Gabii

Gabii
Ruins in the residential quarter of Gabii
Gabii is located in Italy
Gabii
Shown within Italy
LocationOsteria dell'Osa, Lazio, Italy
RegionLatium
Coordinates41°53′13″N 12°42′57″E / 41.88694°N 12.71583°E / 41.88694; 12.71583
TypeSettlement
Site notes
ManagementSoprintendenza Speciale per il Colosseo, il Museo Nazionale Romano e l'Area Archeologica di Roma
WebsiteParco archeologico di Gabii (in Italian)
Ancient Latium. Gabii is directly east of Roma, south of Collatia.
Altar of the Twelve Gods from Gabii, dated to 1st century AD (Louvre, Paris).

Gabii was an ancient city of Latium, located 18 km (11 mi) due east of Rome along the Via Praenestina, which was in early times known as the Via Gabina. [1] It was on the south-eastern perimeter of an extinct volcanic crater lake,[2] approximately circular in shape, named the Lacus Gabinus, and then during later times called the Lago di Castiglione, "lake of the fortification", after Castiglione, a mediaeval tower erected on the site of the ancient acropolis, or arx, of Gabii.[3] A necropolis is adjacent on that side of the lake. At present, the former lake is entirely agricultural land. The ruins of the ancient city project from the fields next to the cliffs overlooking it, on both sides of the via. A municipium in Roman times, Gabii is currently located in the frazione of Osteria dell'Osa 10 km (6.2 mi) from the comune of Monte Compatri, of which it is a part, in the Province of Rome, Region of Lazio. The site is under new seasonal archaeological excavation.

  1. ^ "Gabii". Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World: Antiquity. Vol. 5, EQU–HAS. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers. 2004. pp. 630–631. ISBN 978-90-04-12268-0.
  2. ^ Bietti Sestieri, Anna Maria (1992). The Iron Age Community of Osteria Dell'Osa. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. pp. 50–77.
  3. ^ Gell & Bunbury (1846), p. 266.