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Aquileia coordinates:
45° 46′ 11.01″ N,
13° 22′ 16.29″ E |
History of
Aquileia
Aquileia (also called
Aquilegia;
Latin: Aqvileja and Aquileja; Friulian: Acuilee / Aquilee / Aquilea;
Slovene: Oglej) , is an ancient Roman city in what is now
Italy. According to an etymology established among scholars, it
seems that the city's name has its roots in "Akilis," a pre-Roman
term of Celtic origin, indicating that the river "[...] which
probably gave rise to the name of Aquileia […]”. The basis of the
name comes from the term "wara" ("water"), which is precisely the
root of Aquileia, from 'Aquilis', the name of a river.
Aquileia is located at the head of
the Adriatic at the extreme east end of the plain of Veneto at the
northern edge of the lagoons about 10 kilometers from the Adriatic. It was built on the banks of the
ancient Akilis, the Natiso River (Italian: Natissa / Natisone;
Friulian: Nadison; Slovene: Nadiža), the main tributary of
the Torre River and a sub-affluent of the Isonzo River. The river is
formed at 415 meters above sea level on the border between Friuli and
Slovenia by the confluence of two streams: the Rio Bianco (Slovene:
Beli potok) and the Rio
Nero (Slovene:
Črni potok) which spring
from the Punta di Montemaggiore and Gabrovec mountains. Before the
river's confluence with the Torre River, it passes through the communes of Pulfero
and Cividale del Friuli. In Roman times when Aquileia was founded, the
Natiso River was quite wide, spanning 48
meters
from one bank to the
other, but it has changed somewhat since those times and is no longer navigable.
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Harbour of Aquileia which
united the waters of the rivers of Natissa (Lat. Natiso) and Del
Torre creating a river 48 metres wide. |
After the conquest of the entire
peninsula of Italy when Roman power extended all the way to the Po
valley, the foundation of Aquileia was decided by the Roman Senate
in 183 B.C., as described by
Livy (Book 39 ch.55):
"Marcus Claudius the consul, having
expelled the Gauls from the province, began to scheme for a war
with the Histrians, [note below] sending
letters to the senate for permission to lead the legions into
Histria. [5] This did not please
the senate. They were discussing the question of establishing a
colony at Aquileia, but it was not generally agreed whether it
should be a Latin colony or one of Roman citizens. Finally, the
Fathers voted that a Latin colony rather should be founded. [6]
The three commissioners elected were Publius Scipio Nasica, Gaius
Flaminius, Lucius Manlius Acidinus."
Note: Since the territory of the Veneti
had now been tacitly absorbed, the Histrians, living on the
peninsula to the south of the modern Trieste, were near
neighbours. There seems to be no evidence that they had given
the Romans any cause to attack them at this time. [Translation
to English from the original Latian and note are by Evan T. Sage.]
Thus, it was decided to make Aquileia colonia - that is, a
colony of Latin Law (or a city with its own senate, but depending on
foreign policy from Rome) - intended for military purposes and
located not far from the site where Gaulish invaders had just
attempted to settle. It was built in 180/1 B.C. as a Roman oppidum
(a fortified
city) with Latin rights, and
was headed by a senatorial committee (triumviri coloniae deducundae)
consisting of two men of consular and one of praetorian
rank - the consul Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica, the
triumvirs
Caius Flaminius and the ex-praetor
Lucius Manlius Acidinus (Livy
39.55.5-6; 40.34.2).
These led 3,000 pedites (infantry), mainly from Samnium, who
came with their families and were given an allotment of 50 hectares
of land in the territory which was divided into centuries.
The bulk of the settlers were soon supplemented by native Veneti. In
169 B.C., another 1,500 colonists were settled there, and still
another probably in the Augustan period. The colony then served as a frontier
fortress at the north-east corner of transpadane Italy and was
intended to protect the Veneti, faithful Roman allies, during the
Illyrian Wars (229 B.C. and 219 B.C.), as well as to act as an outpost against
neighboring Gallic and
Istrian barbarians [see above note].
Source:
https://www.roth37.it/COINS/Aquileia/storiaromana.html
Aquleia was the base of operations against the
advances of the hostile Carnici (Carni), who were brought under control in 115 B.C. (CIL
I2, p. 177). The city was also the staging
point for the wars against the
Istri
in 178-177 B.C. (Livy,
41.1-5, 9-11; Flor. 1.26)
and for the victorious campaigns of the consul C. Sempronius
Tuditanus, which permitted the Romans to triumph over the Taurisci,
Iapides, and the Liburni in 129 B.C. (Per. Liv. 59; Plin. HN
3.129; App. Ill. 10.30, 1.1, 13.1 pp. 82-83 n. 32; CIL
I2, 652).
Although the founding of Aquileia was dictated by military
considerations, it was also intended to create peaceful agricultural
and commercial conditions. The discovery of the gold fields near the
modern Klagenfurt in 150 B.C. (Strabo IV. 208) brought it into
notice, and it soon became a place of importance, not only owing to
its strategic position, but as a centre of trade. Among the goods
that it traded through its great river port were wine, oil, furs,
iron, and slaves. It was also the southern terminus of the amber
route, dating from prehistory, and this prized product from the
Baltic was worked by Aquileian craftsmen for sale throughout the
Empire. High-quality glassware became an important manufacture
following the establishment of a workshop there in the first century
A.D. by the celebrated Phoenician craftsman Ennion. It also had, in
later times at least, considerable brickfields.
In 90 B.C., Aquileia was elevated from a colonia to the status of a municipium (CIL V, 968), and its citizens
were afforded full rights of Roman
citizenship. It then became
a part of Italy in 48 B.C. when Julius Caesar extended
the borders of Italy as far as Formio (the Risano
river). The citizens of Aquileia were enrolled in the
tribus Velina, so called from the homonymous lake in
Sabine territory, near Rieti. Inscriptions attest the
existence of a senatus (CIL V, 961, 875, 8288,
8313), of duoviri (CIL V, 971), of quattuorviri,
decuriones, and aediles (CIL V, 1015), of
praetores and praefecti iure dicundo (CIL V, 949,
953, 961, 8291), of praefecti aedilicia potestate (CIL
V, 749), and of quaestores (CIL V, 8293, 8298)
and patroni. Other offices were priestly, among which
were: pontifices (CIL V, 1015), augures (CIL
V, 1016), haruspices (S.I., 197), sacerdotes (CIL
V, 786, 8218; S.I., 210), flamines (CIL V, 8293),
and seviri augustales, who were grouped into collegia,
occasionally with their patronus (CIL V, 1012).
According to
Strabone (Strabo), Under the reign of Augustus, the Taurisci and the lapides (Giapidi)
agaub attacked
and plundered Aquileia in 52 B.C., under the reign of Augustus (Strab.,
4.6.10); App. Ill.
18.1). That was followed by a long period of peace and prosperity
arising from its commerce. Augustus
visited Aquileia during the Pannonian wars in 12-10 B.C. and the
city was
the birthplace of Tiberius's son by Julia, in the latter year. Many
Roman emperors, including Constantine and Marcus Aurelius spent time
there, and Aquileia quickly became a multi-cultural centre with Italians,
Celts, Greeks, Egyptians and
Jews all
coming there to trade. Syrians established a profitable glasswork
trade there and the region exported metal from Noricum, along with
its famous Pucinum wine. It is estimated that by the end of the 1st
century B.C. its population had reached over 200,000.
In the Republican period, it was a customs
station where the portorium was collected (Cic. Pro
Font. 1.2) and where two stationes of the 3rd
century A.D. are attested (Ann. édpigr. 1934, n. 234). Aquileia's wealth resulted in the town being
endowed with many magnificent public buildings and opulently
decorated private
residences of its rich merchants. Aquileia had an imperial palace in
which the emperors after the time of Diocletian frequently resided. Of especial importance was the construction in the
second decade of the 4th century of a basilica by Bishop Theodorus,
following the sanctioning of public worship by the Edict of Milan in
313. It also was the seat of an Imperial mint between
284 and 425 A.D., the coins of which are very numerous. Ausonius
enumerated it as ninth among the great cities of the world, placing
Rome, Mediolanum and Capua before it, and called it "moenibus et
portu celeberrima." Commerce profited from a good
highway network
and from a large harbor at the mouth of the river, which
allowed the transport of merchandise manufactured on
site. Aquileia was the central point of three most
important roads, the
Via
Postumia starting from Genoa, Via Annia
from Padua, and
Via
Popilia which started from Rimini. The roads comprising the network were:
-
(CIL V, 8313)
-
Via Annia (CIL
V, 7992) constructed in 131 B.C.
-
Via Julia
Augusta, so-called, which ran north and passed through Tricesimum and
Julium Carnicum (It. Ant., ed. Cuntz, 279-80)
- the road which passed over the valley of Natisone and
through Forum Iuli and thence to Virunum
- the road which crossed the valleys of Isonzo and Vipacco in
the direction of Æmona
- and the road toward Tergeste, which
is probably to be identified with the
Via Gemina (CIL
V, 7989)
Aquileia was probably connected by road with Bononia (Bologna)
in 173 (or 175) B.C., and subsequently with Genua (Genova)
in 148 B.C. by the
Via
Postumia which ran through Cremona, Bedriacum and Altinum,
joining the via Postumia (first-mentioned road) at Concordia, while
the construction of the
Via
Popilia from Ariminum (Rimini) to Ad Portum near Altinum in 132
B.C. improved the communications still further.
It was the starting-point of several important roads leading to the
north-eastern portion of the empire - the
Via Iulia Augusta
by Iulium Carnicum to Veldidena (mod. Wilten, near Innsbruck), from
which branched off the road into Noricum, leading by Virunum
(Klagenfurt) to Lauricum (Lorch) on the Danube, the road into
Pannonia, leading to Æmona / Emona (Laibach, now
Ljubljana), and
Sirmium (Mitrowitz, now Sremska Mitrovica), the road to Tarsatica
near Fiume (Rijeka) and Siscia (Sissek), and that to Tergeste
(Trieste) and the Istrian coast.
After
its beginnings as a frontier fortress,
because of its strategic location, Aquileia evolved into a naval
station and grew to be one of the most important cities in Roman Italy. In the
Age of Augustus (63 B.C.-14 A.D.), it became the seat of the
corrector Venetiarum et Histriae (capital of “X Regio Venetia et Histria”, the tenth region of Rome).
Imposing buildings in public places were constructed there, including
a forum, amphitheatre, circus, theatre and several small and
large “thermae” (now attractions for tourists). The long period of
peace in Aquileia, however, was interrupted by two barbarian sieges, one
from the north-east by the Quad[i] and Marcoman[ni]
in 169 A.D. (Amm. Marc. 29.6:1; Lucian
Alex. 48) and the other by Maximinus of Thrace in
238 A.D. (Herodian 7.2-3; Jul. Capitol. Maxim. duo
21-23; id. Epitome 25; Eutrop. 9.1; Oros. 7.19.2;
Zonar. 12.16). After
the Edict of Milan in 313 A.D. introduced religious tolerance,
Aquileia also became an important centre of early Christianity, and its
bishop (patriarch) was a powerful figure.
However, from the middle of the 3rd century A.D. until the end of
the Roman Empire, Aquileia was a participant in the struggles among
the emperors, then came the fatal blow in 452 A.D., when Aquileia
was sacked and burned by the
Huns,
led by
Attila, on
their way down to Italy. The city's local residents built
frantic defenses against them, protective walls with any marbles and
sculptures that came to hand. The survivors clustered in a
drastically reduced settlement around the Basilica, in the area of
the small present-day town, which occupies only a fraction of the
Roman city. From this point on, Aquileia was devastated by
continuous invasions. After destruction by the Lombards one hundred
years after the huns, the patriarch and most of the remaining
population packed up and moved to the relative safety of the lagoon
island town of Grado a few miles away.
Aquileia's mercantile role was assumed later by Venice, which
provided a similar trading link between central Europe and the
Mediterranean, but the city retained its spiritual significance. The
city slowly recovered and only in the 9th century A.D. did it regain
any real importance when it became the seat of a patriarchate whose
territory extended westwards as far as Como and embraced a large
area of modern Austria, Slovenia, and Croatia.
The early center of Christianity, the Patriarchal State of
Aquileia in the Holy Roman Empire, played an important part in
history, particularly in that of the Holy See and northern Italy,
and a number of Church Councils of
Aquileia were held there. It lasted from 1077 - when the
patriarch Sigeard of Belstein received the ducal title of Friuli
from German king Henry IV, an act traditionally regarded as the
birth of the state of Aquileia, or the Patrie dal Friûl - to 1445
after the defeated patriarch Ludovico Trevisan at the Council of
Florence had acquiesced in the loss of his ancient temporal estate
in return for an annual salary of 5,000 ducats allowed him from the
Venetian treasury after which only Venetians were allowed to hold
the title of Patriarch of Aquileia. The Episcopal Patriarchate of
Aquileia survived until 1751 when the Pope divided the patriarchate
into two archdioceses; one at Udine, with Venetian Friuli for its
territory, the other at Gorizia, with jurisdiction over Austrian
Friuli. Of the ancient patriarchate, once so proud and influential,
there remained but the parish church of Aquileia. It was made
immediately subject to the Apostolic See and to its rector was
granted the right of using episcopal insignia seven times in the
year. The great Basilican Complex still
serves as its spiritual centre.
Nowadays Aquileia is a small and rather
unimportant town in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of north-east
Italy, in the Province of Udine, with a current population of about
3,000, this straggling settlement once was a significant Roman city
and capital of a region with perhaps as many as 200,000 residents.
That
the town still had some significance is evident in the preservation
of its main basilica and the addition of Renaissance finery to the
building's trappings. But nothing that remains could compare with
the vanished city. Aquileia today is an evocative site; where
scattered housing and fields now cover the site of once-busy urban
streets. Although it is off Italy's main tourist routes, this is an
important archaeological site with UNESCO World Heritage status.
Archeological Zone
The vast archaeological zone of Aquileia has
undergone much suffering in the course of its history.
From the outset of its intense life, which spanned more
than seven centuries, there was a series of
reconstructions and modifications. Later, as a result of
the numerous sieges, the citizens were obliged more than
once to demolish monuments in order to erect
fortifications. Finally, as a result of earthquakes and
the long centuries of being abandoned, the city became a
quarry for construction materials. The archaeological
excavations undertaken since the last century have
permitted the identification of the essential elements
of the ancient city. Yet, little more than the
foundations have been preserved.
The direction of the Republican walls has been
determined. At the beginning, they were nearly square,
but as time went on they were enlarged toward the North to
connect with the harbor. They were of fine Roman brick
and in some sections had a bossed foundation. Two gates
have been brought to light, one with an inner court and
the other of the Augustan type with round towers. The
late walls are composed of two larger, exterior
circuits. Walls of the patriarchal period indicate a
settlement in that period roughly half the size of the
preceding one.
The excavations have isolated elements of the most
ancient phase of the harbor as described by
Strabo (5.1.8).
The section which is today visible is probably datable
to the Claudian period and is composed of a pier more
than 300 m long, with a double loading platform and
accompanying moorings. Large storehouses are connected
to the harbor by ramps. This complex is on the right
bank of the river; the left bank, although dammed, was
not equally equipped. The bridges and the entire inner
highway network have been discovered. The highway system
is composed of paved roads, many stretches of which were
provided with porticos. The roads separated insulae of
various sizes where dwellings, decorated with splendid
mosaics, have been brought to light. Some of the mosaics
are in the local museum and some have been preserved in
situ.
The partially excavated forum, at the center of the
city, is decorated with large columns and fine capitals
and sculptures. However, there is a plan from the end of
the 2nd century A.D. on the basis of which it is supposed that
the forum of the Republican period should be sought
elsewhere. The structures, such as temples, which can be
definitely identified are mysteriously few;
inscriptions, however, attest to the worship of more
than 30 divinities, including those common to the entire
Roman world and those which were characteristically of
local origin, such as Belenus, Timavus, Liber, etc. In
the course of the excavations, large horrea have been
discovered in the South-east section of the city, three bath
complexes, some kilns, the amphitheater, and the circus.
The theater has not yet been found. Even the imperial
palace, which certainly existed, given the frequent
visits of emperors to Aquileia, is no more than a
subject for conjecture.
The rich necropolis set off along the sides of the
roads outside the city was many kilometers in length.
There are areas of tombs, marked off by stones which
indicate the owner and the measurements, along with
ostentatious relief monuments and inscriptions. One
burial area may be seen in situ; the monuments of the
other areas have been transferred to the local museum.
Cinerary urns and sarcophagi have supplied fine objects
of glass, amber, ivory, gold, and bronze, as well as
jewels and lamps of countless types.
The Early Christian and patriarchal periods have left
important traces of monuments as well as of funerary
objects. In the patriarchal basilica, part of which
dates from the period after
Attila, there is preserved
the largest figured mosaic pavement from antiquity. In
the Cripta degli Scavi, next to the basilica, mosaics on
three levels and from different periods are visible. The
lowest levels belong to a Roman house of the Augustan
period. In the district of Monastero di Aquileia there
is another large Early Christian church. Its mosaic
pavement is now in the Museo Paleocristiano.
Archaeological materials from Aquileia may also be
found in the museums at
Trieste, Udine, and Vienna;
however, the Museo Archeologico at Aquileia contains the
majority. In 1961, the materials of late antiquity were
transferred to the Museo Paleocristiano.
See also:
Sources:
- 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
-
https://www.italythisway.com/places/articles/aquileia-history.php
- Google Maps
- https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/825
- The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites. Stillwell,
Richard. MacDonald, William L. McAlister, Marian Holland.
Princeton, N.J. Princeton University Press. 1976.
-
https://www.italyheaven.co.uk/friuliveneziagiulia/aquileia.html
- Photo -
https://www.motoblues.it/moto-friuli/cosa-offriamo/laguna-ed-entroterra/langswitch_lang/en
- Photo -
https://www.globopix.net/photos/friuli/aquileia/river-harbour-on-the-natissa-river36.html
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