Caietae Portus (mod. Gaeta) was an ancient Roman harbour of Latium adiectum, Italy, in the territory of Formiae.
The name (originally Αἰήτη) was derived from Caieta, the nurse of Aeneas. [1] [2]
The harbour, owing to its fine anchorage, was much in use, but the place was never a separate town, but always dependent on Formiae. Livy mentioned a temple of Apollo. The coast of the Gulf not only between Caietae Portus and Formiae, but east of the latter also, as far as the modern Monte Scauri, was a favourite summer resort. [2]
Cicero may have had villas both at Portus Caietae and at Formiae proper, and the emperors certainly possessed property at both places. After the destruction of Formiae in 847 it became one of the most important seaports of central Italy. In the town are scanty remains of an amphitheatre and theatre: near the church of La Trinità, higher up, are remains of a large reservoir. There are also traces of an aqueduct. [2]
The promontory, at 548 ft (167 m), is crowned by the tomb of Munatius Plancus, founder of Lugudunum (modern Lyons), who died after 22 BC. It is a circular structure of blocks of travertine 160 ft (49 m) high and 180 ft (55 m) in diameter. Further inland is the so-called tomb of L Atratinus, about 100 feet (30 m) in diameter. Caieta Portus was no doubt connected with the Via Appia (which passed through Formiae) by a deverticulum . There seems also to have been a road running west-north-west along the precipitous coast to Speluncae (mod. Sperlonga). [3] [2]
The Appian Way is one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy. Its importance is indicated by its common name, recorded by Statius, of Appia longarum... regina viarum . The road is named after Appius Claudius Caecus, the Roman censor who began and completed the first section as a military road to the south in 312 BC during the Samnite Wars.
Capua is a city and comune in the province of Caserta, in the region of Campania, southern Italy, situated 25 km (16 mi) north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain.
Ostia Antica was an ancient Roman city and the port of Rome located at the mouth of the Tiber River. It is near modern Ostia, 25 kilometres southwest of Rome. Due to silting and the invasion of sand, the site now lies 3 km (2 mi) from the sea. The name Ostia derives from Latin os 'mouth'.
Castel Gandolfo, colloquially known as Castello in the Castelli Romani dialects, is a town located 25 km (16 mi) southeast of Rome, in the Lazio region of Italy. Situated on a hilltop in the Alban Hills with panoramic views of Lake Albano, Castel Gandolfo is home to approximately 8,900 residents and is renowned as one of Italy's most scenic towns. It is a member of the I Borghi più belli d'Italia association.
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Suessula was an ancient city of Campania, southern Italy, situated in the interior of the peninsula, near the frontier with Samnium, between Capua and Nola, and about 7 km northeast of Acerrae, Suessula is now a vanished city and the archeological site belongs to the city of Acerra, and not to San Felice a Cancello as reported in some sources.
Cālātia was an ancient town of Campania, southern Italy, c. 10 km southeast of Capua, on the Via Appia, near the point where the Via Popillia branches off from it. It is represented by a locality known as Villa Galazia and by the church of San Giacomo alle Galazze, within the modern town of Maddaloni, very near the boundary with the neighboring town of San Nicola la Strada, and right on the Via Appia. The Via Appia here, as at Capua, abandons its former SE direction for a length of 2,000 Oscan feet (500 m), for which it runs due east and then resumes its course SE. Ruins include remains of the walls and the pre-Roman necropolis was partially excavated in 1882. The ten shafts lined with slabs of tuff which may have been the approaches to tombs or may have served as wells.
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Antiphellus or Antiphellos, known originally as Habesos, was an ancient coastal city in Lycia. The earliest occurrence of its Greek name is on a 4th-century-BCE inscription. Initially settled by the Lycians, the city was occupied by the Persians during the 6th century BCE. It rose in importance under the Greeks, when it served as the port of the nearby inland city of Phellus, but once Phellus started to decline in importance, Antiphellus became the region's largest city, with the ability to mint its own coins. During the Roman period, Antiphellus received funds from the civic benefactor Opramoas of Rhodiapolis that may have been used to help rebuild the city following the earthquake that devastated the region in 141.
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