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FORMION (Ancient city) LAISTRYGONES
Formiae (Phormiai: Eth. Formianug: Mola di Gaeta), a city of Latium
on the coast of the Sinus Caietanus, and situated on the Via Appia, between Fundi
and Minturnae, 13 miles from the former and 9 from the latter city. (Itin. Ant.
p. 121.) Though included in Latium, in the later and more extended sense of the
term, it certainly was not originally a Latin city; but whether this and the neighbouring
Fundi were Volscian, or, as is perhaps more probable, Ausonian cities we have
no information: indeed, no mention occurs of either in history until they entered
into municipal relations with Rome. But a legend adopted by late writers ascribed
the foundation of. Formiae to a Greek colony, which was derived from Lacedaemon,
and connected with the origin of the neighbouring Amyclae. In accordance with
this tradition, its name was said to have been originally Hormiae, and was derived
from the excellent anchorage or roadstead for shipping (hormos) which its bay
afforded (Strab. v. p. 233; Plin. iii. 5. s. 9; Fest. s. v. Formiae; Serv. ad
Aen. x. 564.) Another legend, still more generally received both by Greek and
Roman writers, selected Formiae as the site of the fable of the Laestrygones in
the Odyssey; and the Roman family of the Lamiae, in the days of Augustus, even
asserted their direct descent from Lamus, the king of the Laestrygones. (Cic.
ad Att. ii. 1. 3; Hor. Carm. iii. 17; Plin. l. c.; Sil. Ital. vii. 410; Solin.
2. § 23.)
The first historical mention of Formiae occurs immediately after the
great Latin War, in B.C. 338. It appears that on that occasion the two cities
of Fundi and Formiae had taken no part in the war, and had thus kept the passes
through their territory (of the highest importance in a military point of view)
always open to the Roman armies. For this service they were rewarded with the
gift of the Roman citizenship, but at first without the right of suffrage, which
was not granted them till B.C. 190: they were then included in the Aemilian tribe.
(Liv. viii. 14, xxxviii. 36; Vell. Pat. i. 14; Cic. ad Att. ii. 1. 4) From henceforth
Formiae appears to have been a flourishing Roman municipal town, to which its
situation on the Appian Way doubtless contributed; but it was probably still more
indebted to the extreme beauty of its situation, which rendered it a favourite
place of resort with the wealthy Roman nobles in the latter days of the Republic,
as well as under the Empire. The charm of its beautiful climate and tranquil bay,
the Temperatae dulce Formiae litus is celebrated by Martial in one of his most
elegant epigrams; and all modern travellers concur in extolling Mola di Gaeta
as one of the most lovely spots in all Italy. Among the villas with which Formiae
thus became adorned, by far the most celebrated is that of Cicero, which appears
to have become a favourite residence of the great orator, from whence many of
his letters to Atticus are dated, and which afforded him a welcome retirement
during the most disturbed periods of the civil wars. It was here also that, on
his flight from Rome, he landed for the last time, and spent the night in his
Formian villa, from whence he was attempting to escape when he was overtaken by
the murderers and put to death, B.C. 43. (Cic. ad Att. ii. 1. 3, 14, iv. 2, vii.
8, &c., ad Fam. xvi. 10, 12, &c.; Plut. Cic. 47, 48; Appian, B.C. iv. 19, 20;
Val. Max. i. 4. § 5; Vict. de Vir. Illustr. 81.) Several ancient writers, including
Plutarch, represent Caieta as the scene of this catastrophe; but this evidently
arises from a mere confusion of the two: Caieta, indeed, at this time, appears
to have been in a municipal sense a mere dependency of Formiae, of which it served
as the port; and it is certainly not necessary to suppose, as Middleton has done,
that Cicero had a villa at Caieta itself as well as at Formiae. (See this point
fully discussed by Chaupy, Maison d'Horace, vol. i. pp. 232-236.) Several other
Romans had villas at Formiae in the days of the great orator, as well as in those
of Horace; but the wealthy family of Mamurra, who was himself a native of Formiae,
had at the latter period engrossed so great a part of the locality, that Horace
calls it the city of the Mamurrae. (Hor. Sat. i. 5. 37, and Schol. ad loc.; Plin.
xxxvi. 6. s. 7.) Martial bears testimony that, at a later period, the charms of
Baiae and the other places on the Bay of Naples had not caused Formiae to be neglected.
(Mart. x. 30.) The hills at the back of it, and which bound the Sinus Caietanus,
are also celebrated by Horace for the excellence of their wine. (Hor. Carm. i.
20. 12, iii. 16. 34.) We learn that Formiae received a colony under the Second
Triumvirate, and it bears the title of a colonia in several inscriptions of imperial
date. (Lib. Colon. p. 234; Orell. Inscr. 3782, 3884.) It appears to have continued
a tolerably flourishing place till the close of the Roman Empire, and retained
its episcopal see till the 9th century, when it was taken and destroyed by the
Saracens, in 856. The remaining inhabitants took refuge at Gaeta, which succeeded
to the episcopal dignity; and the modern town of Mola, which has grown up on the
ruins of Formiae, is, as its appellation of Mola di Gaeta implies, a sort of dependency
of the neighbouring city. The remains of antiquity still visible at Formiae are
extensive; they appear to have all belonged to different Roman villas, of which
there remain extensive substructions, with the ruins of terraces, vaulted passages,
baths, grottoes, &c., lining the whole coast from Mola di Gaeta to the neighbouring
village of Castellone. These ruins may be traced to have formed part of three
ancient villas, of which the one next to Mola is commonly known as that of Cicero;
but the Abbe Chaupy would assign to the great orator the more important remains
in the garden of the modern Villa Marsana, the furthest of the three from Mola.
The point is scarcely susceptible of precise determination; but a monument on
the hill above is regarded as that of Cicero, and the discovery near it of an
inscription bearing the names of some freedmen of the Tullian family, certainly
affords some countenance to the attribution. Several other ancient inscriptions
have been discovered at Formiae, and numerous sepulchres and ruins of ancient
edifices are scattered along the coast for some miles eastward of Mola along the
Appian Way. Among these the names of the Torre di Scauri, and a spot called Mamurano,
evidently indicate the site of villas of Aemilius Scaurus, and of the wealthy
Mamurra. (Chaupy, Maison d'Horace, vol. i. pp. 181-231; Romanelli, vol. iii. pp.
422, 423; Hoare, Class. Tour, vol. i. pp. 118-129.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
(Mola di Gaeta). A very ancient town in Latium, on the Via Appia, in the innermost corner of the beautiful Sinus Caietanus (Gulf of Gaeta). It was founded by the Pelasgic Tyrrhenians, and was the fabled abode of Lamus and the Laestrygones. Near this place were numerous villas of the Roman nobles; of these the best known is the Formianum of Cicero, in the neighbourhood of which he was killed, and whose remains are still visible at the Villa Marsana. The hills of Formiae produced good wine.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
A coastal town ca. 4 km N-NE of Gaeta, exceptionally beautiful in
situation and benign in climate. It faces S over the bay of Gaeta. It is uncertain
whether its origin was Ausonian or Volscian; it appears first in history in 338
B.C. when it remained neutral in the Latin war and was rewarded by Rome with citizenship
sine suffragio (Liv 8.14.10). Suffrage came in 188 B.C. when it was inscribed
in the tribus Aemilia (Livy 38.36.9). Under Hadrian it received a colony and was
designated Colonia Aelia Hadriana Augusta. It seems to have flourished until it
was destroyed by the Saracens in 859. It owed its prosperity to its situation
on the Via Appia, its abundant water, and the excellence of its agriculture, especially
its fruit, and its attractions as a resort. It was among the earliest of the sites
preferred by rich Romans for seaside villas, and it continued to draw them at
least as late as the time of Symmachus. Its most famous frequenters were Pompey
and Cicero, who was assassinated at his villa there while attempting to flee from
the proscription of the triumvirs in 43 B.C. (Plut. Vit. Cic. 47-48). It may also
have been the home of Vitruvius, the architect.
The town plan is hard to discern. Some walls in massive trapezoidal
blocks and others in Roman concrete appear at various points. These must include
remains of its fortifications and perhaps terrace walls of private villas. One
circuit seems to have enclosed the arx of the city (Castellone); another, more
fragmentary, can be completed as a larger triangle. An amphitheater and theater
can be recognized inland and uphill from the waterfront. But Formiae's great glory
is its ring of villa remains stretching from the Peschiera Romana in the Nuovo
Porto, to the Porto di Caposele on the confines between Formiae and Gaeta. From
Formiae to Gaeta the line of villas is, in effect, unbroken.
The most conspicuous of the remains are those in Villa Rubino, attributed
without basis to the villa of Cicero, including an important nymphaeum and remains
of substructions decorated with painting and stuccos, Villa Irlanda (a cryptoporticus
with stuccos), and Villa Caracciolo (a great court surrounded by rooms and other
constructions). From them have been removed a great many marbles, the majority
of which are in the Museo Nazionale in Naples; the most famous are a fine pair
of Nereids mounted on sea monsters. There are collections of antiquities gathered
largely or entirely locally in Villa Rubino, the park of Piazza della Vittoria,
and the antiquarium of the municipio.
In the vicinity of Formiae along the Via Appia are ruins of a number
of monumental tombs of interesting architecture. The most imposing of these, 24
m high, is given the name Tomba di Cicerone.
L. Richardson, Jr., 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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