Alba Longa

Alba Longa (in Italian sources occasionally written "Albalonga") was an ancient city of LatiumGuralnik, David B., Editor in Chief. “Alba Longa.” "Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language". Second College Edition. New York, NY: Prentice Hall Press, 1986. ISBN 0-671-41809-2 (indexed), ISBN 0-671-41807-6 (plain edge), ISBN 0-671-41811-4 (pbk.), and ISBN 0-671-47035-3 (LeatherKraft).] in central Italy southeast of RomeMish, Frederick C., Editor in Chief. “Alba Longa.” "Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary". 9^th ed. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster Inc., 1985. ISBN 0-87779-508-8, ISBN 0-87779-509-6 (indexed), and ISBN 0-87779-510-X (deluxe).] in the Alban Hills. Founder and head of the Latin League, it was destroyed by Rome around the middle of the 7th century BC.

Kings of Alba Longa

According to the accounts of Dionysius of Halicarnassus, the kings of Alba Longa gave a direct line of descent between Ascanius and Romulus. According to Livy we know of two more kings of Alba Longa, outside of this sequence. Both reigned during the reign of the Roman king Tullus Hostilius. The first of these kings was Gaius Cluilius who died during a war against the Romans. He was succeeded by Mettius Fufetius who was in turn executed by Tullus Hostilius for treachery. Though it is important to note that these are both identified as dictators, not as kings.

Archaeological data and historical interpretation

The location of the ancient Latin city has been much debated since the 16th century. The point of departure is the foundation story in Dionysius of Halicarnassus [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dionysius_of_Halicarnassus/1C*.html#66 (I.66 ff.)] which speaks of a site between Monte Cavo and Lake Albano. The site has been at various times identified with the convent of S. Paolo at Palazzola, near Albano, or with Coste Caselle, near Marino, or finally with Castel Gandolfo. The last of these places in fact occupies the site of Domitian's villa, which ancient sources state in turn occupied the arx of Alba.

Archaeological data available for the Iron Age show the existence of a string of villages, each one with its own necropolis, along the south-western shore of Lake Albano. When Rome destroyed these villages they must have still been in a pre-urban phase, starting to group around a centre that may well have been Castel Gandolfo, since the necropolis there is significantly larger, suggesting a larger town.

In the later republican period the territory of Alba (the "Ager Albanus") was settled once again with many residential villas, which are mentioned in ancient literature and of which remains are extant.

The shrine of Jupiter Latiaris

On the top of the Monte Cavo (Mons Albanus) was a very ancient shrine consecrated to Jupiter Latiaris. Florus (2nd century) states that the site was selected by Ascanius, who, having founded Alba, invited all the Latins to celebrate sacrifices there to Jupiter, a custom which eventually led to the annual celebration there of the Feriae Latinae, at which all the cities that belonged to the Latin Confederation would gather under the aegis of Alba, sacrificing a white bull, the flesh of which was distributed among all the participants.

After Alba Longa was destroyed and her leadership role was assumed by Rome, tradition records the building of a full-scale temple to Jupiter Latiaris on the Alban Mount in the reign of Tarquinius Superbus; of which only a few courses of perimeter wall remain today, now removed off site; and substantial remains of the paved road that connected it to the Via Appia near Aricia.

References

* [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19725/19725-h/19725-h.htm#book1 Livy, Ab urbe condita (History of Rome), Book I]
* [http://icarus.umkc.edu/sandbox/perseus/pecs/page.146.a.php Richard Stillwell, ed. "Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites", 1976:] "Alba Longa (Castel Gandolfo), Latium, Italy"

Notes

External links

* [http://www.romeartlover.it/Albano.html Albano]
* [http://www.digiter.it/albaen.htm Alba Longa]