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The Ager Romanus (literally, "the field of Rome"') is the geographical rural area (part plains, part hilly) that surrounds the city of
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
. Politically and historically, it has represented the area of influence of Rome's municipal government. It is limited to the south by the
Monti Prenestini The Monti Prenestini is a mountain range in the Lazio sub-Apennines, in central Italy to the east of Rome. It is of limestone formation. It is bounded by the Monti Tiburtini to the north, by the Monti Ruffi to the east, and by the valley of th ...
range,
Alban hills The Alban Hills ( it, Colli Albani) are the caldera remains of a quiescent volcano, volcanic complex in Italy, located southeast of Rome and about north of Anzio. The high Monte Cavo forms a highly visible peak the centre of the caldera, bu ...
and
Pontine Marshes 250px, Lake Fogliano, a coastal lagoon in the Pontine Plain The Pontine Marshes (, also ; it, Agro Pontino , formerly also ''Paludi Pontine''; la, Pomptinus Ager by Titus Livius, ''Pomptina Palus'' (singular) and ''Pomptinae Paludes'' (plur ...
; to the west by the
Tyrrhenian Sea The Tyrrhenian Sea (; it, Mar Tirreno , french: Mer Tyrrhénienne , sc, Mare Tirrenu, co, Mari Tirrenu, scn, Mari Tirrenu, nap, Mare Tirreno) is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian pe ...
; to the north by the hills surrounding Lake Bracciano and to the east by the
Monti Tiburtini Monti may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Monti (given name) * Monti (surname) Places *Monti, Lazio, the first rione (historic district) of Rome, Italy *Monti, Sardinia, Italy, a ''comune'' and town *Monti, Iowa, United States, a town See also *Monte ...
range.


History


Ancient Rome

The Rome of
Romulus Romulus () was the legendary foundation of Rome, founder and King of Rome, first king of Ancient Rome, Rome. Various traditions attribute the establishment of many of Rome's oldest legal, political, religious, and social institutions to Romulus ...
and his immediate successors possessed a very restricted territory, as did neighbouring
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
cities such as
Praeneste Palestrina (ancient ''Praeneste''; grc, Πραίνεστος, ''Prainestos'') is a modern Italian city and ''comune'' (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, in Lazio, about east of Rome. It is connected to the latter by the Via Pre ...
. Such territories were marked by boundary stones, or cippi, used to define and limit the legitimate area of influence of cities, and the boundaries of private landholdings. According to tradition, Rome rapidly outgrew the ''ager'' established by its founder, and rather than accept its confinement,
Tullus Hostilius Tullus Hostilius (r. 672–640 BC) was the legendary third king of Rome. He succeeded Numa Pompilius and was succeeded by Ancus Marcius. Unlike his predecessor, Tullus was known as a warlike king who according to the Roman Historian Livy, believ ...
razed the Latin city of
Alba Longa Alba Longa (occasionally written Albalonga in Italian sources) was an ancient Latin city in Central Italy, 12 miles (19 km) southeast of Rome, in the vicinity of Lake Albano in the Alban Hills. Founder and head of the Latin League, it was d ...
ca. 635 BC, and incorporated its former territories within the ''ager Romanus''. With the proclamation of the
Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kin ...
in 509 BC, all the territory occupied by Romans in " Latium vetus" came to be proclaimed ager publicus, equivalent to state lands today, which were held by the state and could be granted to private citizens. The Roman municipal authorities of this era were the
consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...
s. In effect, Rome was a gigantic city-territory continuously expanding across Europe. Octavian Augustus founded the office of ''
praefectus urbi The ''praefectus urbanus'', also called ''praefectus urbi'' or urban prefect in English, was prefect of the city of Rome, and later also of Constantinople. The office originated under the Roman kings, continued during the Republic and Empire, and ...
'' and other offices which divided the administration of the city of Rome from that of the Roman Empire. Thus was solved the problem of delimiting the territory of the
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 privi ...
of Rome from the territory of the rest of the empire - besides the ''Regio I Latii et Campaniae'' administered by a specific governor, the confines of the municipal authority of Rome came to be fixed at the "centesimum lapidem" (i.e. one hundred miles) on each of the via consularis converging on Rome. So, ''de iure'', the Roman municipal authority controlled the whole of
Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...
and part of Tuscany from Talamone to
Terracina Terracina is an Italian city and ''comune'' of the province of Latina, located on the coast southeast of Rome on the Via Appia ( by rail). The site has been continuously occupied since antiquity. History Ancient times Terracina appears in anci ...
and also parts of
Abruzzo Abruzzo (, , ; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Abruzzese Neapolitan, Abbrùzze , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; nap, label=Sabino dialect, Aquilano, Abbrùzzu; #History, historically Abruzzi) is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy wi ...
and
Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...
. The same territorial division was confirmed by the re-subdivision of the provinces by
Diocletian Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...
.


Medieval era

After the fall of the empire, the ''
praefectus urbi The ''praefectus urbanus'', also called ''praefectus urbi'' or urban prefect in English, was prefect of the city of Rome, and later also of Constantinople. The office originated under the Roman kings, continued during the Republic and Empire, and ...
'' continued to be elected and did not come to be totally deprived of their power even by the advancing
papal The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
power which effectively became the municipal government of Rome. The Ager Romanus, as a political zone subject to the municipium of Rome, theoretically continued to extend ''ad centesimum lapidem'', but in practice many of its regions ended up in Lombard hands, with still others managed by the religious authorities or the pope, who were beginning to manage their territories by means of ''
patrimonia The Patrimony of Saint Peter ( la, Patrimonium Sancti Petri) originally designated the landed possessions and revenues of various kinds that belonged to the apostolic Holy See (the Pope) i.e. the "Church of Saint Peter" in Rome, by virtue of the ap ...
'' and ''
domuscultae A domusculta (plural - ''domuscultae'') was a papal estate in Italy in the Middle Ages, or the large villa complex at the centre of such an estate. An example is the ''Domusculta Capracorum'' of Pope Hadrian I. They were similar to the papal ''p ...
''.


Today

The ''motu proprio'' of 6 July 1817 by
Pope Pius VII Pope Pius VII ( it, Pio VII; born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti; 14 August 1742 – 20 August 1823), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 March 1800 to his death in August 1823. Chiaramonti was also a m ...
established the boundaries of the municipium of Rome, assigning to the capital its present communal territory as well as the present communes of
Fiumicino Fiumicino () is a town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Rome, Lazio, central Italy, with a population of 80,500 (2019). It is known for being the site of Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport, the busiest airport in Italy and the eleventh-bu ...
, Pomezia and Ardea. The confines of the Comunità di Roma were thus finally defined and no longer nebulous, and these limits ended at the constitution of the commune of Pomezia (also including present-day Ardea) following its lasting foundation during the "bonifica fascista" and—in the 1990s—of Fiumicino.


Sources

*''This page is a translation of its Italian equivalent.''


References

{{reflist, 2 History of Lazio Topography of the ancient city of Rome