derived from Aro, mod. Arrone—though the ancient name does not occur in literature—the stream which forms the outlet to the lake of Bracciano, anc. Lacus Sabatinus),2 Sabatina (called after this lake), Stellatina (named from the Campus Stellatinus, near See also:Capena; cf. Festus p. 343 Mall.) and Tromentina (which, Festus tells us, was so called from the The ancient name is known from an inscription discovered in 1888. 2 So Kubitschek in Pauly-Wissowa, Rsalencyclopddie, ii. 1204.Campus Tromentus, the situation of which we do not know). Four years later were founded the Latin colonies of Sutrium and Nepet. In 358 B.C. Roman preponderance in the Pomptine territory was shown by the formation of the tribus Pomptina and Publilia, while in 338 and 329 respectively Antium and Tarracina became colonies of Roman citizens, the former having been founded as a Latin colony in 494 B.C. After the See also:dissolution of the Latin league which followed upon the defeat of the See also:united forces of the See also:Samnites and of those Latin and Volscian cities which had revolted against Rome, two new tribes, Maecia and Scaptia,3 were created in 332 B.C. in connexion with the See also:distribution of the newly acquired lands (Mommsen, History, i. 462). A further advance in the same direction ending in the capture of Privernum in 329 B.C. is marked by the establishment in 318 B.C. of the tribus Oufentina (from the river Ufens which runs below Setia, mod. Sezze, and Privernum, mod. See also:Piperno, and the tribus Falerna (in the Ager Falernus), while the foundation of the colonies of Cales (334) and See also:Fregellae (328) secured the newly won south Volscian and Campanian territories and led no doubt to a prolongation of the Via Latina. The moment had now come for the pushing forward of another line of communication, which had no doubt reached Tarracina in 329 B.C. but was now definitely constructed (munita) as a permanent military See also:highway as far as See also:Capua in 312 B.C. by Appius See also:Claudius, after whom it was named. To him no doubt is due the direct line of road through the Pontine Marshes from Velitrae to Terracina. Its construction may fairly be taken to See also:mark the period at which the roads of which we have spoken, hitherto probably See also:mere tracks, began to be transformed into real highways. In the same year (312) the colony of Interamna Lirenas was founded, while Luceria, Suessa (Aurunca) and Saticula had been established a year or two previously. See also:Sora followed nine years later. In 299 B.C. further successes led to the establishment of two new tribes—the Teretina in the upper valley of the Trerus (Sacco) and the Aniensis, in the upper valley of the Anio—while to about the same time we must attribute the construction of two new military roads, both secured by fortresses. The southern road, the Via See also:Valeria led to See also:Carsioli and Alba Fucens (founded as Latin colonies respectively in 298 and 303 B.C.), and the northern (afterwards the Via Flaminia4) to Narnia (founded as a Latin colony in 299 B.C.). There is little doubt that the formation of the tribus Quirina (deriving its name possibly from the town of See also:Cures) and the tribus Velina (from the river Velinus, which forms the well-known waterfalls near See also:Terni) is to be connected with the construction of the latter high road, though its date is not certainly known. The further history of Roman supremacy in Italy will be found in the See also:article RoME: History. We See also:notice, however, that the continual warfare in which the Roman state was engaged led to the decadence of the See also:free See also:population of Latium, and that the extension of the See also:empire of Rome was fatal to the prosperity of the territory which immediately surrounded the city.5 What had previously, it seems, been a well-peopled region, with See also:peasant proprietors, kept healthy by careful drainage, became in the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C. a district consisting in large measure of huge estates (latifundia) Causes of depopu/a- owned by the Roman See also:aristocracy, cultivated by gangs See also:don, of slaves. This led to the disappearance of the agri-
cultural population, to a decline in public safety, and to the spread of malaria in many parts; indeed, it is quite possible that it was not introduced into Latium before the 4th century B.C. The evil increased in the later period of the See also:Republic, and many of the old towns of Latium sank into a very decayed condition; with this the continual competition of the provinces as See also:sources of See also:food-See also:supply no doubt had a See also:good See also:deal to do. See also:Cicero
Festus tells us (p. 136 Mull.) that the Maecia derived its name " a quodam See also:Castro." Scaptia was the only member of the Latin league that gave its name to a tribe.
a See See also:FLAMINIA, VIA and VALERIA, VIA.
5 L. Caetani indeed (Nineteenth Century and After, 1908) attributes the economic decadence of the Roman Campagna to the existence of free See also:trade throughout the Roman empire.
speaks of Gabii, Labici and Bovillae as places that had fallen into abject poverty, while See also:Horace refers to Gabii and Fidenae as mere " deserted villages," and Strabo as " once fortified towns, but now villages, belonging to private individuals." Many of the smaller places mentioned in the list of Dionysius, or the early See also:wars of the Romans, had altogether ceased to exist, but the statement of Pliny that fifty-three communities (populi) had thus perished within the boundaries of Old Latium is perhaps exaggerated. By the end of the Republic a good many parts cf Latium were infected, and Rome itself was highly malarious in the warm months (see W. H. S. See also: 97, See also:Liverpool, 1909). The emperors Claudius, See also:Nerva and See also:Trajan turned their See also:attention to the district, and under their example and exhortation the Roman aristocracy erected numerous villas within its boundaries, and used them at least for summer residences. During the 2nd century the Campagna seems to have entered on a new era of prosperity. The system of roads radiating in all directions from Rome (see ITALY: History, § B) belonged to a much earlier period; but they were connected by a network of crossroads (now mostly abandoned, while the main lines are still almost all in use) leading to the very numerous villas with which the Campagna was strewn (even in districts which till recently were devastated by malaria), and which seem in large measure to belong to this period. Some of these are of enormous extent, e.g. the See also:villa of the Quintilii on the Via Appia, that known as Setta See also:Bassi on the Via Latina, and that of See also:Hadrian near Tibur, the largest of all.
When the land tax was introduced into Italy in 292, the first region of Augustus obtained the name of provincia Campania. Later on the name Latium entirely disappeared, and the name Campania extended as far as Veii and the Via See also:Aurelia, whence the See also:medieval and modern name Campagna di Roma. The donation made by See also:Constantine to various churches of Rome of numerous estates belonging to the patrimonium Caesaris in the neighbourhood of Rome was of great historical importance, as being the origin of the territorial dominion of the papacy. His example was followed by others, so that the See also: The papal See also:influence was also retained by means of the suburban bishoprics, which took their rise as early as the 4th and 5th centuries. The rise of the democratic See also:commune of under Rome 1 about 1143 and of the various trade corpora- ihe commune. tions which we already find in the early rrth century led to struggles with the papacy; the commune of Rome made various attempts to exercise supremacy in the Campagna and levied various taxes from the 12th century until the 15th. The commune also tried to restrict the power of the barons, who, in the 13th century especially, though we find them feudatories of the See also:holy see from the loth century onwards, threatened to become ,masters of the whole territory, which is still dotted over with the baronial castles and lofty solitary towers of the See also:rival families of Rome—See also:Orsini, See also:Colonna, Savelli, See also:Conti, Caetani—who ruthlessly destroyed the remains of earlier edifices to obtain materials for their own, and whose castles, often placed upon the high roads, thus following a strategic line to a stronghold in the country, did not contribute to the undisturbed See also:security of See also:traffic upon them, but rather led to their See also:abandonment. On a list of the inhabited centres of the Campagna of the 14th century with the amount of salt (which was ' The commune of Rome as such seems to have been in existence in 999 at least.a See also:monopoly of the commune of Rome) consumed by each, Tomassetti bases an estimate of the population: this was about equal to that of our own times, but differently distributed, some of the 'smaller centres having disappeared at the expense of the towns. Several of the popes, as See also:Sixtus IV. and See also:Julius III., made -unsuccessful attempts to improve the condition of the Campagna, the former making a serious See also:attempt to revive See also:agriculture as against pasture, while in the latter part of the 16th century a line of See also:watch-towers was erected along the coast. In the See also:Renaissance, it is true, falls the erection of many See also:fine villas in the neighbourhood of Rome—not only in the hills round the Campagna, but even in certain places in the lower ground, e.g. those of Julius II. at La Magliana and of See also:Cardinal Trivulzio at Salone,—and these continued to be frequented until the end of the 18th century, when the See also:French Revolution dealt a fatal See also:blow to the prosperity of the Roman See also:nobility. The 17th and 18th centuries, however, mark the worst. period of depopulation in the more malarious parts of the Campagna, which seems to have begun in the 15th century, though we hear of malaria throughout the See also:middle ages. The most healthy portions of the territory are in the north and east, embracing the slopes of the Apennines which are watered by the Teverone and Sacco; and the most pestilential is the stretch between the Monti Lepini and the sea. The Pontine Marshes (q.v.) included in the latter See also:division, were drained, according to the See also:plan of Bolognini, by See also:Pius VI., who restored the ancient Via Appia to traffic; but though they have returned to pasture and cultivation, their insalubrity is still notorious. Modedl- rn The See also:soil in many parts is very fertile and springs are eons. plentiful and abundant: the water is in some cases sulphureous or ferruginous. In summer, indeed, the vast expanse is little better than an arid See also:steppe; but in the See also:winter it furnishes abundant pasture to flocks of See also:sheep from the Apennines and herds of See also:silver-grey oxen and shaggy See also:black horses, and sheep passing in the summer to the mountain pastures. A certain amount of See also:horse-breeding is done, and the See also:government has, as elsewhere in Italy, a certain number of stallions. Efforts have been made since 1882 to cure the waterlogged condition of the marshy grounds. The methods employed have been three—(i.) the cutting of drainage channels and clearing the marshes by pumping, the method principally employed; (ii.) the system of warping, i.e. directing a river so that it may See also:deposit its sedimentary See also:matter in the lower-lying parts, thus levelling them up and consolidating them, and then leading the water away again by drainage; (iii.) the planting of firs and See also:eucalyptus trees, e.g. at Tre See also:Fontane and elsewhere. These efforts have not been without success, though it cannot be affirmed that the malarial Campagna is anything like healthy yet. The regulation of the rivers, more especially of the Tiber, is probably the most efficient method for See also:coping with the problem. Since 1884 the Italian Government have been systematically enclosing, pumping dry and generally draining the marshes of the Agro Romano, that is, the tracts around Ostia; the Isola Sacra, at the mouth of the Tiber; and Maccarese. Of the whole of the Campagna less than one-tenth comes annually under the plough. In its picturesque desolation, contrasting so strongly with its prosperity in Roman times, immediately surrounding a city of over See also:half a million inhabitants, and with lofty mountains in view from all parts, of it, it is one of the most interesting districts in the See also:world, and has a See also:peculiar and indefinable See also:charm. The modern See also:province of Rome (forming the compartimento of Lazio) includes also considerable mountain districts, extending as far N.W. as the Lake of Bolsena, and being divided on the N.E. from See also:Umbria by the Tiber, while on the E. it includes a considerable part of the Sabine mountains and Apennines. The ancient district of the Hernicans, of which Alatri is regarded as the centre, is known as the Ciociaria, from a See also:kind of sandals (cioce) worn by the peasants. On the S.E. too a considerable proportion of the group of the Lepini belongs to the province. The land is for the most part let by the proprietors to mercanti di Campagna, who employ a subordinate class of factors (fattori) to See also:manage their affairs on the spot. The recent See also:discovery that the malaria which has hitherto rendered parts of the Campagna almost uninhabitable during Malaria. the summer is propagated by the mosquito (Anopheles claviger) marks a new See also:epoch; the most diverse theories as to its origin had hitherto been propounded, but it is now possible to combat it on a definite plan, by draining the marshes, protecting the houses by fine mosquito-proof See also:wire netting (for Anopheles is not active by day), improving the water supply, &c., while for those who have See also:fever, See also:quinine (now sold cheaply by the state) is a great specific. A great improvement is already apparent; and a law carried in 1903 for the Bonifica dell' Agro Romano compels the proprietors within a See also:radius of some 6 m. of Rome to cultivate their lands in a more productive way than has often hitherto been the case, exemption from taxes for ten years and loans at 21% from the government being granted to those who carry on improvements, and those who refuse being expropriated compulsorily. The government further resolved to open roads and See also:schools and provide twelve additional doctors. Much is done in contending against malaria by the Italian Red See also:Cross Society. In 1900 31% of the inhabitants of the Agro Romano had been fever-stricken; since then the figure has rapidly decreased (5.1% in 1905). 8,108,500 The See also:wheat See also:crop in 1go6 in the Agro Romano was bushels, the See also:Indian corn 3,314,000 bushels, the See also:wine 12,100,000 /produce. gallons and the See also:olive oil 1,980,000 gallons,—these last two from the hill districts. The wine See also:production had declined by one-half from the previous year, exportation having fallen off in the whole country. 1907, however, was a year of great overproduction all over Italy. The wine of the Alban hills is famous in modern as in ancient times, but will not as a rule bear exportation. The forests of the Alban hills and near the coast produce much See also:charcoal and light See also:timber, while the Sabine and Volscian hills have been largely deforested and are now See also:bare limestone rocks. Much of the labour in the winter and See also:spring is furnished by peasants who come down from the Volscian and Hernican mountains, and from Abruzzi, and occupy sometimes caves, but more often the See also:straw or wicker huts which are so characteristic a feature of the Campagna. The fixed population of the Campagna in the narrower sense (as distinct from the hills) is less than 10oo. See also:Emigration to See also:America, especially from the Volscian and Hernican towns, is now considerable. 2. LATITJM NovuM or ADJECTUM, as it is termed by Pliny, comprised the territories occupied in earlier times by the Volsci and Hernici. It was for the most part a rugged and mountainous country, extending at the back of Latium proper, from the frontier of the Sabines to the sea-coast between Terracina and Sinuessa. But it was not separated from the adjacent territories by any natural frontier or See also:physical boundaries, and it is only by the enumeration of the towns In Pliny according to the division of Italy by Augustus that we can determine its limits. It included the Hernican cities of See also:Anagnia, Ferentinum, Alatrium and Verulae—a group of mountain strongholds on the north side of the valley of the Trerus (Sacco) ; together with the Volscian cities on the south of the same valley, and in that of the Liris, the whole of which, with the exception of its extreme upper end, was included in the Volscian territory. Here were situated See also:Signia, Frusino, Fabrateria, Fregellae, Sora, Arpinum, See also:Atina, Aquinum, See also:Casinum and Interamna; Anxur (Terracina) was the only seaport that properly belonged to the Volscians, the coast from thence to the mouth of the Liris being included in the territory of the Aurunci, or Ausones as they were termed by See also:Greek writers, who possessed the maritime towns of Fundi. Formiae, Caieta and See also:Minturnae, together with Suessa in the interior, which had replaced their more ancient capital of Aurunca. Sinuessa, on the sea-coast between the Liris (Garigliano) and the Vulturnus, at the foot of the Monte Massico, was the last town in Latium according to the See also:official use of the See also:term and was sometimes assigned to Campania, while Suessa was more assigned to Latium. On the other hand, as Nissen points out (Italische Landeskunde, ii. 554), the Pons Campanus, by which the Via Appia crossed the Savo some 9 M. S.E. of Sinuessa, Indicates by its name the position of the old Campanian frontier. In the interior the boundary fell between Casinum and Teanum Sidicinum, at about the See also:moth milestone of the Via Latina—a fact which led later to the See also:jurisdiction of the Roman courts being extended on every side to the tooth mile from the city, and to this being the limit beyond which banishment from Rome was considered to begin. Though the Apennines comprised within the boundaries of Latium do not rise to a height approaching that of the loftiest summits of the central range, they attain to a considerable See also:altitude, and273 form steep and rugged mountain masses from 4000 to 5000 ft. high. They are traversed by three See also:principal valleys: (I) that of the Anio, now called Teverone, which descends from above Subiaco to Tivoli, where it enters the plain of the Campagna; (2) that of the Trerus (Sacco), which has its source below Palestrina (Praeneste), and flows through a comparatively broad valley that separates the main mass of the Apennines from the Volscian mountains or Monti Lepini, till it joins the Liris below Ceprano; (3) that of the Liris (Garigliano), which enters the confines of New Latium about 20 m. from its source, flows past the town of Sora, and has a very tortuous course from thence to the sea at Minturnae; its lower valley is for the most part of considerable width, and forms a fertile tract of considerable extent, bordered on both sides by hills covered with vines, See also:olives and See also:fruit trees, and thickly studded with towns and villages. It may be observed that, long after the Latins had ceased to exist as a separate people we meet in Roman writers with the phrase of nomen Latinum, used not in an ethnical but a purely See also:political sense, to designate the inhabitants of all those cities on which the Romans had conferred " Latin rights " (See also:jus Latinum)—an inferior form of the Roman See also:franchise, which had been granted in the first instance to certain cities of the Latins, when they became subjects of Rome, and was afterwards bestowed upon many other cities of Italy, especially the so-called Latin colonies. At a later period the same privileges were extended to places in other countries also—as for instance to most of the cities in See also:Sicily and See also:Spain. All persons enjoying these rights were termed in legal phraseology Latini or Latinae conditionis. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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