Bolae or Bola was an ancient city of

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 whi ...

that was repeatedly mentioned in the early history 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 ...

. It was likely located in the territory of the modern town of

Labico Labico is a ''comune'' (municipality) of about 6,200 inhabitants in the Metropolitan City of Rome in the Italian region Latium, located about southeast of Rome. Known as Lugnano until 1872, it takes its current name from the ancient Labicum, alt ...

History

Its foundation is expressly ascribed by

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

to the kings 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 ...

, and its name is found also in the list given by

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which su ...

of the colonies of that city. Hence, there is no doubt that it was properly a

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 ...

city, though its name does not appear among the list of those that composed the

Latin League The Latin League (c. 7th century BC – 338 BC)Stearns, Peter N. (2001) ''The Encyclopedia of World History'', Houghton Mifflin. pp. 76–78. . was an ancient confederation of about 30 villages and tribes in the region of Latium near the ancient c ...

. But it fell at an early period into the hands of the

Aequi 300px, Location of the Aequi (Equi) in central Italy, 5th century BC. The Aequi ( grc, Αἴκουοι and Αἴκοι) were an Italic tribe on a stretch of the Apennine Mountains to the east of Latium in central Italy who appear in the early his ...

ans.

Dionysius of Halicarnassus Dionysius of Halicarnassus ( grc, Διονύσιος Ἀλεξάνδρου Ἁλικαρνασσεύς, ; – after 7 BC) was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Emperor Augustus. His literary sty ...

describes it as one of the towns taken by

Coriolanus ''Coriolanus'' ( or ) is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1605 and 1608. The play is based on the life of the legendary Roman leader Caius Marcius Coriolanus. Shakespeare worked on it during the same ye ...

, together with

Toleria ''Toleria'' is a genus of moths in the family Sesiidae The Sesiidae or clearwing moths are a diurnal moth family in the order Lepidoptera known for their Batesian mimicry in both appearance and behaviour of various Hymenoptera. The family ...

and

Labicum Labici or Labicum or Lavicum ( la, Lăbīcī or ) was an ancient city of Latium, in what is now central Italy, lying in the territory of the modern Monte Compatri, about 20 km SE from Rome, on the northern slopes of the Alban Hills. Exact loc ...

; and though

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Ancient Rome, Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditiona ...

does not notice its conquest upon that occasion, he speaks of it as an

an town, when the name next occurs in history towards the end of the 5th century BC. In this instance the Bolani were among the foremost to engage in war, and ravaged the lands of the neighboring

, but being unsupported by the rest of the Aequians, they were defeated, and their town taken. It was, however, recovered by the Aequians, and a fresh colony established there, but was again taken by the Romans under

Publius Postumius Albus Regillensis Publius Postumius Albus Regillensis, whom Livy calls "Marcus", was a patrician politician of ancient Rome who was appointed one of four military consular tribunes in 414 BC. Around that year, he was given command against the Aequi, and showed grea ...

, and it was on this occasion that the proposal to establish a Roman

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...

there, and portion out its lands among the settlers, gave rise to one of the fiercest

mutinies Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military, of a crew or of a crew of pirates) to oppose, change, or overthrow an organization to which they were previously loyal. The term is commonly used for a rebellion among member ...

in Roman history. Whether the colony was actually sent, the town was again in the hands of the Aequians in 389 BC, when they were defeated beneath its walls by

Marcus Furius Camillus Marcus Furius Camillus (; c. 446 – 365 BC) was a Roman soldier and statesman of the patrician class. According to Livy and Plutarch, Camillus triumphed four times, was five times dictator, and was honoured with the title of ''Second Founder ...

; but

represents it as then occupied by the Latins, and besieged by the

ans. This is the last mention of the name in history: it was probably destroyed during these wars, as we find no subsequent trace of its existence; and it is enumerated by

Pliny Pliny may refer to: People * Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'') * Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...

among the towns which had in his time utterly disappeared. The site is called ''Poli'', situated in the mountains about eight miles north of

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 ...

; but

tells us that its ''ager'' bordered on that of

, and the narratives of

Dionysius The name Dionysius (; el, Διονύσιος ''Dionysios'', "of Dionysus"; la, Dionysius) was common in classical and post-classical times. Etymologically it is a nominalized adjective formed with a -ios suffix from the stem Dionys- of the name ...

and

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''P ...

above cited seem clearly to point to a situation in the neighborhood of Labicum and Pedum. Hence it is much more probable, as suggested by

Francesco Ficoroni Francesco (de') Ficoroni (1664–1747) was an Italian connoisseur and antiquarian in Rome closely involved with the antiquities trade. He was the author of numerous publications on ancient Roman sculpture and antiquities, guides to the monuments of ...

and

Antonio Nibby Antonio Nibby (October 4, 1792 at Rome – December 29, 1839 at Rome) was an Italian archaeologist and topographer. Nibby was a critic of the history of ancient art and from 1812 in service to the Vatican worked to excavate the monuments of ...

, that it occupied the site of Lugano, a village about 5 miles south of

Palestrina 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 Pren ...

(Praeneste), and 9 miles southeast of La Colonna (Labicum). The position is, like that of most of the other towns in this neighborhood, naturally fortified by the ravines that surround it: and its situation between the

an mountains on the one side, and the heights of

Algidus Mons The Algidus Mons, known in English as Mount Algidus, is the eastern rim of the dormant Alban Volcano in the Alban Hills, about southeast of Rome, Italy. The ridge is traversed by a narrow crevasse called ''la Cava d'Aglio''. It was the site of the ...

on the other, would necessarily render it a military point of importance both to

ans and Latins.

, ''Dintorni di Roma'', vol. i. pp. 291-294

References

{{coord missing, Italy Latin cities Destroyed cities Former populated places in Italy