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Capena and the Ager Capenas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2013

G. D. B. Jones
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Extract

The ancient Ager Capenas occupied the elongated triangle of land north of Rome enclosed by the line of the Via Flaminia, M. Soracte and the lower Tiber valley. The study of the archaeology and topography of the area, like that of the Roman Campagna as a whole, has been subject to great fluctuation of interest and emphasis. It was begun, in effect, by the antiquarians of the last century such as Dennis, Nibby and Gell. Then in the early years of this century Ashby took up the subject with an enthusiasm and application that quickly made him the undisputed authority. Since then interest has varied and no general revision of Ashby's topographical scheme has been attempted.

Archaeology in the more general sense of the study of the ancient inhabitants of an area from the remains of their civilisation has made little progress in a remote corner of the Campagna like the Ager Capenas, partly because of its inaccessibility, and partly because there has been no excavation to speak of and because the material visible above ground is so very limited both in variety and quality. There is, however, another side to the coin. The density and history of ordinary, everyday settlement, derived from the close observation of sites on the ground, are aspects of classical topography that are only now beginning to be exploited; and it is in an area such as the Roman Campagna that the greatest opportunities exist not only because the density of ancient settlement was very great, but also because such a high percentage of the material has survived.

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Research Article
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Papers of the British School at Rome , Volume 30 , November 1962 , pp. 116 - 207
Copyright
Copyright © British School at Rome 1962

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References

1 For previous reports, v. PBSR, xxiii, 1955, p. 44 ff.Google Scholar, xxv, 1957, p. 67 ff., xxvi, 1958, p. 63 ff. and xxix, 1961, p. 1 ff. Ashby's topographical scheme for the Ager Capenas was published in Atti della Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia: Memorie I, ii, 1924, pp. 129–175Google Scholar (hereafter referred to as Ashby, Memorie).

2 v. p. 122.

3 Colini, G. A., Bull. Pal. Ital., xxxi, 1905, series 4,1, pp. 1–6Google Scholar; U. Rellini, Il Lazio nella Preistoria d'Italia, p. 17.

4 The importance of the salt-trade is familiar, e.g. as a basis of the Hallstatt culture. For general remarks, v. Blümner RE, s.v. ‘Salz.’ On the Tiber salinae, v. Nissen, , Italische Landeskunde i, 107–9Google Scholar.

5 Ashby, , ‘La Rete stradale Romana nell'Etruria Meridionale in relazione a quella del Periodo Etrusco,’ Studi Etruschi, iii, 1929, p. 171 ffGoogle Scholar. For a study of the development of the Tiber valley, see Holland, L. A., Transactions of the American Philological Association, lxxx, 1949, pp. 281–319CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

6 Heurgon, J., Trois études sur le ‘ver sacrum’, Collection Latomus, xxvi, 1957, pp. 11–19Google Scholar.

7 For the Faliscan dialect in general, v. V. Pisani, Le Lingue dell'Italia Antica oltre il Latino, p. 316; Conway, R. S., The Italic Dialects, I, p. 370Google Scholar; J. Whatmough, The Foundations of Roman Italy, p. 232; E. Pulgram, The Tongues of Italy, p. 252; E. Vetter, Handbuch der Italischen Dialekte, pp. 327–31.

8 The inscriptions are set out in CIE, Vol II, 2(i), pp. 102–109.

9 Paribeni, R., ‘Necropoli del Territorio Capenate,’ Mon. Ant. XVI, col. 227Google Scholar.

10 R. Paribeni, op. cit., col. 484. For a summary description of the Capena cemeteries, v. p. 144.

11 R. Paribeni, op. cit., col. 343 and fig. 62. For other portrayals of horses cf. figs. 59, 61, 63, 65, 66.

12 Cato ap. Varro, de re rustica, II, 3. The goats, like the horses, are often portrayed with wings, e.g. a stamnos with two winged goats in R. Paribeni, op. cit., col. 371.

13 For evidence of this at Veii, v. PBSR, xxix, 1961, p. 56Google Scholar.

14 Not. Scav. 1923, p. 188, 192, fig. 6.

15 Colonna, G., ‘Placche archaiche da cinturione di produzione Capenate,’ Archacologia Classica, x, 1958, pp. 69–80Google Scholar. The type was first noted by Paribeni, R. (Mon. Ant., xvi, 1906, col. 398Google Scholar) who thought at the time that they might be imports from the Teramo region. Colonna lists nineteen examples from Capena and twenty-three others from Terni, Paganica, Capestrano, Corropoli-Belvedere, Atri-Pretaia, Pettina (near L'Aquila) and several other Abruzzi s tes.

16 invia atque horrenda: Livy, IX, 36, 1.

17 Livy, V, 40. A similar view has recently been advanced by M. Sordi, I Rapporti Romano-Ceriti e l'Origine della Civitas sine Suffragio, p. 1 ff. For the general background, v. R. A. L. Fell, Etruria and Rome, p. 87 ff.

18 Dion. Hal., III, 6, 1.

19 V, 45, 8, VII, 17, 6.

20 IV, 34, 6–7.

21 IV, 52, 6, V, 13, 1.

22 II, 42–54.

23 V, 17. Livy's text is corrupt at this point but, whatever the precise wording of the original, gentem invisitatam can hardly refer to anyone other than the Gauls.

24 V, 17, 7.

25 IV, 24, 2; V, 1, 2, cf. 6.

26 v. p. 119.

27 devictis Veiis bello quoque Romano se proximos fore credentes. V, 8, 4.

28 Livy, V, 24.

29 Diod., XIV, 96, 5.

30 ‘in civitatem accepti qui Veientium, Capenatiumque ac Faliscorum per ea bella transfugerant ad Romanos agerque his novis civibus adsignatus.’ Livy, VI, 4, 4.

31 Livy, VI, 5, 8.

32 Livy, XXII, 1, 9; XXVII, 4, 14; XXXIII, 26, 8, Cic. in Verrem, II, 31; pro Flac., 29, 71; de leg. agr., II, 66.

33 ad Fam., IX, 17, 2. The importance of this statement in dating the foundation of Lucus Feroniae as a colony is discussed on pp. 194–195.

34 Capena and Lucus Feroniae are wrongly grouped in the Picene region, v. R. Thomsen, The Italic Regions, p. 298.

35 Not. Scav., 1953, p. 21; CIL, VI, 2584.

36 Beloch, Römische Geschichte, p. 498; A. N. Sherwin-White, The Roman Citizenship, p. 64.

37 Kornemann, , Klio, xiv, p. 199Google Scholar.

38 CIL, XI, 3081, cf. 3156.

39 ‘municipium Capenae foederatum’: CIL XI, 3932. ‘municipium Capenatium foederatorium’: 3936. ‘Capenates foederati’: 3873, 3876.

40 Beloch, Der Italische Bund, p. 113.

41 De Sanctis, Storia di Roma, p. 106.

42 CIL XI, 3939.

43 e.g. Cirta in Numidia, formed from four Roman colonies (CIL VIII, 8318, 8319) or that among the Vocontii of Gallia Narbonensis (Pliny, N.H. Ill, 37). Cicero calls Aricia a municipium foederatum (Phil., III, 6, 15).

44 Kornemann, RE, s.v. ‘Municipium.’

45 Frederiksen, M. W. and Perkins, J. B. Ward, PBSR, xxv, 1957, p. 67 ffGoogle Scholar.

46 Ballance, M. H., PBSR, xix, 1951, p. 78Google Scholar.

47 The best geological treatment of the area is by G. A. Blanc, ‘Sur le Pléistocène de la région de Rome, Stratigraphie—Palaeoéchologie—Arch^élogie préhistorique,’ reprinted from Actes du IV Congrès International du Quaternaire, 1953, p. 3 ff.

48 Ashby, , Studi Etruschi, iii, 1929, p. 171Google Scholar. See above, p. 119; and L. A. Holland, op. cit., p. 281 ff.

49 Livy, I, 30; cf. p. 192.

50 Strabo, 5, 3, 2; cf. Eph. Ep., viii, 1899, p. 341Google Scholar.

51 Figures in heavy type throughout refer to the site numbers given in the accompanying maps and check-lists.

52 Nissen, H., Italische Landeskunde, ii, p. 371Google Scholar; Ashby, Memorie, p. 154, JRS, xi, 1921, p. 153Google Scholar; Tomassetti, p. 293. v., p. 167.

53 Stefani, E., ‘Capena: Ricerche Archeologiche nella contrada 'Le Saliere,’ Mon. Ant., xliv, 1958, p. 1 ffGoogle Scholar.

54 op. cit., p. 191.

55 G. Mancini, Not. Scav., 1953, p. 18 ff. ‘Capena: Iscrizioni onorarie di età imperiale rinvenute in localitá Civitucola.’

56 Most of the earlier classical topographers had identified the site correctly, among them Gell (The Topography of Rome and Vicinity, 1846, i, p. 263Google Scholar), Nibby, (Analisi dei Dintorni di Roma, 1848–1849, i, p. 375)Google Scholar, Deecke (Die Falisker, 1888, p. 55), Paribeni, (Mon. Ant., xvi, 1906, p. 278Google Scholar), Dennis, (Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria, 1907, i, p. 225Google Scholar) and, of course, Ashby. Cluverio and Holstenius had placed the site of Capena at Fiano (Italia Antiqua, 1624, 2, p. 549; Adnotationes ad Cluverium, 1666, p. 62). Nissen favoured Rignano (Italische Landeskunde, ii, 1902, p. 371Google Scholar). Lanciani corrected hii early choice of Nazzano (Not. Scav., 1872, p. 62; 1878, p. 260), while Gori and Henzen opted for S. Oreste (La Via Flaminia fino a Capena ed il Luco di Feronia, 1864, p. 117; Bullettino dell'Istituto, 1864, p. 145).

57 ‘The view from the height of Capena is widely beautiful. The deep hollow on the south with its green carpet; the steep hills overhanging it, dark with wood … the bare swelling ground to the north, with Soracte towering above; the snow-capt Apennines in the eastern horizon; the deep silence, the seclusion; the absence of human habitations (not even a shepherd's hut) within the sphere of vision, save the distant town of S. Oreste, scarcely distinguishable from the grey rock on which it stands;—it is a scene of more singular desolation than belongs to any other Etruscan city in this district of the land’ (Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria, i, p. 133).

58 The road from Veii reaches the Flaminia ridge at Stazione di Magliano, 600 m. north of Madonna della Guardia.

59 This must be the terrace beside the rampart marked as H on Gell's sketch of the city.

60 Very similar dimensions to those of blocks measured by Ashby, Memorie, p. 161. The blocks at Sutri are almost identical in size (0·58 × 0·58 × 1·16 m.): PBSR, xxvi, 1958, p. 69Google Scholar.

61 Reproduced by Ashby, Memorie, p. 160, fig. 11, and Stefani, op cit., p. 194.

62 Marked as D on Gell's plan.

63 Lugli, G., La Tecnica Edilizia Romana, i, p. 470 ffGoogle Scholar.

64 Mon. Ant., xliv, 1958, p. 4, fig. 2Google Scholar.

65 Memorie, p. 163, fig. 14. His photograph is fig. 13.

66 Livy, V, 8, 4.

67 Livy, V, 24, 1.

68 PBSR, xxvii, 1959, pp. 66–7, 79Google Scholar.

69 L. J. Holland, The Faliscans in Prehistoric Times, p. 17 ff.; A. M. Colini, Not. Scav., 1919, pp. 1–12; Å Åkeström, Acta Instituti Romani Regni Sueciae, iii, 1934, pp. 13–17Google Scholar.

70 The medieval village of Leprignano was rechristened ‘Capena’ in the 'thirties. To avoid confusion with the ancient site it is here referred to throughout as ‘Capena-Leprignano’ or ‘Capena (Leprignano).’

71 For detailed studies v. Lamboglia, N., Rivista di Studi Liguri, vii, 1941, pp. 7–22Google Scholar and xxiv, 1958, pp. 257–330.

72 ‘olle a collo cilindrico di piccolo diametro con i solid manici che si collegano alia sommità del ventre.’ Not. Scav., 1907, p. 732.

73 Tomassetti, , La Campagna Romana, iii, p. 286Google Scholar.

74 See also T. Ashby, The Roman Campagna in Classical Times, p. 250 ff.; E. Martinori, Via Flaminia, 1929, p. 67 ff.

75 Ballance, M. H., ‘The Bridges of the Via Flaminia,’ PBSR, xix, 1951, pp. p78–117Google Scholar.

76 The Via Tiberina and an unpublished road running north-north-west in the direction of M. Aguzzo.

77 Ashby, , ‘The Via Flaminia,’ JRS, xi, 1921, p. 153Google Scholar.

78 Ashby, , JRS, xi, 1921, p. 155Google Scholar.

79 PBSR, xxvii, 1959, p. 150Google Scholar.

80 The sole exception in the whole area is site 142, but even there it is doubtful if there were any buildings other than a cistern in the nucleus. For the general point of ridge settlement, v. Ashby, The Roman Campagna, p. 226.

81 IX, 36, 9, of the M. Cimini; the same factors appeared in Cisalpine Gaul, M. Cary, Geographical Background, p. 115.

82 Nibby and Gell placed the site at S. Oreste, Lanciani at S. Antimo near Nazzano, while Nissen identified the shrine with the church of S. Abbondio near Rignano. Miss L. R. Taylor subsequently re-stated the claims of S. Antimo. See JRS, x, 1920, pp. 29–36Google Scholar.

83 G. Foti, Not. Scav., 1953, p. 13 ff.

84 For a provisional description of the site, see Bartoccini, R., Atti del VII Congresso Internationale di Archeologia Classica, Roma, 1958Google Scholar; also, by the same author, ‘L'Anfiteatro di Lucus Feroniae e il suo fondatore,’ Rendiconti della Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia, xxxiii, p. 1 ffGoogle Scholar.

85 CIL. XI, 3938.

86 Livy, XXVI, 2.

87 Pliny, , N.H., VII, 19Google Scholar.

88 Not. Scav., 1911, p. 450. CIL VI, 2584.

89 Livy, XXII, 1, 18.

90 L. R. Taylor, Local Cults in Etruria, p. 54.

91 esco salvod Arria/Platia T(iti) l(iberta) dedet libes/Fero(niae) don(o)m mereto. Foti, G. and Bloch, R., Revue de Philologie, xxvii, 1953, p. 65 ff.Google Scholar; cf. G. Foti, Not. Scav., 1953, p. 16.

92 Livy, XXVI, 11: ‘Capenates aliique qui accolae eius erant primitias frugum co donaque alia pro copia portantes multo auro argentoque id exomatum habebant.’ This is reminiscent of the second of two inscriptions:—

cut on trapezoidal blocks to the east and west of the main altar at the northern end of the forum.

93 Bartoccini, R.: ‘L'Anfiteatro di Lucus Feroniae e il suo fondatore,’ Rendiconti dellà Pontificia Accademia Ronuma di Archeologia, xxxiii, 1961, p. 1 ffGoogle Scholar.

94 Economic Survey of the Roman Empire, V, p. 122.

95 Rutilius Namatianus, de reditu suo, 1, 39.

96 Ward-Perkins, J. B., PBSR, xxix, 1961, p. 57 ffGoogle Scholar. For the date of the Valchetta Baths at Veii, v. PBSR xxviii, 1960, p. 55 ffGoogle Scholar.

97 For Matrini, Vicus v. CIL, xi, 3322Google Scholar. At Vulci and Forum Novum both structures are of opus reticulatum with tufa quoins; there is no trace of brick and neither aqueduct is likely to be later than the Tiberian period.

98 Bartoccini, R., Atti del VII Congresso Internazionale di Archeologia Classica, Roma, 1958Google Scholar, loc. cit.

99 CIL III, 239. For the town, v. Strabo XII, 545, Pliny, N.H. VI, 6Google Scholar.

100 Ad Fam. IX, 17, 2; cf. Pais, E., Mem. Acc. Linc., ser. 6, vol. i, 1925, p. 361Google Scholar. It is interesting that Dio (XLIII, 47, 4) notes confiscation of temple property by Caesar in 45 B.C. Cf. Lib. Col. I, 216, in planitia ubi miles portionem habuit.

101 CIL XI, 3896–3909, 3910–13; cf. L. R. Taylor, op. cit., p. 51.

102 The restorations seem to be certain: ‘[XIIII. XII]I. XII. Kal.’ (3901) and ‘[V]IIII. VIII. VII. K[al.]’ 3906).

103 The Ludi Victoriae Caesaris Augusti at Iguvium (Gubbio) (CIL XI, 5820) and the Ludi Victoriae of Spoletium (XI, 4814) were probably closely related to the original games.

104 CIL XI, 4371 (= ILS 6631); also in the same town a curator lusus iuvenum V(ictoriae) F(elicitatis) C(aesaris), XI, 4395. Cf. also 4367.

105 The distinction was never clear. Pliny, (N.H. 11, 93Google Scholar) and Seneca (Nat. Quaest. VII, 17, 2) refer to the games as Ludi Veneris Genitricis.

106 Grueber, H. A., Coins of the Roman Republic, I, p. 518, pl. L. 20Google Scholar.

107 cf. Hor., Sat. 1, 5, 24Google Scholar.

108 L. Suedius Bassus/C. Masurius Capito/II uir(i)/aquam augustam/restituendam et ampliandam/novis capitibus et rivis ex/D. D. C.

109 Open-channel flow is less precise. For an attempt to estimate the volume of the open-flow aqueduct serving the Roman gold-mine at Dolaucothi in Wales, see The Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies, xix, 1, p. 71 ff.

110 For convenience the calculations are made in feet and inches.