Location | Comune di Norma, Lazio, Italy |
---|---|
Region | Lazio |
Type | Settlement |
History | |
Founded | 492 BC |
Periods | Roman Republic |
Cultures | Ancient Rome |
Site notes | |
Excavation dates | yes |
Archaeologists | Raniero Mangarelli; Luigi Savignóni; Stefania Quilici Gigli |
Management | Soprintendenza Archeologica per il Lazio |
Public access | yes |
Website | Norba (in Italian) |
Norba, an ancient town of Latium (Adjectum), Italy. It is situated 1 mile northwest of the modern town of Norma, on the western edge of the Volscian Mountains or Monti Lepini. The town is perched above a precipitous cliff with a splendid view over the Pomptine Marshes below; the highest point stands to ca. 460 meters (over 1500 feet) above sea level. [1]
Norba was a member of the Latin League of 499 BC. It became a Roman colony in 492 BC, initially to protect the border with the Volsci, [2] and later serving as an important fortress guarding the Pomptine Marshes. It served in 199 BC as a place of detention for the Carthaginian hostages, and was captured and destroyed by Sulla's troops during the civil wars at the end of 82 BC. By the first century AD Norba is included by Pliny the Elder on his list of extinct cities in Latium. [3]
From excavations begun in 1901 it seems clear that the remains now visible on the site are entirely Roman. [4] The well-preserved walls are in the polygonal style, over 2.5 km in circuit, and are entirely embankment walls, not standing free above the internal ground level. The walls enclose an area of approximately 38 hectares. Remains of two towers, and of several gateways (notably the Porta Maggiore, defended by a tower), exist. The bastion at the Porta Maggiore still stands to 13 m. A square tower, referred to as "La Loggia" is also to be found along the curtain. [5] [6]
The main gate is enormous, with jambs over 8 m in height, 4.30 m in width, and internal width of 12.8 m. Within, the remains of several buildings, including the foundations (podia) of two temples, one dedicated to Juno Lucina, have been examined. At the foot of the cliff are the picturesque ruins of the medieval town of Ninfa, (12th-13th centuries) abandoned on account of malaria. The remains of a primitive settlement, on the other hand, have been discovered on the mountainside to the southeast, above the 13th-century abbey of Valvisciolo, where there is a succession of terraces supported by walls of rough polygonal masonry, and approached by a road similarly supported. Here a quantity of primitive pottery has been found. [7] The necropolis of this settlement was probably the extensive one situated at Caracupa (8th-7th century BC), near the railway station of Sermoneta, which belongs also to the 8th-6th century BC, terminating thus at the precise date at which the Roman city of Norba is believed to have been established. [8]
Additional ancient remains are to be found in the hinterland of Norba, including the polygonal masonry structure at Poggio Serrone di Bove. [9]
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, during the Samnite Wars, began and completed the first section as a military road to the south in 312 BC.
Tre Taverne was a place on the ancient Appian Way, about 50 km from Rome, designed for the reception of travellers, as the name indicates.
The Via Flaminia was an ancient Roman road leading from Rome over the Apennine Mountains to Ariminum (Rimini) on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, and due to the ruggedness of the mountains was the major option the Romans had for travel between Etruria, Latium, Campania, and the Po Valley. The section running through northern Rome is where Constantine the Great, allegedly, had his famous vision of the Chi Rho, leading to his conversion to Christianity and the Christianization of the Roman Empire.
Lanuvium, modern Lanuvio, is an ancient city of Latium vetus, some 32 kilometres (20 mi) southeast of Rome, a little southwest of the Via Appia.
Segni is an Italian town and comune located in Lazio. The city is situated on a hilltop in the Lepini Mountains and overlooks the valley of the Sacco River.
Spello is an ancient town and comune (township) of Italy, in the province of Perugia in eastern-central Umbria, on the lower southern flank of Monte Subasio. It is 6 km (4 mi) NNW of Foligno and 10 km (6 mi) SSE of Assisi. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia.
Alatri is an Italian town and comune of the province of Frosinone in the region of Lazio, with c. 30,000 inhabitants. An ancient city of the Hernici, it is known for its megalithic acropolis.
Velletri is an Italian comune in the Metropolitan City of Rome, approximately 40 km to the southeast of the city centre, located in the Alban Hills, in the region of Lazio, central Italy. Neighbouring communes are Rocca di Papa, Lariano, Cisterna di Latina, Artena, Aprilia, Nemi, Genzano di Roma, and Lanuvio. Its motto is: Est mihi libertas papalis et imperialis.
Antemnae was a town and Roman colony of ancient Latium in Italy. It was situated two miles north of ancient Rome on a hill commanding the confluence of the Aniene and the Tiber. It lay west of the later Via Salaria and now lies within a park in modern Rome.
Satricum, an ancient town of Latium vetus, lay on the right bank of the Astura river some 60 kilometres SE of Rome in a low-lying region south of the Alban Hills, at the NW border of the Pontine Marshes. It was directly accessible from Rome via a road running roughly parallel to the Via Appia.
Amelia is a town and comune located in central Italy which is part of the province of Terni. The city is located in Umbria not far from the border with Lazio.
Prima Porta is the 58th zona of Rome, identified by the initials Z. LVIII. The name Prima Porta came from an arch of the aqueduct that brought water to the Villa of Livia, which formed over Via Flaminia a sort of gateway which travellers saw as the first indication of having reached Rome (Piperno).
Polygonal masonry is a technique of stone wall construction. True polygonal masonry is a technique wherein the visible surfaces of the stones are dressed with straight sides or joints, giving the block the appearance of a polygon.
Atina is a town and comune in the province of Frosinone, Lazio region of central Italy. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia. The economy is mostly based on agriculture.
Old Latium is a region of the Apennine Peninsula bounded to the north by the Tiber River, to the east by the central Apennine Mountains, to the west by the Mediterranean Sea and to the south by Monte Circeo. It was the territory of the Latins, an Italic tribe which included the early inhabitants of the city of Rome. Later it was also settled by various Italic tribes such as the Rutulians, Volscians, Aequi, and Hernici. The region was referred to as "old" to distinguish it from the expanded region, Latium, that included the region to the south of Old Latium, between Monte Circeo and the river Garigliano – the so-called Latium adiectum. It corresponded to the central part of the modern administrative region of Lazio, Italy, and it covered an area measuring of roughly 50 Roman miles. It was calculated by Mommsen that the region's area was about 1860 square kilometres.
Valvisciolo is a historical location in Latium, Italy, close to Sermoneta and Latina. Known mainly for the Valvisciolo Abbey, this locality also includes important archaeological remains of a prehistoric, hillside settlement at the Valvisciolo/Caracupa site. The site is a terraced settlement utilizing megalithic architecture, perhaps in technical terms an early predecessor of the more developed polygonal masonry of the later first millennium BC. Occupation on the site ends in the sixth century BC, with local populations perhaps shifting to the Latin city of Norba which was incorporated as a Latin colonia by 492 BCE, according to the textual tradition, mainly based on the historian Livy.
The Archaeological Museum of Milan is located in the ex-convent of the Monastero Maggiore, alongside the ancient church of San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore, with entrance on Corso Magenta.
The Arch of Hadrian is an ancient Roman triumphal arch located in Santa Maria Capua Vetere. It was originally a triple arch, but today only three pylons and one of the lateral arches survive. It spanned the Appian Way and constituted an ideal entrance to the city, perhaps corresponding to the line of the pomerium.
The Appian Way Regional Park is the second-largest urban park of Europe, after Losiny Ostrov National Park in Moscow. It is a protected area of around 4580 hectares, established by the Italian region of Latium. It falls primarily within the territory of Rome but parts also extend into the neighbouring towns of Ciampino and Marino. The peculiarity of the park that distinguishes it, is that it also hosts the Archaeological park of Appia Antica, which coincides with the perimeter of the regional park itself. It is a monumental park which contains precious legacies of ancient Rome, including the Appian Way, various Roman aqueducts, Roman villas, mausoleums, catacombs.
The Via Flacca was a Roman road along the western coast of Latium, Italy. It was built under censor Lucius Valerius Flaccus around 184 BC. Parts of it have recently been renovated as a trekking route.
41°35′30″N12°57′37″E / 41.59167°N 12.96028°E