Trebula or Trebula Balliensis or Trebula Baliensis (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: ), was an ancient city of

Campania (man), it, Campana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demog ...

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 ...

, the location of which is occupied by the modern village of Treglia in the ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' of

Pontelatone Pontelatone is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Caserta in the Italian region Campania, located about north of Naples and about northwest of Caserta. The località Treglia (also spelled Tregghia), within the Pontelatone communal ...

. The Monti Trebulani, a small mountain group in the modern

province of Caserta The Province of Caserta ( it, Provincia di Caserta) is a province in the Campania region of southern Italy. Its capital is the city of Caserta, situated about by road north of Naples. The province has an area of , and had a total population of ...

, take their name from it. It was situated in the district north of the Vulturnus (modern

Volturno 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 southe ...

), in the mountain tract which extends from near Caiatia (modern

Caiazzo Caiazzo (also Cajazzo) (Campanian: ) is a city and '' comune'' in the province of Caserta (Campania) in Italy. It is located on the right bank of the Volturnus, some northeast of Capua. History The ancient Caiatia was already in the hands of ...

) to the

Via Latina The Via Latina (Latin for "Latin Road") was a Roman road of Italy, running southeast from Rome for about 200 kilometers. Route It led from the Porta Latina in the Aurelian walls of Rome to the pass of Mount Algidus; it was important in the ear ...

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 ...

terms the citizens ''Trebulani cognomine Balinienses'', probably to distinguish them from those of the two cities of the same name among the Sabines; but the Campanian town seems to have been the most considerable of the three, and is termed simply Trebula by

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 importance ...

, as well as by

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a 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 traditional founding in ...

. The first mention of the name occurs in 303 BCE, when we are told that the Trebulani received the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

franchise at the same time with the Arpinates. There seems no doubt that the Campanian city is here meant: and this is quite certain in regard to the next notice in Livy, where he tells us that the three cities of Compulteria, Trebula, and Saticula, which had revolted to Hannibal, were recovered by

Fabius In Roman mythology, Fabius was the son of Hercules and an unnamed mother. In "The Life of Fabius Maximus" from the '' Parallel Lives'' by Plutarch, Fabius, the first of his name, was the son of Hercules by a nymph or a woman native to the coun ...

in 215 BCE. The Trebulanus ager is mentioned also 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 esta ...

among the fertile districts of Campania, which

Servilius Rullus Publius Servilius Rullus was plebeian tribune of the Roman Republic in 63 BC. He proposed an agrarian law aimed at redistributing land for the landless poor in Rome to farm. We know about this through the speeches delivered by Marcus Tullius Cicero ...

proposed to distribute among the poorer Roman citizens; and Pliny writes that it was noted for its wines, which had rapidly risen in estimation in his day. The '' Liber Coloniarum'' also mentions Trebula among the municipal towns of Campania. It appears to have received a fresh body of settlers under

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

, but without attaining the rank of a

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 '' metropolitan state' ...

. The site of Trebula, which was erroneously fixed by Cluverius and some local writers to the south of the Vulturnus, appears to be correctly identified by local antiquarians with a place called Treglia or Tregghia, at the foot of the Pizzo San Salvatore, about 10 km north of the Vulturnus and 13 km northeast of

Capua Capua ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Caserta, in the region of Campania, southern Italy, situated north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. History Ancient era The name of Capua comes from the Etrus ...

. There are said to be considerable ancient remains upon the spot, which together with the resemblance of name would seem clearly to establish the position of the ancient city.Romanelli, vol. iii. pp. 575, 576; Trutta, ''Antichità Allifane. Diss.'' xxiii; Abeken, ''Mittel-Italien'', p. 99.

References

Sources

* {{Archaeological sites in Campania Pre-Roman cities in Italy Former populated places in Italy Roman sites of Campania Archaeological sites in Campania