Listed 6 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "VALLE D' AOSTA Region ITALY" .
AVGOUSTA PRETORIA (Ancient city) VALLE D' AOSTA
Augusta Praetoria (Augousta, Strab.; Augousta Praitopia, Ptol.), a
city of Cisalpine Gaul, in the territory of the Salassi, situated at the, foot
of the Alps, in the valley of the Duria Major: it is now called Aosta, and gives
to the whole valley of the Duria the name of Val d'Aosta. It was a Roman colony,
founded by Augustus, who, after the complete subjugation of the Salassians by
Terentius Varro, established here a body of 3,000 veterans. From the statement
of Strabo, that the colony was settled on the site of the camp of Varro, it would
appear that there was previously no town on this spot; but the importance of its
position at the point of junction of the two passes over the Pennine and Graian
Alps (the Great and Little St. Bernard) caused it quickly to rise to great prosperity,
and it soon became, what it has ever since continued, the capital of the whole
valley and surrounding region. (Strab. iv. p. 206; Dion Cass. liii. 25; Plin.
iii. 17. s. 21; Ptol. iii. 1. § 34.) According to Pliny it was the extreme point
of Italy towards the north, so that he reckons the length of that country ab Alpine
fine Praetoriae Augustae to Rhegium. (H. N. iii. 5. § 6.) The importance of Augusta
Praetoria under the Roman empire is sufficiently attested by its existing remains,
among which are those of a triumphal arch at the entrance of the town on the E.
side, of a very good style of architecture, and probably of the time of Augustus,
but which has lost its inscription. Besides this, there is another ancient gate,
now half buried by the accumulation of the soil; a fine Roman bridge, and some
remains of an amphitheatre; while numerous architectural fragments attest the
magnificence of the public buildings with which the city was once adorned. (Millin.
Voy. en Piemont, vol. ii. pp. 14--17.)
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
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