Sinuessa ( el, or ) was a 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 ...
, in the more extended sense of the name, situated on 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 ...
, about 10 km north of the mouth of the
Volturno River
The Volturno (ancient Latin name Volturnus, from ''volvere'', to roll) is a river in south-central Italy.
Geography
It rises in the Abruzzese central Apennines of Samnium near Castel San Vincenzo (province of Isernia, Molise) and flows southea ...
(the ancient ''Vulturnus''). It was on the line of the
Via Appia
The Appian Way (Latin and Italian: ''Via Appia'') is one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy. Its importance is indicated by its common name, rec ...
, and was the last place where that great highroad touched on the sea-coast. The ruins of the city are located in the modern-day municipality of
Mondragone,
Campania
Campania (, also , , , ) is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islands and the i ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
.
History
It is certain that Sinuessa was not an ancient city; indeed there is no trace of the existence of an
Italic town on the spot before the foundation of the
Roman colony
A Roman (plural ) was originally a Roman outpost established in conquered territory to secure it. Eventually, however, the term came to denote the highest status of a Roman city. It is also the origin of the modern term ''colony''.
Characteri ...
. Some authors mention an obscure tradition that there had previously been a Greek city on the spot called "Sinope"; but little value can be attached to this statement. It is certain that if it ever existed, it had wholly disappeared, and the site was included in the territory of the
Ausonian. The cities belonging to the league were
Ausona
The County of Osona, also Ausona ( ca, Comtat d'Osona, ; la, Comitatus Ausonae), was one of the Catalan counties of the ''Marca Hispanica'' in the Early and High Middle Ages. It was based around the capital city of Vic (''Vicus'') and the corresp ...
,
Vescia Vescia was an ancient city of the Ausones (a subgroup of the Aurunci), in what is now central-southern Italy, which was part of the so-called Auruncan Pentapolis and was destroyed by the Romans in 340 BC.
It was a fortified center, located perhap ...
,
Minturnae
Minturno is a city and ''comune'' in the southern Lazio, Italy, situated on the north west bank of the Garigliano (known in antiquity as the Liris), with a suburb on the opposite bank about from its mouth, at the point where the Via Appia cross ...
, Sinuessa and
Suessa. However, there are various controversies about location and belonging.
During the
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 ...
war the cities of the league, like the
Volsci
The Volsci (, , ) were an Italic tribe, well known in the history of the first century of the Roman Republic. At the time they inhabited the partly hilly, partly marshy district of the south of Latium, bounded by the Aurunci and Samnites on the ...
and
Campani, supported the Latins against Rome and their
Samnite allies. The war, fought between 340 BC and 338 BC, ended with the victory of the Romans.
The cities of the League fought again against
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 Second Samnite War which began in 326 BC. In 314 BC. the Romans won the cities of the League which were completely destroyed, but later founded the colonies of
Sessa Aurunca
Sessa Aurunca is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Caserta, Campania, southern Italy. It is located on the south west slope of the extinct volcano of Roccamonfina, by rail west north west of Caserta and east of Formia.
It is situated o ...
and
Minturnae
Minturno is a city and ''comune'' in the southern Lazio, Italy, situated on the north west bank of the Garigliano (known in antiquity as the Liris), with a suburb on the opposite bank about from its mouth, at the point where the Via Appia cross ...
, cities that retained the name and almost the position of those of the
Aurunci
The Aurunci were an Italic tribe that lived in southern Italy from around the 1st millennium BC. They were eventually defeated by Rome and subsumed into the Roman Republic during the second half of the 4th century BC.
Identity
Aurunci is the na ...
.
Sinuessa seems to have rapidly risen into a place of importance; but its territory was severely ravaged in 217 BCE by
Hannibal
Hannibal (; xpu, 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋, ''Ḥannibaʿl''; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Puni ...
, whose cavalry carried their devastations up to the very gates of the town. It subsequently endeavored, in common with Minturnae and other ''coloniae maritimae'', to establish its exemption from furnishing military levies; but this was overruled, while there was an enemy with an army in Italy. At a later period (191 BCE) Sinuessa again attempted, but with equal ill success, to procure a similar exemption from the naval service. Its position on the
Appian Way
The Appian Way (Latin and Italian language, Italian: ''Via Appia'') is one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient Roman Republic, republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy. Its importance is ...
doubtless contributed greatly to the prosperity of Sinuessa; for the same reason it is frequently incidentally mentioned by
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...
, and we learn that
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...
halted there for a night on his way from
Brundisium
Brindisi ( , ) ; la, Brundisium; grc, Βρεντέσιον, translit=Brentésion; cms, Brunda), group=pron is a city in the region of Apulia in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea.
Histor ...
to
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 ...
, in 49 BCE. It is noticed also by
Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...
on his journey to Brundusium, as the place where he met with his friends
Varius and
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 ...
.
The fertility of its territory, and especially of the neighbouring ridge of the Mons Massicus, so celebrated for its wines, must also have tended to promote the prosperity of Sinuessa, but we hear little of it under the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...
. It received a body of military colonists, apparently under the Triumvirate, but did not retain the rank of a colonia and is termed by Pliny as well as the ''
Liber Coloniarum
In Religion in ancient Rome, ancient Roman religion and Roman mythology, mythology, Liber ( , ; "the free one"), also known as Liber Pater ("the free Father"), was a god of viticulture and wine, male fertility and freedom. He was a patron de ...
'' only an ''
oppidum
An ''oppidum'' (plural ''oppida'') is a large fortified Iron Age settlement or town. ''Oppida'' are primarily associated with the Celtic late La Tène culture, emerging during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, spread across Europe, stretchi ...
'', or ordinary municipal town. It was the furthest town in Latium, as that geographical term was understood in the days of Strabo and Pliny, or ''Latium adjectum'', as the latter author terms it; and its territory extended to the river
Savo
Savo may refer to:
Languages
* Savo dialect, forms of the Finnish language spoken in Savonia
* Savo language, an endangered language spoken on Savo
People
* Savo (given name), a masculine given name from southern Europe (includes a list of people ...
, which formed the limit between Latium and
Campania
Campania (, also , , , ) is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islands and the i ...
. At an earlier period indeed
Polybius
Polybius (; grc-gre, Πολύβιος, ; ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , which covered the period of 264–146 BC and the Punic Wars in detail.
Polybius is important for his analysis of the mixed ...
reckoned it a town of Campania, and
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...
follows the same classification, as he makes the
Liris
The Liri (Latin Liris or Lyris, previously, Clanis; Greek: ) is one of the principal rivers of central Italy, flowing into the Tyrrhenian Sea a little below Minturno under the name Garigliano.
Source and route
The Liri's source is in the Mon ...
the southern limit of Latium; but the division adopted by Strabo and Pliny is probably the most correct. The
Itineraries
A travel itinerary is a schedule of events relating to planned travel, generally including destinations to be visited at specified times and means of transportation to move between those destinations. For example, both the plan of a business trip ...
all notice Sinuessa as a still existing town on the Appian Way, and place it nine miles from Minturnae, which is, however, considerably short of the true distance. In his ''
Meditations
''Meditations'' () is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from AD 161 to 180, recording his private notes to himself and ideas on Stoic philosophy.
Marcus Aurelius wrote the 12 books of the ''Meditations'' in Koine ...
'', written around AD 180, the emperor
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: áːɾkus̠ auɾέːli.us̠ antɔ́ːni.us̠ English: ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good ...
notes that his friend
Junius Rusticus
Quintus Junius Rusticus (c. 100 – c. 170 AD), was a Roman teacher and politician. He was probably a grandson of Arulenus Rusticus, who was a prominent member of the Stoic Opposition. He was a Stoic philosopher and was one of the teachers ...
sent a letter to
Marcus's mother from Sinuessa. The period of its destruction is unknown.
Ruins
The ruins of Sinuessa are still visible on the seacoast of
Mons Massicus .(Baia Azzurra) - (Levagnole) is part of the municipality of
Sessa Aurunca
Sessa Aurunca is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Caserta, Campania, southern Italy. It is located on the south west slope of the extinct volcano of Roccamonfina, by rail west north west of Caserta and east of Formia.
It is situated o ...
, in the province of
Caserta
Caserta () is the capital of the province of Caserta in the Campania region of Italy. It is an important agricultural, commercial, and industrial ''comune'' and city. Caserta is located on the edge of the Campanian plain at the foot of the Camp ...
, in the
Campania
Campania (, also , , , ) is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islands and the i ...
region.It was so that in the V A.D. century, Sinuessa disappeared from the sources, too. The abandonment of the countries, the transformation in forests and fenlands of the fertile lands, the barbaric raids of the Vandals and the Saracens finished the deterioration of the zone that already started to suffer some consequences of the bradyseism that subsequently will submerge the ancient Sinuessanus habitat.
All that forced the inhabitants to move to the surrounding rises of the one that had been the flourishing Roman colony. The inhabitants settled in the surroundings of Petrino Mount and founded a little urban agglomeration all around Montis dragonis rock of which the Longobards were owners from 840 to 1058 as it was a very strategic and impregnable place.
Then the fortress became property of the Normans under Ricard II and from his wife name , Rocca, daughter of Dragone, the denomination of Montis Dragonis rock originated, even if the legend ascribes it to a dragon that roamed around the zone terrorizing the inhabitants. After the Normans, there were the Swabians; it’s in this period that began the urban agglomeration and convents and monasteries spread out especially upon mountains.
After the Swabians, there were the Aragoneses and the territory passed from the Marzanos to Carafas and finally to Grillos. Of this period, we have got the ducal tower added to the Baronial Palace that the Grillos enlarged to emulate the royal Palace of Caserta, without finishing the work. After the short period of French rulers, the territory became property of the Bourbons with Ferdinand IV until 1861, when the kingdom of Italy was proclaimed.
The village of Baia Azzurra - Levagnole is 12.56 kilometers from the same town of Sessa Aurunca to which it belongs).The most important are those of an
aqueduct, and of an edifice which appears to have been a triumphal arch; but the whole plain is covered with fragments of ancient buildings.
Baths
At a short distance from Sinuessa were the baths or thermal springs called Aquae Sinuessanae which appear to have enjoyed a great reputation among the Romans. Pliny tells us they were esteemed a remedy for barrenness in women and for insanity in men. They are already mentioned by Livy as early as the
Second Punic War
The Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC) was the second of three wars fought between Carthage and Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For 17 years the two states struggled for supremacy, primarily in Ital ...
; and though their fame was eclipsed at a later period by those of
Baiae
Baiae ( it, Baia; nap, Baia) was an ancient Roman town situated on the northwest shore of the Gulf of Naples and now in the ''comune'' of Bacoli. It was a fashionable resort for centuries in antiquity, particularly towards the end of the Roman ...
and other fashionable watering-places, they still continued in use under the Empire, and were resorted to among others by the emperor
Claudius
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusu ...
. It was there, also, that the infamous
Tigellinus
Ofonius Tigellinus (c. 10 – 69) was a prefect of the Roman imperial bodyguard, known as the Praetorian Guard, from 62 until 68, during the reign of emperor Nero. Tigellinus gained imperial favour through his acquaintance wit ...
was compelled to put an end to his own life. The mild and warm climate of Sinuessa is extolled by some writers as contributing to the effect of the waters (Tacitus ''Annals'' xii. 66); hence it is called ''Sinuessa tepens'' by
Silius Italicus
Tiberius Catius Asconius Silius Italicus (, c. 26 – c. 101 AD) was a Roman senator, orator and Epic poetry, epic poet of the Silver Age of Latin literature. His only surviving work is the 17-book ''Punica (poem), Punica'', an epic poem about th ...
, and ''mollis Sinuessa'' by
Martial
Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial ; March, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD) was a Roman poet from Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his twelve books of ''Epigrams'', published in Rome between AD 86 and ...
.
Silius Italicus
Tiberius Catius Asconius Silius Italicus (, c. 26 – c. 101 AD) was a Roman senator, orator and Epic poetry, epic poet of the Silver Age of Latin literature. His only surviving work is the 17-book ''Punica (poem), Punica'', an epic poem about th ...
viii. 528; Martial vi. 42. The site of the waters is still called ''I Bagni'', and the remains of Roman buildings still exist there.
In popular culture
In the Starz series ''
Spartacus: War of the Damned'',
Spartacus
Spartacus ( el, Σπάρτακος '; la, Spartacus; c. 103–71 BC) was a Thracian gladiator who, along with Crixus, Gannicus, Castus, and Oenomaus, was one of the escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising ...
and his rebel army invade and take Sinuessa during the second episode, "Wolves at the Gate", and hold it in subsequent episodes.
Notes
References
*
online version
{{Coord, 41.1414, N, 13.8528, E, source:wikidata, display=title
Coloniae (Roman)
History of Campania
Former populated places in Italy
Geography of Campania
Roman sites of Campania
Archaeological sites in Campania