Ricina

Last updated
Ricina
Recina, Helvia Recina
Helvia Recina.jpg
Helvia Recina - Roman Theatre
Italy provincial location map 2016.svg
Archaeological site icon (red).svg
Shown within Italy
Alternative nameHelvia Recina
LocationVilla Potenza, Province of Macerata, Marche, Italy
Coordinates 43°19′40.64″N13°25′26.72″E / 43.3279556°N 13.4240889°E / 43.3279556; 13.4240889
TypeSettlement
History
Founded3rd century BC
Abandoned5th century
Periods Roman Republic - Byzantine Empire
Cultures Ancient Rome
Site notes
ConditionRuined
OwnershipPublic
ManagementSoprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici delle Marche
Public accessYes

Ricina or Helvia Recina (located in present-day Villa Potenza) was a Roman town located in the lower Potenza valley, the contemporary Italian region Marche.

Contents

Geography

In the lower Potenza valley, on the left bank of the river Flosis (modern River Potenza), some 15 km from the estuary of the river, lies the Roman town of Ricina. The area today is in part occupied by the small hamlet of Villa Potenza, part of the comune of Macerata, and is partially used as farmland. The town is located at the junction of the river Flosis with a crossroad of the Via Salaria Gallica Gallica and a byroad of the Via Flaminia.

History

Due to small-scale rescue digs in several parts of the town, it is suggested that Ricina was already quite extensively occupied from the later 2nd century BC on however most of the urban evidence belongs to the period between the 1st century BC and the 4th century AD. Ricina became a municipium from the mid-1st century BC when the first colonists, veterans of the Civil Wars, were settled here. It flourished under the reigns of Augustus (27 BC - AD 14) and Tiberius (AD 14–37) to judge by a series of funerary monuments and inscriptions which probably originate from a cemetery on the SW side, the construction of an aqueduct, and the largest theatre in Picenum. During the 2nd century AD a good deal of public building was achieved and squares and streets were repaved. Traces of a baths complex near the theatre and parts of houses with mosaic floors are also dated to the 2nd century AD. But as early as the first half of the 2nd century AD the municipal finances seem to decline when a curator rei publicae Riciniensium was appointed. During the reign of Septimius Severus (AD 193–211), the town became a colony with the name Helvia Ricina Pertinax (CIL IX 5747), in honour of Septimius’ predecessor. The town may have suffered from invasions in the 5th and 6th centuries AD, with the remaining population seeking new dwellings in the hills to the east and west of the former Roman town.

Research

Due to several aerial photography campaigns and surveys on the farmland conducted by the Potenza Valley Survey Project (Ghent University) more information has been available about the general layout and organization of the town. Recently in July and October 2013, also geophysical surveys were undertaken by the geophysical survey company Eastern Atlas with the objective of locating and mapping more remains of subsurface archaeological features in Trea. Also the recent study of the Roman pottery to deliver chronological clues and help to determine functional zones as well as the study of stone architectural decoration to gain more insights in the embellishment of the town, has led to more information.

It seems that the layout of the town was a fairly regular and quite flat, almost rectangular area of c. 22 ha. The valley road from Trea to Potentia crossed roughly the centre of town from southwest to northeast and served as its main decumanus. One main NW-SE axis, if confirmed by further fieldwork, could have linked the main decumanus with the Roman bridge over the Potenza, which earlier observations located a few meters upstream from the present-day bridge. This street passed directly in front of and parallel with the stage building of the theatre.

The forum was probably located near the intersection of the north–south axis with the main decumanus. Although a major part of the ancient town is built over by the houses and streets of Villa Potenza, several large buildings can be distinguished in the crops of the fields north of the central area. One of them is a rectangular building (at least 18 x 33 m) oriented northwest–southeast, perpendicular to the main decumanus and possibly bordering a forum on its south. This was probably the main temple (Capitolium?) of Helvia Ricina. Other traces of buildings may be seen in the fields: several large domus, a large cistern, which may point to a nearby public facility or baths and a row of similar rectangular rooms, flanked by a corridor or portico suggest a set of tabernae or possibly a horreum. The latter is supported by the presence of many dolia and amphora sherds found at this location.

There are also signs of habitation outside the walls, more specifically directly southwest of the town, outside the presumed location of the southwest gate and alongside the road to Trea as well as at the northeast side of the town were crop-marks and a wide scatter of Roman material point to an extramural settlement.

The theatre is the only well-preserved remain of the city above ground. It has a cavea of 71.80 m diameter and is now surrounded by modern houses of Villa Potenza. During an aerial photography campaign conducted by the PVS team in May 2009 clear traces of an amphitheatre were detected as well. The building, positioned east of the theatre, was possibly originally connected with it and thus formed part of one architectural complex.

Because of its position on the main east–west road along the valley to the coastal town of Potentia, which acts as the town's decumanus, Ricina can be characterized as a road-town.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treia</span> Comune in Marche, Italy

Treia is a town and comune in the province of Macerata in the central Marche (Italy). It is 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) north of Pollenza, 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) west of Macerata, and 18 kilometres (11 mi) north-northeast of Tolentino.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Macerata</span> Comune in Marche, Italy

Macerata is a city and comune in central Italy, the county seat of the province of Macerata in the Marche region. It has a population of about 41,564.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sentinum</span> Ancient Roman town

Sentinum was a Roman town now located about a kilometre south of the present-day town of Sassoferrato in the Marche region of Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Recanati</span> Comune in Marche, Italy

Recanati is a town and comune in the Province of Macerata, in the Marche region of Italy. Recanati was founded around 1150 AD from three pre-existing castles. In 1290 it proclaimed itself an independent republic and, in the 15th century, was famous for its international fair. In March 1798 it was conquered by Napoleon Bonaparte.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Picenum</span> Historical region of Italy; territory of the Roman Republic/Empire

Picenum was a region of ancient Italy. The name was assigned by the Romans, who conquered and incorporated it into the Roman Republic. Picenum became Regio V in the Augustan territorial organisation of Roman Italy. It is now in Marche and the northern part of Abruzzo.

The year 1971 in archaeology involved some significant events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vulci</span> Etruscan city near Rome

Vulci or Volci was a rich Etruscan city in what is now northern Lazio, central Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Potenza</span> Comune in Basilicata, Italy

Potenza is a comune in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suasa</span> Ancient Roman city

Suasa was an ancient Roman town in what is now the comune of Castelleone di Suasa, Marche, Italy. It is located in the Pian Volpello locality, in the valley of the Cesano River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ancient Ostra</span> Ancient Roman town

Ostra was an ancient Roman town near the modern town of Ostra Vetere. The Roman town was inhabited from the 3rd century BC until the 6th century AD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Potenza Picena</span> Comune in Marche, Italy

Potenza Picena is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Macerata in the Italian region of Marche, about 30 kilometres (19 mi) southeast of Ancona and about 15 kilometres (9 mi) northeast of Macerata.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monte Rinaldo</span> Comune in Marche, Italy

Monte Rinaldo is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Fermo in the Marche region of Italy, located about 30 km (19 mi) north of Ascoli Piceno and 25 km (16 mi) west of Fermo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ager Gallicus</span>

The Ager Gallicus was the territory in northern Picenum that had been occupied by the Senone Gauls and was conquered by Rome in 284 BC or 283 BC, either after the Battle of Arretium or the Battle of Lake Vadimon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Picentes</span> Population of Picenum, on the northern Adriatic coastal plain of ancient Italy

The Picentes or Piceni or Picentini were an ancient Italic people who lived from the 9th to the 3rd century BC in the area between the Foglia and Aterno rivers, bordered to the west by the Apennines and to the east by the Adriatic coast. Their territory, known as Picenum, therefore included all of today's Marche and the northern part of Abruzzo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Septempeda</span> Ancient Roman town

Septempeda was a Roman town in Picenum, now in the Italian region Marche. It became today's San Severino Marche after the fall of the Roman Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Villa dei Sette Bassi</span>

The Villa dei Sette Bassi was the second-largest ancient Roman villa or monumental palace in the suburbs after the Villa of the Quintilii.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sabucina</span>

The archaeological park of Sabucina, located on the mountain of the same name near Caltanissetta, is an archaeological site in Sicily. The area contains settlements ranging from the Bronze Age to the Roman period.

Naples (Italy) and its immediate surroundings preserve an archaeological heritage of inestimable value and among the best in the world. For example, the archaeological park of the Phlegraean Fields is directly connected to the centre of Naples through the Cumana railway, and the nearby sites of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Stabiae and Oplontis are among the World Heritage Sites of UNESCO.

The gens Tuscilia was an obscure plebeian family at ancient Rome. Almost no members of this gens are mentioned by Roman writers, but several are known from inscriptions.

References

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Helvia Recina at Wikimedia Commons