Augusta Bagiennorum

Augusta Bagiennorum, in Italy's modern province of Cuneo, in the region of Piemonte, in Antiquity the chief town of the Ligurian tribe of the Bagienni, is probably identical with the modern Bene Vagienna, on the upper course of the Tanaro, about convert|35|mi|km due south of Turin. The town retained its position as a tribal centre in the reorganization of Roman Emperor Octavian, whose title Augustus is part of its name as a colony, and was erected on a systematic plan.

Considerable remains of public buildings, constructed in concrete faced with small stones with bands of brick at intervals, an amphitheatre with a major axis of convert|390|ft|m|abbr=on. and a minor axis of convert|305|ft|m|abbr=on., a theatre with a stage convert|133|ft|m|abbr=on. in length, and near it the foundations of what was probably a basilica, an open space (no doubt the forum), an aqueduct, baths, &c., have been discovered by recent excavations, and also one of the city gates, flanked by two towers convert|22|ft|m|abbr=on. sq.

The ancient name is also used for a modern natural reserve.

Further reading

See G. Assandria and G.Vacchetta in Notizie degli Scavi (1894), 155 ; (1896) , 215 ; (1897), 441; (1898), 299 ; (1900), 389 ; (1901), 413. (T.As.)

References

*1911