Cures

For other uses, see Cure (disambiguation).

Cures, a Sabine town between the left bank of the Tiber and the Via Salaria, about 26 km. from Rome. According to legend, it was from Cures that Titus Tatius led to the Quirinal the Sabine settlers, from whom, after their union with the settlers on the Palatine, the whole Roman people took the name Quirites.

It was also renowned as the birthplace of Ancient Rome's second king Numa Pompilius. According to Livy, Numa Pompilius resided in Cures immediately prior to his election as king.^[1]

Its importance among the Sabines at an early period is indicated by the fact that its territory is often called simply alter Sabinus. At the beginning of the imperial period it is spoken of as an unimportant place, but seems to have risen to greater prosperity in the 2nd century. It appears as the seat of a bishop in the 5th century, but seems to have been destroyed by the Lombards in 589 AD. The site consists of a hill with two summits, round the base of which runs the Fosso Corese: the western summit was occupied by the necropolis, the eastern by the citadel, and the lower ground between the two by the city itself. Excavations from 1874 up until 1877 revealed a temple, forum, baths, etc.

Sources

• Thomas Ashby in Papers of the British School at Rome, iii. 34. (T. As.)
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

References

1. ^ Livy, Ab urbe condita, 1:18