Listed 30 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "LOMBARDIA Region ITALY" .
MANTOVA (Town) LOMBARDIA
Mantua (Mantoua: Eth. Mantuanus: Mantova), a city of Cisalpine Gaul,
situated on the river Mincius, on an island formed by its waters, about 12 miles
above its confluence with the Padus. There seems no doubt that it was a very ancient
city, and existed long before the establishment of the Gauls in this part of Italy.
Virgil, who was naturally well acquainted with the traditions of his native place,
tells us that its population was a mixed race, but the bulk of the people were
of Etruscan origin; and Pliny even says that it was the only city beyond the Padus
which was still inhabited by an Etruscan people. (Virg. Aen. x. 201-203; Plin.
iii. 19. s. 23.) Virgil does not tell us what were the other national elements
of its population, and it is not easy to understand the exact meaning of his expression
that it consisted of three gentes, and that each gens comprised four populi; but
it seems certainly probable that this relates to the internal division of its
own territory and population, and has no reference (as Muller has supposed) to
the twelve cities founded by the Etruscans in the valley of the Padus. (Muller,
Etrusker, vol. i. p. 137; Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 296, note 757.) The Etruscan origin
of Mantua is confirmed by its name, which was in all probability derived from
that of the Etruscan divinity Mantus, though another tradition, adopted by Virgil
himself, seems to have deduced it from a prophetic nymph of the name of Manto.
(Serv. ad Aen. l. c.; Schol. Veron. ad loc. p. 103, ed. Keil.) According to one
of the oldest scholiasts on Virgil, both Verrius Flaccus and Caecina, in their
Etruscan histories, ascribed the foundation of Mantua to Tarchon himself, while
Virgil represents Ocnus, the son of Manto, as its founder. (Virg. Aen. x. 200;
Schol. Veron. l. c.) The only historical fact that can be considered as resulting
from all these statements is that Mantua really was an Etruscan settlement, and
that for some reason (probably from its peculiar and inaccessible situation) it
retained much of its Etruscan character long after this had disappeared in the
other cities of Cisalpine Gaul.
After the settlement of the Gauls in Northern Italy, Mantua was probably
included in the territory of the Cenomani (Ptol. iii. 1. § 31); but we find no
mention of its name in history, nor do we know at what period it passed under
the Roman dominion. From an incidental notice in Livy (xxiv. 10) during the Second
Punic War, we may probably infer that it was then on friendly terms with Rome,
as were the Cenomani and Veneti; and as its name is not mentioned during the subsequent
wars of the Romans in Cisalpine Gaul, it is probable that it passed gradually,
with the other towns of the Cenomani, from a state of alliance to one of dependence,
and ultimately of subjection. But even under the Roman dominion the name of Mantua
scarcely appears in history, and it is clear that it was far from possessing the
same relative importance in ancient times that it did in the middle ages, and
still retains. It was undoubtedly a municipal town, and is mentioned as such by
all the geographers, as well as in inscriptions, but both Strabo and Martial speak
of it as very inferior to the neighbouring city of Verona, in comparison with
which the latter terms it parva Mantua. (Strab. v. p. 213; Plin. iii. 19. s. 23;
Ptol. iii. 1. § 31; Martial, xiv. 195.) During the civil wars after the death
of Caesar, Mantua suffered the loss of a part of its territory, for Octavian having
assigned to his discharged soldiers the lands of the neighbouring Cremona, and
these having proved insufficient, a portion of the territory of Mantua was taken
to make up the necessary amount. (Virg. Ecl. ix. 28, Georg. ii. 198; Serv. ad
loc.) It was on this occasion that Virgil was expelled from his patrimonial estate,
which he however recovered by the favour of Augustus.
The chief celebrity of Mantua under the Roman Empire was undoubtedly
owing to its having been the birthplace of Virgil, who has, in consequence, celebrated
it in several passages of his works; and its name is noticed on the same account
by many of the later Roman poets. (Virg. Georg. iii. 12; Ovid, Amor. iii. 15.
7; Stat. Silv. iv. 2. 9 ; Sil. Ital. viii. 595; Martial, i. 62. 2, xiv. 195.)
According to Donatus, however, the actual birthplace of the poet was the village
of Andes in the territory of Mantua, and not the city itself. (Donat. Vit. Virg.
1; Hieron. Chron. ad ann. 1947.)
After the fall of the Roman Empire, Mantua appears to have become
a place of importance from its great strength as a fortress, arising from its
peculiar situation, surrounded on all sides by broad lakes or expanses of water,
formed by the stagnation of the river Mincius. It, however, fell into the hands
of the Lombards under Agilulf (P. Diac. iv. 29), and after the expulsion of that
people was governed by independent counts. In the middle ages it became one of
the most important cities of the N. of Italy; and is still a populous place, and
one of the strongest fortresses in Italy. It is still so completely surrounded
by the stagnant waters of the Mincio, that it is accessible only by causeways,
the shortest of which is 1000 feet in length.
Mantua was distant from Verona 25 miles; so that Procopius calls it
a day's journey from thence. (Procop. B. G. iii. 3.) It was situated on a line
of road given in the Tabula, which proceeded from Mediolanum, by Cremona and Bedriacum,
to Mantua, and thence to Hostilia, where it crossed the Padus, and thence proceeded
direct to Ravenna. (Tab. Peut.) Mantua was distant from Cremona by this road about
40 miles. It would appear from one of the minor poems ascribed to Virgil (Catalect.
8. 4), that this distance was frequently traversed by muleteers with light vehicles
in a single day.
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
MEDIOLANUM (Ancient city) LOMBARDIA
Mediolanum (Mediolanon, Pol.; Mediolanion, Strab., Ptol.: Eth. Mediolanensis:
Milano, Milan), the chief city of the Insubres in Cisalpine Gaul, and for a long
period the capital of Cisalpine Gaul itself. It was situated about midway between
the rivers Ticinus and Addua, in a broad and fertile plain, about 28 miles from
the foot of the Alps at Comum, and the same distance from the Padus near Ticinum
(Pavia). All ancient writers concur in ascribing its foundation to the Gauls,
at the time when that people first established themselves in the plains of Northern
Italy. Livy, who has given the most detailed account of the settlement of the
Cisalpine Gauls, tells us it was founded by the Insubres, who called it after
a village of the same name in their native settlements in Transalpine Gaul (Liv.
v. 34; Strab. v. p. 213; Plin. iii. 17. s. 21; Justin. xx. 5.) There can be little
doubt that Strabo is correct in saying that, previous to the Roman conquest, it
was rather a village than a town, as were indeed all the other Gaulish settlements.
It was nevertheless the chief place of the Insubres, and is mentioned as such
several times in the history of the wars of that people with the Romans. Thus,
in the campaign of B.C. 222, after the battle of Clastidium, it was attacked and
taken by the Roman consuls Claudius Marcellus and Cn. Scipio. (Pol. ii. 34; Eutrop.
iii. 6; Oros. iv. 13.) On this occasion it was taken by assault with apparently
but little difficulty, and this confirms the statement of Strabo that it was an
open town. Again, in B.C. 194, a battle was fought near it, between the Roman
proconsul L. Valerius Flaccus and the combined forces of the Insubrians and Boians,
under a chief named Dorylacus, in which the Gauls are said to have lost 10,000
men. (Liv. xxxiv. 46.)
No other mention of Mediolanum occurs previous to the Roman conquest,
nor have we any precise account of the time at which it passed under the Roman
yoke, or that at which it was admitted to the Roman civitas. We can only infer
that it must have submitted, together with the rest of the Insubres, about 190
B.C.: its citizens doubtless received the Latin franchise, together with the other
Transpadane Gauls, in B.C. 89, and the full Roman franchise in B.C. 49. Mediolanum
thus passed into the condition of a Roman municipium, but it did not as yet enjoy
that degree of importance which it subsequently attained. Strabo calls it in his
time a considerable city (Polis axiologos, v. p. 213), and Tacitus reckons it
among the firmissima Transpadanae regionis municipia; but neither he nor Pliny
give any indication of its possessing any marked superiority over the other municipal
towns with which they associate its name. (Plin. iii, 17. s. 21; Ptol. iii. 1.
§ 33; Tac. Hist. i. 70.) It is evident, however, that under the Roman Empire it
increased rapidly in prosperity, and became not only the chief town of the Insubres,
but the most important city in Northern Italy. We learn from the younger Pliny
that it was a place where literature flourished, and young men from the neighbouring
towns were sent for their education. (Plin Ep. iv. 13.) It was the native place
of the emperor Didius Julianus, as well as of Septimius Geta. (Dion Cass. lxxiii.
11; Spartian. Did. Jul. 1, Get. 3.) At a later period, A.D. 268, it was there
that the usurper Aureolus took refuge after his defeat by Gallienus on the Addua,
and was for some time besieged by the emperor, till a sedition in his own camp
ended in the death of Gallienus, and his brother Valerianus. (Eutrop. ix. 11;
Treb. Poll. Gall. 14 ; Vict. Caes. 33, Epit. 33.) Shortly after Aureolus was compelled
to surrender the city to Claudius, who had been elected to succeed Gallienus,
and was put to death by order of the new emperor. (Treb. Poll. Claud. 5.)
But it was the establishment of the imperial residence at Mediolanum
that raised that city to the highest pitch of prosperity. Its central position,
which rendered it a peculiarly suitable head-quarters from which to watch the
movements of the barbarians, and the progress of the wars with them, whether in
Gaul, Germany, or Pannonia, was undoubtedly the cause of its selection for this
purpose. Augustus himself is said to have sometimes repaired to Mediolanum with
the same view (Suet. Aug. 20); and the constantly increasing dangers from these
quarters led subsequent emperors from time to time to follow his example; but
Maximian appears to have been the first of the Roman emperors who permanently
fixed his residence there (about A.D. 303) [p. 304] and thus at once raised it
to the dignity of the capital of Northern Italy. From this period the emperors
of the West made it their habitual abode (Eutrop. ix. 27; Zosim. ii. 10, 17, &c.),
until the increasing fear of the barbarians induced Honorius, in A.D. 404, to
take refuge in the inaccessible marshes of Ravenna. Maximian is said to have adorned
the city with many splendid public buildings (Vict. Caes. 39); and it was doubtless
at this period that it rose to the splendour and magnificence which, about the
middle of the fourth century, excited the admiration of the poet Ausonius, who
assigns it the sixth place among the cities of the empire. The houses are described
by him as numerous and elegantly built, corresponding to the cultivated manners
and cheerful character of the inhabitants. It was surrounded with a double range
of walls, enclosing an ample space for the buildings of the city. Among these
were conspicuous a circus, a theatre, many temples, the palace or residence of
the emperor, a mint; and baths, which bore the name of Herculean, in honour of
their founder Maximianus, and were so important as to give name to a whole quarter
of the city. The numerous porticoes which were attached to these and other public
buildings were adorned with marble statues ; and the whole aspect of the city,
if we may believe the poet, did not suffer by comparison with Rome. (Auson. Clar.
Urb. 5.)
The transference of the imperial court and residence to Ravenna must
have given a considerable shock to the prosperity of Mediolanum, though it continued
to be still regarded as the capital of Liguria (as Gallia Transpadana was now
called), and was the residence of the Consularis or Vicarius Italiae, to whose
jurisdiction the whole of Northern Italy was subject. (Libell. Provinc. p. 62;
Bocking, ad Not. Dign. ii. p. 442.) But a much more severe blow was inflicted
on the city in A.D. 452, when it was taken and plundered by Attila, who after
the fall of Aquileia carried his arms, almost without opposition, through the
whole region N. of the Po. (Jornand. Get. 42; Hist. Miscell. xv. p. 549.) Notwithstanding
this disaster, Mediolanum seems to have retained much of its former importance.
It was still regarded as the metropolis of Northern Italy, and after the fall
of the Western Empire, in A.D. 476, became the royal residence of the Gothic kings
Odoacer and Theodoric. Procopius indeed speaks of it in the sixth century as surpassing
all the other cities of the West in size and population, and inferior to Rome
alone. (Procop. B. G. ii. 8.) It was recovered with little difficulty by Belisarius,
but immediately besieged by the Goths under Uraia, the brother of Vitiges, who,
after a long siege, made himself again master of the city (A.D. 539), which he
is said to have utterly destroyed, putting all the male inhabitants, to the number
of 300,000, to the sword, and reducing the women to slavery. (Id. ib. 21.) It
is evident, however, that the expressions of Procopius on this occasion must be
greatly exaggerated, for, at the time of the invasion of the Lombards under Alboin
(A.D. 568), Mediolanum already reappears in little less than its former importance.
It was still the acknowledged capital of Liguria (P. Diac. Hist. Lang. ii. 15,
25); and, as the metropolitan see, appears to have retained this dignity under
the Lombard kings, though those monarchs transferred their royal residence to
Ticinum or Pavia. In the middle ages it rapidly rose again to prosperity; and,
though a second time destroyed by the emperor Frederic Barbarossa in 1162, quickly
recovered, and has continued down to the present day to be one of the most important
and flourishing cities of Italy.
The position of Milan, almost in the centre of the great plain of
Northern Italy, just about midway between the Alps and the Padus, appears to have
marked it in all ages as the natural capital of that extensive and fertile region.
Its ready communications with the Ticinus on the one side, and the Addua on the
other, in great measure supply the want which would otherwise have arisen from
its not being situated on a navigable river; and the fertile plain between these
two rivers is watered by the minor but still considerable streams of the Lambro
and Olona. The latter, which is not noticed by any ancient writer, flows under
the walls of Milan. The modern city contains few vestiges of its ancient splendour.
Of all the public buildings which excited the admiration of Ausonius (see above),
the only remains are the columns of a portico, 16 in number, and of the Corinthian
order, now attached to the church of S. Lorenzo, and supposed, with some probability,
to have been originally connected with the Thermae or baths erected by the emperor
Maximian. A single antique column, now standing in front of the ancient basilica
of Sant‘ Ambrogio, has been removed from some other site, and does not indicate
the existence of an ancient building on the spot, Numerous inscriptions have,
however, been discovered, and are still preserved in the museum at Milan. These
fully confirm the municipal importance of Mediolanum under the early Roman Empire;
while from one of them we learn the fact that the city, notwithstanding its flourishing
condition, received a colony under Hadrian, and assumed, in honour of that emperor,
the titles of Colonia Aelia Augusta. (Orell. Inscr. 1702, 1909, 3942, 4000, 4060,
&c.; Zumpt, de Colon. p. 409.)
Mediolanum was the central point from which all the highroads of Italy
N. of the Padus may be considered as radiating. The first and principal of these
was that which led by Laus Pompeia to Placentia, where it joined the Via Aemilia,
and thus became the direct line of route from Milan to Ravenna and Rome. Another
main line was that by Novaria and Vercellae to Eporedia and Augusta Praetoria,
which must have been the principal line of communication between Milan and Transalpine
Gaul. A third road led in a southerly direction to Ticinum (Pavia), from which
there were two lines; the one proceeding by Laumellum to Augusta Taurinorum, and
thence over the Cottian Alps into the southern provinces of Gaul; the other crossing
the Padus to Dertona, and thence across the Apennines to Genoa. A fourth line
was that to Comum, from whence there was a much frequented pass by the Lacus Larius,
and across the Rhaetian Alps into the valley of the Inn, thus opening a direct
and speedy communication with the Danube. Lastly, a great line of highway led
from Milan to Aquileia, passing through Bergomum, Brixia, Verona, Vicentia, Patavium,
Altinum, and Concordia. The details of all these routes are given in the Antonine
Itinerary and the Tabula Peutingeriana.
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
COMO (Town) LOMBARDIA
The modern Como; a town in Gallia Cisalpina, at the southern extremity of the west branch of the Lacus Larius (Lago di Como). It was originally a town of the Insubrian Gauls, and subsequently a Roman colony. It was the birthplace of the younger Pliny.
MANTOUE (Ancient city) LOMBARDIA
A town in Gallia Transpadana, on an island in the river Mincius. It was not a place of importance; but is celebrated because Vergil, who was born at the neighbouring village of Andes, regarded Mantua as his birthplace.
CAPRIATE SAN GERVASIO (Village) LOMBARDIA
Villaggio operaio di fine ottocento
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