- Bolae
Bolae or Bola was an ancient city of
Latium that was repeatedly mentioned in the early history ofRome .Citation | last = Bunbury | first = Edward Herbert | author-link = Sir Edward Bunbury, 9th Baronet | contribution = Bolae | editor-last = Smith | editor-first = William | title =Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography | volume = 1 | pages = 417-418 | publisher = Walton & Maberly | place = London | year = 1857 | contribution-url = http://books.google.com/books?id=tJIfAAAAMAAJ ]Its foundation is expressly ascribed by
Virgil to the kings ofAlba Longa , and its name is found also in the list given byDiodorus Siculus of the colonies of that city. [Virgil , "Aeneid " vi. 776] [Diodorus Siculus , vii. "ap. Euseb. Arm." p. 185] Hence, there is no doubt that it was properly a Latin city, though its name does not appear among the list of those that composed theLatin League . [Dionysius of Halicarnassus , v. 61] But it fell at an early period into the hands of theAequi ans.Dionysius of Halicarnassus describes it as one of the towns taken byCoriolanus , together withToleria andLabicum ; [Dionysius of Halicarnassus , viii. 18] [Plutarch , "Coriolanus" 28] and thoughLivy does not notice its conquest upon that occasion, he speaks of it as anAequi an town, when the name next occurs in history towards the end of the5th century BC . In this instance theBolani were among the foremost to engage in war, and ravaged the lands of the neighboringLabicum , but being unsupported by the rest of the Aequians, they were defeated, and their town taken. [Livy , iv. 49] [Diodorus Siculus , xiii. 42] It was, however, recovered by the Aequians, and a fresh colony established there, but was again taken by the Romans underPublius Postumius Albus Regillensis , and it was on this occasion that the proposal to establish a Romancolony there, and portion out its lands among the settlers, gave rise to one of the fiercest mutinies in Roman history. [Livy , iv. 49-51]Whether the colony was actually sent, the town was again in the hands of the Aequians in
389 BC , when they were defeated beneath its walls byMarcus Furius Camillus ; butDiodorus Siculus represents it as then occupied by the Latins, and besieged by theAequi ans. [Livy , vi. 2] [Diodorus Siculus , xiv. 117] This is the last mention of the name in history: [InDiodorus Siculus xx. 90, "Bola" is certainly a mistake or corruption of the text forBovianum .] it was probably destroyed during these wars, as we find no subsequent trace of its existence; and it is enumerated by Pliny among the towns which had in his time utterly disappeared. [Pliny the Elder , iii. 5. s. 9] The site is called "Poli", situated in the mountains about eight miles north ofPraeneste ; butLivy tells us that its "ager " bordered on that ofLabicum , and the narratives of Dionysius andPlutarch above cited seem clearly to point to a situation in the neighborhood of Labicum and Pedum. Hence it is much more probable, as suggested byFrancesco Ficoroni andAntonio Nibby , that it occupied the site ofLugano , a village about 5 miles south ofPalestrina (Praeneste), and 9 miles southeast ofLa Colonna (Labicum). The position is, like that of most of the other towns in this neighborhood, naturally fortified by the ravines that surround it: and its situation between theAequi an mountains on the one side, and the heights ofAlgidus Mons on the other, would necessarily render it a military point of importance both toAequi ans andLatins . [Francesco Ficoroni , "Memorie di Labico", pp. 62-72] [Antonio Nibby , "Dintorni di Roma", vol. i. pp. 291-294]References
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