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TERNI (anc. Interamna Nahars)

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 647 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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TERNI (anc. Interamna Nahars) , a See also:town, episcopal see, and the seat of a sub-prefecture of the See also:province of See also:Perugia, See also:Italy, situated among the See also:Apennines, but only 426 ft. above See also:sea-level, in the valley of the Nera (anc. Nar), from which the town took its distinguishing epithet, 5 M. below its junction with the Velino, and 70 M. N. by E. of See also:Rome by See also:rail. Pop. (1906) 20,230 (town), 33,256 (See also:commune). It has important See also:iron and See also:steel See also:works and iron foundries, at which See also:armour-plates, guns and projectiles are made for the See also:Italian See also:navy, also steel castings, machinery and rails, a royal arms factory, and See also:lignite See also:mining. Terni lies on the See also:main railway See also:line from Rome to See also:Foligno and See also:Ancona, and is the junction for See also:Rieti and See also:Sulmona. Its most interesting buildings are the See also:cathedral (17th See also:century, with remains of the earlier 13th century See also:facade), the See also:church of S. See also:Francesco (partly dating from the 13th century, with some frescoes of the 14th), and other old churches. Its antiquities include traces of the See also:city walls of rectangular blocks of travertine, remains of an See also:amphitheatre of the See also:time of Tiberius, a See also:temple, See also:theatre and See also:baths (?), and numerous See also:inscriptions. Remains have also been found of a pre-See also:Roman See also:necropolis.

The excavations and the See also:

objects found are described by A. Pasqui and L. Lanni in Notizie degli scavi, 1907, 595 seq. Five See also:miles to the See also:east are the falls of the Velino (Caseate delle Marmore). Alike in See also:volume and in beauty these take a very high See also:place among See also:European waterfalls; the See also:cataract has a See also:total descent of about 65o ft., in three leaps of 65, 330 and 190 ft. respectively. They owe their origin to M'. Curius See also:Dentatus, who in 272 B.C. first opened an artificial channel by which the greater See also:part of the Lacus Velinus in the valley below Reate was drained. They See also:supply the See also:motive See also:power for the factories of the town. Terni is the See also:ancient Interamna (inter amnes, " between the See also:rivers, " i.e. the Nar and one of its branches), originally belonging to See also:Umbria, and founded, according to a See also:local tradition preserved in an inscription, in the See also:year 672 B.C. It is first mentioned in See also:history as being, along with Spoletium, See also:Praeneste and Florentia, portioned out among his soldiers by See also:Sulla. Its inhabitants had frequent litigations and disputes with their neighbours at Reate in connexion with the regulation of the Velinus, the See also:waters of which are so strongly impregnated with carbonate of See also:lime that by their deposits they tend to See also:block up their own channel. The first interference with its natural course was that of M'.

Curius Dentatus already referred to. In 54 B.C. the See also:

people of Reate appealed to See also:Cicero to plead their cause in an See also:arbitration which had been appointed by the Roman See also:senate to See also:settle disputes about the See also:river, and in connexion with this he made a See also:personal inspection of See also:Lake Velinus and its outlets. In the time of Tiberius there was a project for regulating the river and its outlets from the lake, against which the citizens of Interamna and Reate energetically and successfully protested (Tac. See also:Ann. i. 79). Similar questions arose as the river formed fresh deposits during the See also:middle ages and during the 15th and 16th centuries. A See also:branch of the Via See also:Flaminia passed from Narnia to See also:Forum Flaminii, and is given instead of the See also:direct line in the Antonine and See also:Jerusalem itineraries. A road led from here to the Via See also:Salaria at Reate. Interamna is also mentioned in Cicero's time as being the place where See also:Clodius wished to prove that he was on the See also:night when he was caught in See also:Caesar's See also:house at the celebration of the See also:rites of the See also:Bona Dea. The See also:Emperor See also:Tacitus and his See also:brother Florianus were probably natives of Interamna, which also has been claimed as the birthplace of Tacitus the historian, but with less See also:reason. During most of the middle ages and up till 186o Terni was subject to the popes. It was the See also:scene of the defeat of the Neapolitans by the See also:French on the 27th of See also:November 1i98.

End of Article: TERNI (anc. Interamna Nahars)

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