Interamna Lirenas
![]() ![]() Shown within Lazio | |
Region | Lazio |
---|---|
Coordinates | 41°26′25.404″N 13°47′13.9452″E / 41.44039000°N 13.787207000°E |
Type | settlement |
History | |
Founded | 312 BC |
Cultures | Roman Republic |
Site notes | |
Excavation dates | 2010-2012 |
Archaeologists | Martin Millett; Alessandro Launaro |
Condition | ruined |
Public access | yes |
Interamna Lirenas was an ancient Roman colony near the current Pignataro Interamna, in the southern province of Frosinone, central Italy.[1][2]
Modern archaeological excavations at the site commenced in 2010.[3]
History[]
Interamna Lirenas was founded in 312 BC as a colonia of Latins in the ager casinas, on the route of the Via Latina.[4] It was situated at the confluence of the Liri and Rio Spalla Bassa rivers, whence the name "Interamna" (meaning "between the rivers").[5]
Interamna Lirenas served as a military base during the Samnite Wars, leading to its destruction by the Samnites in 294 BC.[6] It was again ravaged by Hannibal in 212 BC; since it later sided with Carthage, after the Carthaginian defeat at Zama in 202 BC it was forced by Rome to pay heavy tribute.
It became a municipium in about 88 BC following the Social Wars when its population became Roman citizens.
In 46 BC Julius Caesar become patronus of the city and the site received further settled veterans ca. 40 BC.[7]
The town was thought to have been a relative backwater but recent archaeology has raised its importance.[8]
Archaeology[]
Archaeological remains include numerous inscriptions and remains of buildings.[9] The archaeological site has been sampled by use of geophysical techniques (including magnetometry), leading to the discovery of the site of a Roman theatre.[10][11]
An inscribed ancient sundial donated by Marcus Novius Tubula after his election to the exalted position of Plebeian Tribune in Rome was discovered in the ruins of the theatre in 2017.[12]
References[]
- ^ Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge https://www.classics.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/interamna-lirenas
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica. 14 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 683. .
- ^ Fasti Online "Interamna Lirenas" http://www.fastionline.org/record_view.php?fst_cd=AIAC_3604
- ^ Salmon, E.T. 1955. "Roman Expansion and Roman Colonization in Italy." Phoenix 9.2:63-75.
- ^ Purcell, N., DARMC, R. Talbert, S. Gillies, T. Elliott, J. Becker. "Places: 432884 (Interamna Lirenas)". Pleiades. Retrieved December 17, 2014.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
- ^ John R. Patterson (7 December 2006). Landscapes and cities: rural settlement and civic transformation in early imperial Italy. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-814088-7.
- ^ Alessandro Launaro (19 May 2011). Peasants and Slaves: The Rural Population of Roman Italy (200 BC to AD 100). Cambridge University Press. pp. 132–. ISBN 978-1-107-00479-5.
- ^ Haaretz: https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/1.821742
- ^ Eliodoro Savino (2005). Campania tardoantica (284-604 d.C.). Edipuglia srl. pp. 187–. ISBN 978-88-7228-257-1.
- ^ Hay, S., Launaro, A., Leone, N. and Millett, M. 2012. "Intermana Lirenas e il suo territorio. Indagine archeologiche non invasive 2010." In Lazio e Sabina 8. Edizione Quasar. pp 603-9
- ^ Roman Colonial Landscapes project http://www.classics.cam.ac.uk/Research/projects/rcl
- ^ "Archaeologists uncover rare 2,000-year-old sundial during Roman theatre excavation" https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/archaeologists-uncover-rare-2000-year-old-sundial-during-roman-theatre-excavation
Sources[]
External links[]
- Roman towns and cities in Italy
- Latin cities
- Former populated places in Italy
- Populated places established in the 4th century BC
- 310s BC establishments
- Roman sites in Lazio
- Archaeological sites in Lazio
- Coloniae (Roman)