- Lavinium
Lavinium was a
Latin port city ofLatium 30 km south of Rome, [The site of the city is the modernPractica di Mare .] already fortified in the seventh century BCE and a flourishing in the sixth. [Christopher John Smith, "Early Rome and Latium: Economy and Society C. 1000 to 500 BC" (Oxford University Press) 1996:134;Mario Torelli , "Lavinio e Roma. Riti iniziatici e matrimonio tra archeologia e storia" ] and assimilated by Republican Rome. Its early gate seems to have linked the city by a road toArdea . The city was securely linked to Rome by theVia Laurentina .A number of
kiln s have been identified within the perimeter of the city walls. Outside the city was a sanctary dedicated toSol Indigetes and a vast sanctuary with numerous altars, where the bronze inscribed plaque records that theDioscuri were being venerated at one of numerous altars. [Smith 1996.]According to Roman mythology, which links Lavinium more securely to Rome, the city was named by
Aeneas [Atumulus was identified by Romans as the "Heroon of Aeneas"] in honor ofLavinia , daughter ofLatinus , king of theLatins , and his wife,Amata . Aeneas reached Italy and there fought a war againstTurnus , the leader of the localRutuli people. He did not foundRome but Lavinium, the main centre of the Latin league, from which the people ofRome sprang. Aeneas thus links the royal house ofTroy with the Roman republic.The foundation of Lavinium and the Rutulian war are both mentioned prominently in the great Roman epic, the
Aeneid by the Mantuan poet Publius Vergilius Maro (Virgil ). More recently, the city is the setting of the modern epic poem, "The Laviniad " byClaudio R. Salvucci .The modern town of
Lavinio now stands on the site of ancient Lavinium, which was much closer to the sea in Antiquity. [Smith 1996.]Notes
References
* [http://icarus.umkc.edu/sandbox/perseus/pecs/page.2565.a.php Richard Stillwell, ed. "Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites", 1976:] "Lavinium (Pratica di Mare), Latium, Italy"
External links
* [http://www.museopomezia.it Archaeological Museum of Lavinium]
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