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Cottanello
Cottanello is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Rieti in the Italian region Latium, located about north of Rome and about west of Rieti. An elaborate ancient Roman villa was discovered here in 1968 in the hamlet of Collesecco (evocative of an arid and stony place) in the valley below the historic centre of Cottanello. Subsequently a building was erected to protect the villa. Roman villa of Cottanello Also known as the Roman Villa Cotta of Collesecco after its ancient owners, the Cotta family, and its location. Description The villa had a manor-type country residence part, embellished with sculptural decorations, architectural terracotta and excellently preserved geometric mosaic floors, made with local limestone and with Cottanello red marble. The villa has an area of about 37 x 45 m and is composed of about 30 rooms with an atrium and a peristyle. One of the door thresholds has figured inserts with plant motifs, another depicts a pair of chantere ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sabina (region)
Sabina (Latin: ''Sabinum''), also called the Sabine Hills, is a region in central Italy. It is named after Sabina, the territory of the ancient Sabines, which was once bordered by Latium to the south, Picenum to the east, ancient Umbria to the north and Etruria to the west. It was separated from Umbria by the River Nar, today's Nera, and from Etruria by the River Tiber. Today, Sabina is mainly northeast of Rome in the regions Lazio, Umbria and Abruzzo. ''Upper Sabina'' is in the province of Rieti (Poggio Mirteto, Magliano Sabina, Casperia, Montopoli di Sabina, Torri in Sabina, Cantalupo in Sabina, Montebuono, Forano, Poggio Catino, Montasola, Stimigliano, Castelnuovo di Farfa, Fara in Sabina, Roccantica, Mompeo, Salisano, Cottanello, Configni, Vacone, Tarano, Collevecchio, Toffia, Poggio Nativo, Scandriglia ecc.). ''Sabina Romana'' is in the province of Rome (Mentana, Monteflavio, Montelibretti, Monterotondo, Montorio Romano, Moricone, Nerola, Palombara Sabina). Part of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Latium
Latium ( , ; ) is the region of central western Italy in which the city of Rome was founded and grew to be the capital city of the Roman Empire. Definition Latium was originally a small triangle of fertile, volcanic soil (Old Latium) on which resided the tribe of the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins or Latians. It was located on the left bank (east and south) of the Tiber, River Tiber, extending northward to the Aniene, River Anio (a left-bank tributary of the Tiber) and southeastward to the Pomptina Palus (Pontine Marshes, now the Pontine Fields) as far south as the Cape Circeo, Circeian promontory. The right bank of the Tiber was occupied by the Etruscan city of Veii, and the other borders were occupied by Ancient Italic people, Italic tribes. Subsequently, Rome defeated Veii and then its Italic neighbours, expanding its dominions over Southern Etruria and to the south, in a partly marshy and partly mountainous region. The latter saw the creation of numerous Roman and Latin co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lucius Aurunculeius Cotta
Lucius Aurunculeius Cotta (died 54 BC) was an officer in the Gallic army of Gaius Julius Caesar. The little we know of Cotta is found in Book V of Caesar's ''De Bello Gallico''. In 54 BC, when Caesar returned to Gaul from his second expedition to Britain, he found food in short supply. He therefore spread out his eight legions amongst a larger number of Gallic states from which to draw their sustenance during the winter. To the eighth legion, which had recently been raised from across the Po (''trans Padum'') he added another five cohorts, appointing Quintus Titurius Sabinus and Lucius Aurunculeius Cotta as the '' legati'' commanding them.Transf. meaning: ''To appoint or choose as deputy (as the official assistant, lieutenant, of a general or governor)''source: Lewis & Short Latin Dictionary. History The troops of Sabinus and Cotta were sent by Caesar into the country of the Eburones, in Belgica, most of which lies between the Meuse and the Rhine where they set up Fort Aduat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Via Aurelia
The ''Via Aurelia'' (Latin for "Aurelian Way") is a Roman road in Italy constructed in approximately 241 BC. The project was undertaken by Gaius Aurelius Cotta, who at that time was censor.Hornblower, Simon, & Antony Spawforth. ''The Oxford Classical Dictionary.'' 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. Cotta had a history of building roads for Rome, as he had overseen the construction of a military road in Sicily (as consul in 252 BC, during the First Punic War) connecting ''Agrigentum'' (modern Agrigento) and ''Panormus'' (modern Palermo). Background In the middle Republic, a series of roads were built throughout Italy to serve the needs of Roman expansion, including swift army movements and reasonably quick communication with Roman colonies spread throughout Italy. There also was the unintended (but beneficial) consequence of an increase in trade among Italian cities and with Rome. The roads were standardized to wide allowing two chariots to pass, and distance was ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gaius Aurelius Cotta (consul 252 BC)
Gaius Aurelius Cotta ( 252–231 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. He was consul in 252 BC, with Publius Servilius Geminus, and both consuls carried on the war in Sicily against the Carthaginians with great success. Among several other places they also took Himera, but its inhabitants had been secretly removed by the Carthaginians. Afterwards Cotta borrowed ships from Hiero, and having united them with the remnants of the Roman fleet, he sailed to Lipara, the blockade of which he left to his tribune, Quintus Cassius, with the express order not to engage in a battle; but, during the absence of the consul, Cassius notwithstanding allowed himself to be drawn into an engagement, in which many Romans were killed. On being informed of this Cotta returned to Lipara, besieged and took the town, put its inhabitants to the sword, and deprived Cassius of his office of tribune. Cotta was celebrated for the strict discipline which he maintained among his troops, and of which several instan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dolium
A dolium (plural: dolia) is a large earthenware vase or vessel used in ancient Roman times for storage or transportation of goods. They are similar to kvevri, large Georgian vessels used to ferment wine. Description The dolium was a very large jug or container made of fired clay. Oval in shape, with a wide mouth and rim, it was much larger than the amphora, a similar pottery container. The dolium had no neck or handles and, in many cases, could measure up to six feet in height. Some dolia have a rounded body tapering into a flat bottom, while more frequently, dolia maintained a rounded bottom. They were lined with pitch or wax in order to contain or process liquids and solid foods. Some sources mention dolia holding up to 50 quadrantals, equivalent to 346.5 U.S. gallons. Though there was no standard size for dolia, even the smallest capacity recorded by Pliny the Elder was large for Roman earthenware containers. History Much of what modern scholars know about the dolium com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cocciopesto
''Opus signinum'' ('cocciopesto' in modern Italian) is a building material used in ancient Rome. It is made of tiles broken up into very small pieces, mixed with mortar, and then beaten down with a rammer. Pliny the Elder in his '' Natural History'' describes its manufacture: "Even broken pottery has been utilized; it being found that, beaten to powder, and tempered with lime, it becomes more solid and durable than other substances of a similar nature; forming the cement known as the "Signine" composition, so extensively employed for even making the pavements of houses." Pliny's use of the term "signine" references "Signia (modern Segni), the name of a town in Latium which was famous for its tiles." Origins, spread, disuse The technique, most probably invented by the Phoenicians, is documented in the early 7th cent. BC at Tell el-Burak (Lebanon), then in Phoenician colonies in North Africa, some time before 256 BC, and spread north from there to Sicily and finally to the Italian p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Municipium
In ancient Rome, the Latin term (pl. ) referred to a town or city. Etymologically, the was a social contract among ("duty holders"), or citizens of the town. The duties () were a communal obligation assumed by the in exchange for the privileges and protections of citizenship. Every citizen was a . The distinction of was not made in the Roman Kingdom; instead, the immediate neighbours of the city were invited or compelled to transfer their populations to the urban structure of Rome, where they took up residence in neighbourhoods and became Romans ''per se''. Under the Roman Republic the practical considerations of incorporating communities into the city-state of Rome forced the Romans to devise the concept of , a distinct state under the jurisdiction of Rome. It was necessary to distinguish various types of and other settlements, such as the colony. In the early Roman Empire these distinctions began to disappear; for example, when Pliny the Elder served in the Roman army, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sabines
The Sabines (; lat, Sabini; it, Sabini, all exonyms) were an Italic people who lived in the central Apennine Mountains of the ancient Italian Peninsula, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome. The Sabines divided into two populations just after the founding of Rome, which is described by Roman legend. The division, however it came about, is not legendary. The population closer to Rome transplanted itself to the new city and united with the preexisting citizenry, beginning a new heritage that descended from the Sabines but was also Latinized. The second population remained a mountain tribal state, coming finally to war against Rome for its independence along with all the other Italic tribes. Afterwards, it became assimilated into the Roman Republic. Language There is little record of the Sabine language; however, there are some glosses by ancient commentators, and one or two inscriptions have been tentatively identified as Sabine. There are also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Forum Novum
Forum Novum (later also called ''Vescovìo'') was a new Roman foundation which developed as a forum or market center during the Roman Republic period. By the early 1st century AD Forum Novum had been elevated to the status of municipium, appearing as such in Pliny's list of towns. It is located within today’s commune of Torri in Sabina in the province of Rieti.http://www.sabina.it/luoghi/itinrom/vescovio.htm Knowledge of the history of the centre comes largely from literary sources and the rich epigraphic evidence. Forum Novum seems to have functioned throughout the imperial period and a market was still being held at the center in the fourth century. Although urban life probably underwent a decline around this period, Forum Novum, later Vescovio, continued to act as a local and regional focus with the establishment of a bishopric in the fifth century, a role it maintained throughout the early medieval and medieval periods; it remains a titular see in the Catholic Church today. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cryptoporticus
In Ancient Roman architecture a cryptoporticus (from atin''crypta'' and ''porticus'') is a covered corridor or passageway. The usual English is "cryptoportico". The cryptoportico is a semi-subterranean gallery whose vaulting supports portico structures aboveground and which is lit from openings at the tops of its arches. On sloping sites the open side of a cryptoporticus is often partially at ground level and supports a structure such as a forum or Roman villa, in which case it served as ''basis villae''. It is often vaulted and lit by openings in the vault. In the letters of Pliny the Younger,Pliny, ''Epistles'' ii.17.16ff; v.6.27-28; vii.21.2;ix.36.3. the term is used as a synonym of crypt. The shade and semi-excavated site of a cryptoportico provided cool and moderated temperatures useful for storage of perishables, while it offered a level and slightly raised podium for the superstructure. Examples Coimbra The cryptoporticus of Coimbra, the old Roman city of Aeminium ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
