Crustumerium (or Crustumium) was an ancient town 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 ...
, on the edge of the
Sabine
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 divide ...
territory, near the headwaters of the
Allia
Allia is a small river in Lazio, Italy. It is a left tributary of the Tiber with confluence about from Rome. The Allia's source is located in the mountains near the location of Crustumerium and it flows near Monterotondo towards the Tiber.
Th ...
, not far from the
Tiber
The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where it is joined by the Riv ...
.
In the legends concerning Rome's early history, the Crustumini were amongst the peoples which attended
Romulus' festival of
Neptune Equester. At that festival, the Roman men seized the young women amongst the visiting spectators, an event known as the
Rape of the Sabine Women
The Rape of the Sabine Women ( ), also known as the Abduction of the Sabine Women or the Kidnapping of the Sabine Women, was an incident in Roman mythology in which the men of Rome committed a mass abduction of young women from the other citi ...
. Afterwards, according to
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 ...
, the Crustumini commenced hostilities. The Romans retaliated and captured Crustumerium. 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 ...
was subsequently sent to the town by Romulus and many citizens of the town migrated to Rome. More of the Roman colonists preferred to go to Crustumerium than to another town,
Antemnae
Antemnae was a town and Roman colony of ancient Latium in Italy. It was situated two miles north of ancient Rome on a hill (now Monte Antenne) commanding the confluence of the Aniene and the Tiber. It lay west of the later Via Salaria and now l ...
, because of the fertility of the soil at the former.
According to
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 ...
, the town later revolted to become part of 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 ...
, which went to war with
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 ...
during the reign of Rome's king
Lucius Tarquinius Priscus
Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, or Tarquin the Elder, was the legendary fifth king of Rome and first of its Etruscan dynasty. He reigned for thirty-eight years.Livy, ''ab urbe condita libri'', I Tarquinius expanded Roman power through military conqu ...
. Crustumerium was one of a number of towns captured by Tarquinius.
It was conquered in 500 BC according to Livy (ii. 19), the tribus Crustumina or Clustumina being formed in 471 BC.
Livy records that in 468 BC
the Sabines marched through the territory of Crustumerium towards Latium, ravaging the countryside.
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 ...
mentions it among the lost cities of Latium, but the name clung to the district, the fertility of which remained famous. The site of Crustumerium has been identified in the locality Marcigliana Vecchia, north to modern
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 ...
along the
Via Salaria
The Via Salaria was an ancient Roman road in Italy.
It eventually ran from Rome (from Porta Salaria of the Aurelian Walls) to ''Castrum Truentinum'' (Porto d'Ascoli) on the Adriatic coast, a distance of 242 km. The road also passed throug ...
, not far from
Settebagni; only partially excavated, it covered an area of some 60 hectares.
Since the site of the city was identified in the 1970s, an archaeological project has been undertaken. In 2010 the Groningen Institute of Archaeology (GIA) received funding of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) to elaborate their research on the Iron Age settlement of Crustumerium.
References
Sources
*
{{Coord, 42, 03, N, 12, 37, E, display=title, region:IT_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki
8th century BC in the Roman Kingdom
Classical geography
Ancient Italian history