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PRAENESTE (mod. Palestrina)

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 244 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PRAENESTE (mod. See also:Palestrina) , a very See also:ancient See also:city of See also:Latium, lies 23 M. E. of See also:Rome by the Via See also:Praenestina (see below), on a See also:spur of the See also:Apennines facing the See also:Alban Hills. To the natural strength of the See also:place and its commanding situation Praeneste owed in large measure its See also:historical importance. There are various legends as to its See also:foundation. See also:Objects in See also:metal and See also:ivory discovered in the earliest See also:graves prove that as See also:early as the 8th or 7th See also:century a c. Praeneste had reached a considerable degree of See also:civilization and stood in commercial relations not only with See also:Etruria but with the See also:East. At this See also:time the city was probably under the See also:hegemony of See also:Alba Longa, then the See also:head of the Latin See also:League. In 499 B.C., according to See also:Livy, Praeneste with-See also:drew from the Latin League, in the See also:list of whose members given by See also:Dionysius (v. 61) it occurs, and formed an See also:alliance with Rome. After Rome had been weakened by the Gallic invasion (390) Praeneste joined its foes in a See also:long struggle with Rome. The struggle culminated in the See also:great Latin See also:War (34o-38), in which the See also:Romans were victorious, and Praeneste was punished for ' See also:Sir T.

E. Tomlins says that there is only one instance of a See also:

prosecution on a See also:praemunire to be found in the See also:state trials, in which See also:case the penalties were inflicted upon some persons for refusing to take the See also:oath of See also:allegiance to See also:Charles II.its See also:share in the war by the loss of See also:part of its territory. It was not, however, like most other Latin cities, embodied in the See also:Roman state, but continued in the position of a city in alliance with Rome down to the Social War, when it received the Roman See also:franchise (in 90 B.c., probably as one of those cities which had not rebelled or had laid down their arms at once), which in 215 B.C. some of its citizens—who had bravely held See also:Casilinum against See also:Hannibal, and only surrendered when pressed by See also:hunger —had refused to accept. As an allied city it furnished contingents to the Roman See also:army and possessed the right of See also:exile (See also:jus exilii), i.e. persons banished from Rome were allowed to reside at Praeneste. To See also:judge from the See also:works of See also:art and See also:inscriptions of this See also:period (338 to 90 B.c.), it must have been for the place a time of prosperity, and even luxury. The nuts of Praeneste were famous and its See also:roses were amongst the finest in See also:Italy. The Latin spoken at Praeneste was somewhat See also:peculiar,' and was ridiculed to some extent by the Romans. In the See also:civil See also:wars of See also:Sulla the younger See also:Marius was blockaded in the See also:town by the Sullans (82 B.C.); and on its See also:capture Marius slew himself, the male inhabitants were massacred in See also:cold See also:blood, and a military See also:colony was settled on part of its territory, though, possibly owing to the extravagance of the new coloni, we find that in 63 B.C. this was already in the See also:possession of large proprietors. It was probably in 82 B.C. that the city was removed from the See also:hill-See also:side to the See also:lower ground at the Madonna dell' See also:Aquila, and that the See also:temple of See also:Fortune was enlarged so as to include much of the space occupied by the ancient city. From an inscription found in 1907 it appears that Sulla delegated the foundation of the new colony to M. Terentius See also:Varro See also:Lucullus, who was See also:consul in 73 B.C. Under the See also:empire Praeneste, from its elevated situation and cool salubrious See also:air, became a favourite summer resort of the wealthy Romans, whose villas studded the neighbourhood.

See also:

Horace ranked it with See also:Tibur and Baiae, though as a fact it never became so fashionable a See also:residence as Tibur or the Alban Hills. Still, See also:Augustus resorted thither; here Tiberius recovered from a dangerous illness, and here See also:Hadrian probably built himself a See also:villa. See also:Marcus Aurelius also had a villa here. Amongst private persons who owned villas at Praeneste were See also:Pliny the younger and See also:Symmachus. Inscriptions show that the inhabitants of Praeneste were especially fond of gladiatorial shows. But Praeneste was chiefly famed for its great temple of Fortune and for its See also:oracle, in connexion with the temple, known as the " Praenestine lots " (sorles praeneslinae). The See also:oldest portion of the See also:sanctuary was, however, that situated on the lowest See also:terrace but one. Here is a grotto in the natural See also:rock, containing a beautiful coloured See also:mosaic See also:pavement, representing a See also:sea-scenea temple of See also:Poseidon on the See also:shore, with various See also:fish See also:swimming in the sea. To the east of this is a large space, now open, but once very possibly roofed, and forming a See also:basilica in two storeys, built against the rock on the See also:north side, and there decorated with pilasters also; and to the east again is an apsidal See also:hall, often identified with the temple itself, in which the famous. mosaic with scenes from the See also:Nile, now in the Palazzo See also:Barberini on the uppermost terrace, was found. Under this hall is a chamber, which, as an inscription on its walls shows, served as a See also:treasury in the 2nd century B.C. In front of this temple an See also:obelisk was erected in the reign of See also:Claudius, fragments of which still exist. The See also:modern See also:cathedral, just below the level of this temple, occupies the civil basilica of the town, upon the See also:facade of which was a See also:sun-See also:dial, described by Varro (traces of which may still be seen).

In the modern piazza the steps leading up to this latter basilica and the See also:

base of a large See also:monument were found in 1907; so that only a part of the piazza represents the ancient See also:forum. As extended by Sulla the sanctuary of Fortune occupied a See also:series of five vast terraces, which, resting on gigantic 2 Thus the Praenestines shortened some words: they said conia for ciconia, tammodo for tantummodo (Plaut. True. iii. 2, 23; Id. Trinum. iii. 1, 8; cf. Comment. on See also:Festus, p. 731, ed. Lindemann), and inscriptions exhibit the forms Acmemeno and Tondrus for Agamemno and Tyndarus. They said nefrones for nefrendes in the sense of testiculi and tongitio for notio (Festus, s.v. " nefrendes " and " tongere "). Cf.

See also:

Quintilian, Instit. i. 5, 56. substructions of See also:masonry and connected with each other by See also:grand staircases, See also:rose one above the other on the hill in the See also:form of the side of a See also:pyramid, crowned on the highest terrace by the See also:round temple of Fortune. This immense edifice, probably by far the largest sanctuary in Italy, must have presented a most imposing aspect, visible as it was from a great part of Latium, from Rome, and even from the sea. The ground at the See also:foot of the lowest terrace is 1476 ft. above sea-level; here is a cistern, divided into ten large See also:chambers, in See also:brick-faced See also:concrete. The goddess See also:Fortuna here went by the name of Primigenia (First-See also:Born, but perhaps in an active sense First-See also:Bearer); she was represented suckling two babes, said to be See also:Jupiter and See also:Juno, and she was especially worshipped by matrons. The oracle continued to be consulted down to See also:Christian times, until See also:Constantine, and again later See also:Theodosius, forbade the practice and closed the temple. A See also:bishop of Praeneste is first mentioned in A.D. 313. In 1297 the See also:Colonna See also:family, who then owned Praeneste (Palestrina), revolted from the See also:pope, but in the following See also:year the town was taken and razed to the ground. In 1437 the city, which had been rebuilt, was captured by the papal See also:general See also:Cardinal Vitelleschi and once more utterly destroyed. It was rebuilt and fortified by Stefano Colonna in 1448.

In 163o it passed by See also:

purchase into the Barberini family. Praeneste was the native town of See also:Aelian, and in modern times of the great composer (Giovanni) Pierluigi da Palestrina. The modern town of Palestrina, a collection of narrow and filthy alleys, stands on the terraces once occupied by the temple of Fortune. On the See also:summit of the hill (2471 ft.), nearly a mile from the town, stood the ancient citadel, the site of which is now occupied by a few poor houses (See also:Castel See also:San Pietro) and a ruined See also:medieval See also:castle of the Colonna. The magnificent view embraces See also:Soracte, Rome, the Alban Hills and the Campagna as far as the sea. Considerable portions of the See also:southern See also:wall of the ancient citadel, built in very massive Cyclopean masonry of blocks of See also:limestone, are still to be seen; and the two walls, also polygonal, which formerly See also:united the citadel with the town, can still be traced. The ruins of the villa attributed to Hadrian stand in the See also:plain near the See also:church of S. Maria della Villa, about three-quarters of a mile from the town. Here was discovered the Braschi See also:Antinous, now in the Vatican. The See also:calendar, which, as Suetonius tells us, was set up by the grammarian, M. Verrius See also:Flaccus in the forum of Praeneste (the reference being to the forum of the imperial period, at the Madonna dell' Aquila), was discovered in the ruins of the church of S. Agapitus in 1771, where it has been used as See also:building material (C.

Hulsen in Corp inscr. See also:

lat. 2nd ed. i. 230). Excavations made, especially since 1855, in the ancient See also:necropolis, which See also:lay on a See also:plateau surrounded by valleys at the foot of the hill, and of the town, have yielded important results for the See also:history of the art and manufactures of Praeneste. Of the objects found in the oldest graves, and supposed to date from about the 9th century B.C., the cups of See also:silver and silver-gilt and most of the See also:gold and See also:amber See also:jewelry are Phoenician (possibly Carthaginian), or at least made on Phoenician See also:models; but the bronzes and some of the ivory articles seem to be See also:Etruscan. No objects have been discovered belonging to the period intermediate between the 7th and 3rd centuries B.C.; but " from about 250 B.C. onwards we have a series of Praenestine graves surmounted by the characteristic ' See also:pine-See also:apple ' of See also:local See also:stone, containing stone coffins with See also:rich See also:bronze, ivory and gold ornaments beside the See also:skeleton. From these come the bronze cistae and specula with partly (but far from wholly) Etruscan inscriptions, for which Praeneste is renowned " (See also:Conway, Ital. Dial.). Among these is the famous Ficoroni See also:casket, engraved with pictures of the arrival of the See also:Argonauts in See also:Bithynia and the victory of See also:Pollux over Amycus. It was found in 1738. " The caskets are unique in Italy, but a large number of mirrors of precisely similar See also:style have been discovered in Etruria and are published in full by the See also:German Archaeological School at Rome: Etruskische Spiegeln, vol. v. sqq. (See also:Berlin,]1884).

Hence, although a priori it would be reasonable to conjecture that objects with Etruscan characteristics came from Etruria, the See also:

evidence, See also:positive and negative, points decisively to an Etruscan factory in or near Praeneste itself " (See also:Con-way, ibid.). Most of the objects discovered in the necropolis are preserved in the Roman collections, especially in the Kircherian Museum (which possesses the Ficoroni casket) and the Barberini library. See E. Fernique, Preneste (Bibliotheque See also:des Ecoles Francaises, fast. 17, See also:Paris, 188o) ; H. See also:Dessau in Corp. inscr. lat. xiv. 288 sqq., Corp. inscr. etrusc. vol. ii.; O. Marucchi, Guida archeologica dell' antica Preneste (Rome, 1885), and in Bullettino comunale (1904), 233 sqq. ; R. S. Conway, See also:Italic Dialects, i. 311 sqq.

(See also:

Cambridge, 1897) ; T. See also:Ashby in Papers of the See also:British School at Rome, i. 132 sqq.; R. Del bruck,Hellenistische Bauten in Latium, p. 47 sqq. (Berlin,19o7) ; Notizie degli Scavi, passim; and especially D. Vaglieri (1907), p. 132, &c. ; R. See also:van Deman Magoffin, See also:Topography and Municipal History of Praeneste (Johns See also:Hopkins University Studies, See also:xxvi. 9, Io) ; See also:Baltimore, 1908). (J. G.

FR.; R. S. C.; T.

End of Article: PRAENESTE (mod. Palestrina)

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