Listed 4 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "AUSONIA Ancient country CAMPANIA" .
AUSONIA (Ancient country) CAMPANIA
Ausona a city of Latium, in the more extended sense of that term,
but which, at an earlier period, was one of the three cities possessed by the
tribe of the Ausones. Its name would seem to imply that it was once their chief
city or metropolis; but it is only once mentioned in history--during the second
Samnite war, when the Ausonians having revolted from the Romans, all their three
cities were betrayed into the hands of the Roman consuls, and their inhabitants
put to the sword without mercy. (Liv. ix. 25.) No subsequent notice is found of
Ausona; but it is supposed to have been situated on the banks of the little river
still called Ausente, which flows into the Liris, near its mouth. The plain below
the modern village of Le Fratte, near the sources of this little stream, is still
known as the Piano dell' Ausente; and some remains of a Roman town have been discovered
here. (Romanelli, vol. iii. p. 438.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited July 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
CALES (Ancient city) CAMPANIA
Cales (Kales: Eth. Kalenos, Calenus: Calvi), one of the most considerable
cities of Campania, situated in the northern part of that province, on the road
from Teanum to Casilinum. (Strab. v. p. 237.) When it first appears in history
it is called an Ausonian city (Liv. viii. 16): and was not included in Campania
in the earlier and more restricted sense of that term. Its antiquity is attested
by Virgil, who associates the people of Cales with their neighbours the Aurunci
and the Sidicini. (Aen. vii. 728.) Silius Italicus ascribes its foundation to
Calais the son of Boreas. (viii. 514.) In B.C. 332, the inhabitants of Cales are
first mentioned as taking up arms against the Romans in conjunction with their
neighbours the Sidicini, but with little success; they were easily defeated, and
their city taken and occupied with a Roman garrison. The conquest was, however,
deemed worthy of a triumph, and the next year was further secured by the establishment
of a colony of 2,500 citizens with Latin rights. (Liv. viii. 16; Vell. Pat. i.
14; Fast. Triumph.) From this time Cales became one of the strongholds of the
Roman power in this part of Italy, and though its territory was repeatedly ravaged
both by the Samnites, and at a later period by Hannibal, no attempt seems to have
been made upon the city itself. (Liv. x. 20, xxii. 13, 15, xxiii. 31, &c.) It,
however, suffered so severely from the ravages of the war that in B.C. 209 it
was one of the twelve colonies which declared their inability to furnish any further
supplies of men or money (Liv. xxvii. 9), and was in consequence punished at a
later period by the imposition of heavier contributions. (Id. xxix. 15.) In the
days of Cicero it was evidently a flourishing and populous town, and for some
reason or other enjoyed the special favour and protection of the great orator.
(Cic. de Leg. Agr. ii. 3. 1, ad Farn. ix. 13, ad Att. vii. 14, &c.) He terms it
a Municipium, and it retained the same rank under the Roman Empire (Tac. Ann.
vi. 15; Plin. iii. 5. s. 9): its continued prosperity is attested by Strabo, who
calls it a considerable city, though inferior to Teanum (v. p. 237; Ptol. iii.
1. § 68), as well as by inscriptions and existing remains: but no further mention
of it occurs in history. It was the birthplace of M. Vinicius, the son-in-law
of Germnanicus, and patron of Velleius Paterculus. (Tac. l. c.) Cales was situated
on a branch of the Via Latina, which led from Teanum direct to Casilinum, and
there joined the Appian Way: it was rather more than five miles distant from Teanum,
and above seven from Casilinum. Its prosperity was owing, in great measure, to
the fertility of its territory, which immediately adjoined the celebrated Falernus
ager, and was scarcely inferior to that favoured district in the excellence of
its wines, the praises of which are repeatedly sung by Horace. (Hor. Carme. i.
20. 9, 31. 9, iv. 12. 14; Juv. i. 69; Strab. v. p. 243; Plin. xiv. 6. s. 8.) So
fertile a district could not but be an object of desire, and we find that besides
the original Roman colony, great part of the territory of Cales was repeatedly
portioned out to fresh settlers: first in the time of the Gracchi, afterwards
under Augustus. (Lib. Colon. p. 232.) Cales was also noted for its manufactures
of implements of husbandry, and of a particular kind of earthenware vessels, called
from their origin Calenae. (Cato, R. R. 135; Varr. ap. Nonium, xv. p. 545.)
After the fall of the Western Empire, Cales suffered severely from
the ravages of successive invaders, and in the 9th century had almost ceased to
exist: but was revived by the Normans.
The modern city of Calvi retains its episcopal rank, but is a very
poor and decayed place. It, however, preserves many vestiges of its former prosperity,
the remains of an amphitheatre, a theatre, and various other fragments of ancient
buildings, of reticulated masonry, and consequently belonging to the best period
of the Roman Empire, as well as marble capitals and other fragments of sculpture.
The course of the Via Latina, with its ancient pavement, may still be traced through
the town. A spring of acidulous water, noticed by Pliny, as existing in agro Caleno
(ii. 106) is still found near Francolisi, a village about four miles W. of Calvi.
(Romanelli, vol. iii. p. 437; Hoare's Classical Tour, vol. i. pp. 246-248; Craven's
Abruzzi, vol. i. p. 27-30; Zona, Memorie dell' Antichissima citta di Calvi, 4to.,
Napoli, 1820.)
The coins of Cales are numerous, both in silver and copper: but from
the circumstance of their all having Latin legends, it is evident they all belong
to the Roman colony.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
The modern Calvi; the chief town of the Caleni, an Ausonian people in Campania, on the Via Latina, said to have been founded by Calais, son of Boreas, and therefore called Threicia by the poets. It was celebrated for its excellent wine.
A city on the Via Latina. While older settlements are attested in
the area on the basis of archaeological data, the city and its present site seem
to date to the late 7th c. B.C., i.e., to the period of Etruscan hegemony which
would coincide with what we already know from the necropolis. It remained the
city of the Ausones until the siege by the Romans in 334 B.C. Following this it
was reduced to a Latin colony, the first in Campania. During the Late Republican
period, when it reappeared as a municipium, the city was the seat of the quaestor
of Campania. In the Late Empire, it was practically destroyed by the Vandals under
Genseric, and in the Longobard period a fortress was built on the site.
The city occupied a long, narrow plain, nearly surrounded by streams
that cut deep into the tufa. At its highest point, to the N, there was a citadel.
In the center of the settlement, crossed by the Via Latina, was the forum and
some of the major public buildings. From the forum, the two sections of the major
street, intersected by cross-streets, ran N-S, according to a plan well-attested
elsewhere in Etruscan-Italic environs. The fortifications, built over some of
the structures preserved from the 4th c. B.C. or even earlier, underwent important
restorations in the age of Sulla. This is particularly true in the vicinity of
the gates, to some of which access is gained over steep, narrow slopes in the
tufa bank. Among the most notable buildings recognizable today are: the theater,
in the area of the forum, of Late Hellenistic date and enlarged in the age of
Sulla; the central baths and a terraced sanctuary of the Sullan period; a temple
dating from the beginning of the Imperial period, not far from which were discovered
votive offerings and some terracotta facings belonging to a sanctuary of the archaic
period. North of the settlement are the Late Republican amphitheater (rebuilt
2d c. A.D.), and a monumental bath building of the first half of the 2d c. of
the Empire. On the outskirts, in the S section, an important votive dumping area
of the Hellenistic period has been partially explored.
In the W suburb, adjacent to the Via Latina, are remains of a palaestra
partially incorporated into a basilica of the 5th c., as well as sure evidence
of pottery shops of the Hellenistic period. Along the streets in the same area,
the Hellenistic and Roman necropoleis extended, their sepulchral monuments in
part dating to the 3d c. B.C. In a more N direction, there have been discovered
archaic tombs, among which a sumptuous one dates to the late 7th c. with many
grave gifts imported from Etruria.
Molded and decorated pottery with the potter's seal (called caleni)
is attributed with certainty to Cales. The discovery of quite a number of molds
has increased that certainty, and the pottery is dated between the last ten years
of the 4th c. B.C. when the technique was introduced by Attic artisans, and the
late 3d c. B.C. During the latter period, black glaze pottery of the commonest
type began to be produced up until the first ten years of the 1st c. B.C. when
gradually a high quality praesigillata was substituted.
The division of land in the territory evidently dates back to the
city's reduction to colonial status in 334. Many country villas, in the plain
as well as on the hillside, date to the Republican era.
W. Johannowsky, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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