Interamna Lirenas

Interamna Lirenas was an ancient Roman colony near the current Pignataro Interamna, in the southern province of Frosinone, central Italy.[1][2]

Interamna Lirenas
Shown within Lazio
RegionLazio
Coordinates41°26′25.404″N 13°47′13.9452″E
Typesettlement
History
Founded312 BC
CulturesRoman Republic
Site notes
Excavation dates2010-2012
ArchaeologistsMartin Millett; Alessandro Launaro
Conditionruined
Public accessyes

Modern archaeological excavations at the site commenced in 2010.[3]

History

Interamna Lirenas was founded in 312 BC as a colonia of Latins in an area perhaps already housing Volscan settlements, on the route of the Via Latina.[4] It was situated at the confluence of the Liri and Rio Spalla Bassa rivers, whence the name "Interamna" (meaning "between the rivers").[5]

Interamna Lirenas served as a military base during the Samnite Wars, leading to its destruction by the Samnites in 294 BC.[6] It was again ravaged by Hannibal in 212 BC; since it later sided with Carthage, after the Carthaginian defeat at Zama in 202 BC it was forced by Rome to pay heavy tribute.

It became a municipium in about 88 BC following the Social Wars when its population became Roman citizens.

In 46 BC Julius Caesar become patronus of the city and the site received further settled veterans ca. 40 BC.[7]

The town was thought to have been a relative backwater but recent archaeology has raised its importance.[8]

Archaeology

Archaeological remains include numerous inscriptions and remains of buildings.[9] The archaeological site has been sampled by use of geophysical techniques (including magnetometry), leading to the discovery of the site of a Roman theatre.[10][11]

An inscribed ancient sundial donated by Marcus Novius Tubula after his election to the exalted position of Plebeian Tribune in Rome was discovered in the ruins of the theatre in 2017.[12]

References
  1. Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge https://www.classics.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/interamna-lirenas
  2. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Interamna Lirenas" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 14 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 683.
  3. Fasti Online "Interamna Lirenas" http://www.fastionline.org/record_view.php?fst_cd=AIAC_3604
  4. Salmon, E.T. 1955. "Roman Expansion and Roman Colonization in Italy." Phoenix 9.2:63-75.
  5. Purcell, N., DARMC, R. Talbert, S. Gillies, T. Elliott, J. Becker. "Places: 432884 (Interamna Lirenas)". Pleiades. Retrieved December 17, 2014.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. John R. Patterson (7 December 2006). Landscapes and cities: rural settlement and civic transformation in early imperial Italy. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-814088-7.
  7. Alessandro Launaro (19 May 2011). Peasants and Slaves: The Rural Population of Roman Italy (200 BC to AD 100). Cambridge University Press. pp. 132–. ISBN 978-1-107-00479-5.
  8. Haaretz: https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/1.821742
  9. Eliodoro Savino (2005). Campania tardoantica (284-604 d.C.). Edipuglia srl. pp. 187–. ISBN 978-88-7228-257-1.
  10. Hay, S., Launaro, A., Leone, N. and Millett, M. 2012. "Intermana Lirenas e il suo territorio. Indagine archeologiche non invasive 2010." In Lazio e Sabina 8. Edizione Quasar. pp 603-9
  11. Roman Colonial Landscapes project http://www.classics.cam.ac.uk/Research/projects/rcl
  12. "Archaeologists uncover rare 2,000-year-old sundial during Roman theatre excavation" https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/archaeologists-uncover-rare-2000-year-old-sundial-during-roman-theatre-excavation

Sources
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