Aquileia | |
 The ancient Roman city of Aquileia in its development, period by period: from the early republican period (with the walls of the quadrangular legionary castrum in darker pink); to the later period after the construction of the Via Annia (after the victory over the Cimbri) with the walls built in 100 B.C.; to the early imperial city (with the walls built in the period between Emperor Marcus Aurelius and Maximinus Thrax); and to the fourth-century city of Theodosius I. The main monuments of the period are present: the circus, theater, curia, Palatium, baths, river port, etc. | |
  Aquileia Shown within Italy | |
| Location | Aquileia, Italy |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 45°46′24″N 13°21′59″E / 45.773291°N 13.366509°E |
Roman Aquileia (today's Aquileia in Friuli; in Latin Aquileia) was founded in 181 BC by the Romans,[1] in the territory of the ancient Carni:[2]
In the same year 181 BC the colony of Aquileia was deducted in the territory of the Gauls. 3 000 infantrymen received 50 iugera each, the centurions 100, the horsemen 140. The triumvirs who founded the colony were Publius Scipio Nasica, Gaius Flaminius, and Lucius Manlius Acidinus[3].
— Livy, Ab Urbe condita libri, XL, 34.2-3.
An important frontier military city since Republican times, it became one of the capitals of the Roman Empire under Maximian. In 452 A.D. it was finally destroyed by the hordes of Attila's Huns, never returning to its former glory.
Aquileia, which is closest to the gulf of the Adriatic Sea was founded by the Romans, fortified against the barbarians from the interior. One goes up with ships to the city by ascending along the course of the Natiso for about 60 stadia. it served as an emporium to those Illyrian peoples living along the Istro. They come to be supplied with products from the sea, such as wine, which they put into wooden barrels by loading it onto wagons, and also oil, while the people of the area come to buy slaves, cattle and leather. Aquileia lies across the border from the Veneti. The border is marked by a river that flows down from the Alps and through which, with a navigation of 1,200 stadia, one goes up to the city of Noreia.
— Strabo, Geographica, V, 1, 8.
This is how Herodian describes it at the time of his 238 siege by the troops of Maximinus Thrax:
Before these events occurred, Aquileia was a very large city with a very large stable population. Located on the sea, it had all the Illyrian provinces behind it. Aquileia was used as a port of entry to Italy. The city had, thus, made it possible for goods to be transported from the interior by land or rivers, to be exchanged with merchant ships. [Goods] were, in addition, transported from the sea to the mainland as needed, when goods were not produced locally, due to the cold climate, but sent up to the mountainous areas. Since agriculture in the hinterland had many people employed in wine production, they exported large quantities of wine to markets that could not grow vines there. The large number of people living permanently in Aquileia consisted not only of native residents, but also of foreigners and traders. At this time the city was even more crowded than usual. All the people from the surrounding area had left the small towns or villages and fled [to the big city]. They placed their hopes of safety in the large city and its defensive walls. These ancient walls, however, had mostly collapsed. Under Roman rule the cities of Italy did not, normally, need walls or weapons. They had substituted lasting peace for war and had also earned the right to participate in Roman rule.
— Herodian, History of the Empire after Marcus Aurelius, VIII, 2.3-4.
- ^ Velleius Paterculus, Historiae Romanae ad M. Vinicium libri duo, I, 13.2.
- ^ Pliny the Elder, Naturalis historia, III, 126-127.
- ^ CIL V, 873.