1.
Santa Maria Capua Vetere
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Santa Maria Capua Vetere is a town and comune in the province of Caserta, part of the region of Campania. For the history of ancient Capua, see History of Ancient Capua, in the area several settlements of the Villanovan culture were present in pre-historical times, and these were probably enlarged by the Oscans and Etruscans. In the 4th century BCE Capuae was the largest city in Italy after Rome, the city was damaged by Vandal ravages but later recovered and became the seat of an independent Lombard principate. However, during the struggle of the succession to the Duchy of Benevento, the survivors mostly fled and founded the modern Capua in the site of the ancient River port of Casilinum. King Robert of Anjou made Santa Maria Maggiore one of his summer residences, the town was known as Santa Maria Maggiore until 1861. For information about main ancient landmarks in the comune of Santa Maria Capua Vetere, the main other landmark of Santa Maria Capua Vetere is the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, founded, according to the tradition, by Pope Symmachus in the 5th century. The church had originally a nave, but was enlarged by Lombard Prince Arechis II of Benevento in 787. Marcello Trotta, footballer, was born here, errico Malatesta, was an Italian anarchist, social and political activist, writer and revolutionary. Murcia, Spain Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli Bishopric of Capua Media related to Santa Maria Capua Vetere at Wikimedia Commons Santa Maria Capua Vetere
2.
Capua (moth)
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Capua is a genus of moths belonging to the subfamily Tortricinae of the family Tortricidae. W. 2005, World catalogue of insects volume 5 Tortricidae Diakonoff, A.1968 Microlepidoptera of the Philippine Islands, united States National Museum Bulletin,257, 7-100, 300-337, 414-425. Full article, Meyrick, E.1921, XIV
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Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
4.
Regions of Italy
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The regions of Italy are the first-level administrative divisions of Italy, constituting its second NUTS administrative level. There are 20 regions, of five are constitutionally given a broader amount of autonomy granted by special statutes. Each region, except for the Aosta Valley, is divided into provinces, regions are autonomous entities with powers defined in the Constitution. As the administrative districts of the state during the Kingdom of Italy. The original draft list comprised the Salento region, friuli and Venezia Giulia were separate regions, and Basilicata was named Lucania. Abruzzo and Molise were identified as regions in the first draft. They were later merged into Abruzzo e Molise in the constitution of 1948. Implementation of regional autonomy was postponed until the first Regional Elections of 1970, the ruling Christian Democracy party did not want the opposition Italian Communist Party to gain power in the regions, where it was historically rooted. Regions acquired a significant level of autonomy following a reform in 2001. In June 2006 the proposals, which had been associated with Lega Nord. The results varied considerably among the regions, ranging from 55. 3% in favour in Veneto to 82% against in Calabria, number of regions controlled by each coalition since 1995, Macroregions are the first-level NUTS of the European Union. These regions, whose statutes are approved by their councils, were created in 1970. Since the constitutional reform of 2001 they have had residual legislative powers, the regions have exclusive legislative power with respect to any matters not expressly reserved to state law. Yet their financial autonomy is quite modest, they just keep 20% of all levied taxes, Article 116 of the Italian Constitution grants to five regions home rule, acknowledging their powers in relation to legislation, administration and finance. These regions became autonomous in order to take into account cultural differences, moreover, the government wanted to prevent their secession from Italy after the Second World War. Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol constitutes a special case, the region is nearly powerless, and the powers granted by the regions statute are mostly exercised by the two autonomous provinces within the region, Trentino and South Tyrol. In this case, the regional institution plays a coordinating role, the latter is directly elected by the citizens of each region, with the exceptions of Aosta Valley and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, where he is chosen by the regional council. Under the 1995 electoral law, the winning coalition receives a majority of seats on the council
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Campania
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Campania is a region in Southern Italy. Located on the Italian Peninsula, with the Mediterranean Sea to the west, it includes the small Phlegraean Islands, Campania was colonised by Ancient Greeks and was part of Magna Græcia. During the Roman era, the area maintained a Greco-Roman culture, the capital city of Campania is Naples. Campania is rich in culture, especially in regard to gastronomy, music, architecture, archeological and ancient sites such as Pompeii, Herculaneum, Paestum and Velia. The name of Campania itself is derived from Latin, as the Romans knew the region as Campania felix, the rich natural sights of Campania make it highly important in the tourism industry, especially along the Amalfi Coast, Mount Vesuvius and the island of Capri. During the 8th century BC, people from Euboea in Greece, known as Cumaeans, another Oscan tribe, the Samnites, moved down from central Italy into Campania. The Roman consul Quintus Publilius Filo recaptured Neapolis by 326 BC, the Second Samnite War ended with the Romans controlling southern Campania and additional regions further to the south. Campania was a part of the Roman Republic by the end of the 4th century BC, valued for its pastures. Its Greek language and customs made it a centre of Hellenistic civilization, during the Pyrrhic War the battle took place in Campania at Maleventum in which the Romans, led by consul Curius Dentatus, were victorious. They renamed the city Beneventum, which grew in stature until it was only to Capua in southern Italy. During the Second Punic War in 216 BC, Capua, in a bid for equality with Rome, the rebellious Capuans were isolated from the rest of Campania, which remained allies of Rome. Naples resisted Hannibal due to the imposing walls, Capua was eventually starved into submission in the Roman retaking of 211 BC, and the Romans were victorious. The rest of Campania, with the exception of Naples, adopted the Latin language as official and was Romanised. As part of the Roman Empire, Campania, with Latium, Roman Emperors chose Campania as a holiday destination, among them Claudius and Tiberius, the latter of whom is infamously linked to the island of Capri. It was also during this period that Christianity came to Campania, Two of the apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, are said to have preached in the city of Naples, and there were also several martyrs during this time. Unfortunately, the period of calm was violently interrupted by the epic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 which buried the cities of Pompeii. The area had many duchies and principalities during the Middle Ages, in the hands of the Byzantine Empire, under the Normans, the smaller independent states were brought together as part of the Kingdom of Sicily, before the mainland broke away to form the Kingdom of Naples. It was during this period elements of Spanish, French
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Provinces of Italy
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In Italy, a province is an administrative division of intermediate level between a municipality and a region. There are currently 107 provinces in Italy, a further 4 such cities were added later. The reorganization of the Italian provinces became operative by January 2015, a province of the Italian Republic is composed of many municipalities. Usually several provinces together form a region, the region of Aosta Valley is the sole exception – it is not subdivided into provinces, the three main functions devolved to provinces are, local planning and zoning, provision of local police and fire services, transportation regulation. The number of provinces in Italy has been growing in recent years. Usually, the name is the same as that of its capital city. According to the 2014 reform, each province is headed by a President assisted by a body, the Provincial Council, and an executive body. President and members of Council are elected together by mayors and city councilors of each municipality of the province, the Executive is chaired by the President who appoint others members, called assessori. Since 2015 the President and others members of the Council will not receive a salary, in each province there is also a Prefect, a representative of the central government who heads an agency called prefettura-ufficio territoriale del governo. The Questor is the head of States Police in the province, there is also a provinces police force depending from local government, called provincial police. Sardinia - following the outcome of the referendums of 2012 it was decreed that such institutions should be reformed or abolished by March 2013. In January 2014 the Sardinian Regional Administrative Court declared unconstitutional the abolition of the Sardinian provinces, sicily - provinces were replaced by Free Communal Consortia in 2013. In 1861, at the birth of the Kingdom of Italy, however, at that time the national territory was smaller than the current one, regions of Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino Alto Adige and Lazio were not included in the kingdom. In 1866, following the Third Independence War, territories of Veneto, Friuli, there were therefore nine more provinces, Belluno, Mantua, Padua, Rovigo, Treviso, Venice, Verona, Vicenza and Udine, all previously part of the Austrian Empire. Eventually, in 1870, following the annexion of Rome and its province from the Papal States, after the First World War, new territories were annexed to Italy. The Province of Trento was created in 1920, Provinces of La Spezia, Trieste and Ionio in 1923. In 1924 the new provinces of Fiume, Pola, and Zara were created, in 1927, following a Royal charter, a general province rearrangement took place. 17 new provinces were created and the province of Caserta was suppressed, in the same year the institution of circondari, sub-provincial wards created before the unification, was abolished
7.
Province of Caserta
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The Province of Caserta is a province in the Campania region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Caserta, situated about 36 kilometres by road north of Naples, the province has an area of 2,639 square kilometres, and a total population of 906,596 as of 2012. The former Palace of Caserta is located near to the city and it was the largest palace and one of the largest buildings erected in Europe during the 18th century. In 1997, the palace was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the Kingdom of Naples and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Caserta was one of the most important departments in southern Italy. The first capital of the region was the ancient city of Capua until 1818, in addition to Naples, the most important centers were Caserta, Capua, Nola, Gaeta, Sora, Aversa, Teano, and Isola Liri. In 1816, during the French occupation, Joseph Bonaparte reformed the territorial division of the kingdom of Naples, a series of royal decrees completed the reforms, introducing local administrative units or communes like the French ones. The new Napoleonic reforms led to the establishment of the Province of Naples, in 1945, a Decree signed by Umberto di Savoia reconstituted the Province of Caserta, and finally in 1970, the modern province came into being. To the northeast, near the Matese mountains is the Lago del Matese, the highest point is Monte Miletto at 2,050 m, divided between Campania and Molise. The karst massif is rich in water and minerals, and contains many caves, the Volturno River flows through the centre of the province with a defensive outpost at Capua. The southern highlands of Caserta border the Province of Benevento, there are 104 comuni in the province, Official website
8.
Sant'Angelo in Formis
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SantAngelo in Formis is an abbey in the municipality of Capua, southern Italy. The church, dedicated to St Michael Archangel, lies on the slopes of Monte Tifata. It was once referred to as ad arcum Dianae, as it lies on the remains of a Roman temple to that goddess, the church was built in the eleventh century by Desiderius, the abbot of Monte Cassino, who also rebuilt that abbey. At Monte Cassino the decoration was carried out by Byzantine artists hired from Constantinople, the frescos were painted by Greek artists and by Italian pupils trained in their methods. Examples of the mingling of styles cited in Hall include,1, the lunette over the entrance with a half-length figure of St. Michael and above him an orant Virgin in a medallion supported by flying angels, with an inscription in Greek on the lintel at the foot. The treatment is wholly Byzantine except for the Latin motif of a crown on the Virgins head, the evangelists around the enthroned Christ in the Apse are in the form of the four symbolic creatures of the Latin tradition, rather than being shown as figures in the Greek manner. Subjects from the Old Testament and New Testament line the walls of the nave, SantAngelo in Formis and the Ancient Capua
9.
Demonym
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A demonym is a word that identifies residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place. It is a neologism, previously gentilic was recorded in English dictionaries, e. g. the Oxford English Dictionary, thus a Thai may be any resident or citizen of Thailand, of any ethnic group, or more narrowly a member of the Thai people. Conversely, some groups of people may be associated with multiple demonyms, for example, a native of the United Kingdom may be called a British person, a Brit, or a Briton. In some languages, when a parallel demonym does not exist, in English, demonyms are capitalized and are often the same as the adjectival form of the place, e. g. Egyptian, Japanese, or Greek. Significant exceptions exist, for instance the adjectival form of Spain is Spanish, English widely includes country-level demonyms such as Ethiopian or Guatemalan and more local demonyms such as Seoulite, Wisconsinite, Chicagoan, Michigander, Fluminense, and Paulista. Some places lack a commonly used and accepted demonym and this poses a particular challenge to those toponymists who research demonyms. The word gentilic comes from the Latin gentilis and the English suffix -ic, the word demonym was derived from the Greek word meaning populace with the suffix for name. National Geographic attributes the term demonym to Merriam-Webster editor Paul Dickson in a recent work from 1990 and it was subsequently popularized in this sense in 1997 by Dickson in his book Labels for Locals. However, in What Do You Call a Person From, a Dictionary of Resident Names attributed the term to George H. Scheetz, in his Names Names, A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon, which is apparently where the term first appears. Several linguistic elements are used to create demonyms in the English language, the most common is to add a suffix to the end of the location name, slightly modified in some instances. Cairo → Cairene Cyrenaica → Cyrene Damascus → Damascene Greece → Greek Nazareth → Nazarene Slovenia → Slovene Often used for Middle Eastern locations and European locations. Kingston-upon-Hull → Hullensian Leeds → Leodensian Spain → Spaniard Savoy → Savoyard -ese is usually considered proper only as an adjective, thus, a Chinese person is used rather than a Chinese. Monaco → Monégasque Menton → Mentonasque Basque Country → Basque Often used for French locations, mostly they are from Africa and the Pacific, and are not generally known or used outside the country concerned. In much of East Africa, a person of an ethnic group will be denoted by a prefix. For example, a person of the Luba people would be a Muluba, the plural form Baluba, similar patterns with minor variations in the prefixes exist throughout on a tribal level. And Fijians who are indigenous Fijians are known as Kaiviti and these demonyms are usually more informal and colloquial. In the United States such informal demonyms frequently become associated with mascots of the sports teams of the state university system. In other countries the origins are often disputed and these will typically be formed using the standard models above
10.
Daylight saving time
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Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
11.
Central European Summer Time
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It corresponds to UTC + two hours. Other names which have been applied to Central European Summer Time are Middle European Summer Time, Central European Daylight Saving Time, and Bravo Time. Since 1996 European Summer Time has been observed between 1,00 UTC on the last Sunday of March and 1,00 on the last Sunday of October, the following countries and territories use Central European Summer Time. In addition, Libya used CEST during the years 1951–1959, 1982–1989, 1996–1997, European Summer Time Other countries and territories in UTC+2 time zone Other names of UTC+2 time zone
12.
Agatha of Sicily
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Saint Agatha of Sicily is a Christian saint and virgin martyr. Her memorial is on 5 February, Agatha was born at Catania or Palermo, Sicily, and she was martyred in approximately 251. She is one of seven women, who, along with the Blessed Virgin Mary, are commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass. She is the saint of Catania, Molise, Malta, San Marino, and Zamarramala. She is also the saint of breast cancer patients, martyrs, wet nurses, bell-founders, bakers, fire, earthquakes. Agatha is buried at the Badia di SantAgata, Catania and she is listed in the late 6th-century Martyrologium Hieronymianum associated with Jerome, and the Synaxarion, the calendar of the church of Carthage, ca. Agatha also appears in one of the carmina of Venantius Fortunatus, in the 6th century AD, the church was adapted to Arianism, hence its name Saint Agatha of Goths, and later reconsecrated by Gregory the Great, who confirmed her traditional sainthood. Agatha is also depicted in the mosaics of SantApollinare Nuovo in Ravenna and her image forms an initial I in the Sacramentary of Gellone, which dates from the end of the 8th century. One of the most highly venerated virgin martyrs of Christian antiquity, Agatha was put to death during the persecution of Decius in Catania, Sicily, according to Jacobus de Voragine, Legenda Aurea of ca. He sent Agatha to Aphrodisia, the keeper of a brothel, the madam finding her intractable, Quintianus sent for her, argued, threatened, and finally had her put in prison. Amongst the tortures she underwent was the cutting off of her breasts with pincers, peter the Apostle appeared to her and healed her wounds. Saint Agatha died in prison, according to the Legenda Aurea in the year of our Lord two hundred and fifty-three in the time of Decius, the emperor of Rome, osbern Bokenham, A Legend of Holy Women, written in the 1440s, offers some further detail. Catania Cathedral is dedicated to Saint Agatha, according to Maltese tradition, during the persecution of Roman Emperor Decius, Agatha, together with some of her friends, fled from Sicily, and took refuge in Malta. Some historians believe that her stay on the island was rather short, after some time, Agatha returned to Sicily, where she faced martyrdom. Agatha was arrested and brought before Quintanus, praetor of Catania, the crypt of St. Agatha is an underground basilica, which from early ages was venerated by the Maltese. At the time of St. Agathas stay, the crypt was a natural cave which later on. After the Reformation era, Agatha was retained in the calendar of the Church of Englands Book of Common Prayer with her feast on 5 February, several Church of England parish churches are dedicated to her. She is the saint of Catania, Sorihuela del Guadalimar, Molise, San Marino, Malta and Kalsa
13.
Naples
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Naples is the capital of the Italian region Campania and the third-largest municipality in Italy, after Rome and Milan. In 2015, around 975,260 people lived within the administrative limits. The Metropolitan City of Naples had a population of 3,115,320, Naples is the 9th-most populous urban area in the European Union with a population of between 3 million and 3.7 million. About 4.4 million people live in the Naples metropolitan area, Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Bronze Age Greek settlements were established in the Naples area in the second millennium BC, a larger colony – initially known as Parthenope, Παρθενόπη – developed on the Island of Megaride around the ninth century BC, at the end of the Greek Dark Ages. Naples remained influential after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, thereafter, in union with Sicily, it became the capital of the Two Sicilies until the unification of Italy in 1861. Naples was the most-bombed Italian city during World War II, much of the citys 20th-century periphery was constructed under Benito Mussolinis fascist government, and during reconstruction efforts after World War II. The city has experienced significant economic growth in recent decades, and unemployment levels in the city, however, Naples still suffers from political and economic corruption, and unemployment levels remain high. Naples has the fourth-largest urban economy in Italy, after Milan, Rome and it is the worlds 103rd-richest city by purchasing power, with an estimated 2011 GDP of US$83.6 billion. The port of Naples is one of the most important in Europe, numerous major Italian companies, such as MSC Cruises Italy S. p. A, are headquartered in Naples. The city also hosts NATOs Allied Joint Force Command Naples, the SRM Institution for Economic Research, Naples is a full member of the Eurocities network of European cities. The city was selected to become the headquarters of the European institution ACP/UE and was named a City of Literature by UNESCOs Creative Cities Network, the Villa Rosebery, one of the three official residences of the President of Italy, is located in the citys Posillipo district. Naples historic city centre is the largest in Europe, covering 1,700 hectares and enclosing 27 centuries of history, Naples has long been a major cultural centre with a global sphere of influence, particularly during the Renaissance and Enlightenment eras. In the immediate vicinity of Naples are numerous culturally and historically significant sites, including the Palace of Caserta, culinarily, Naples is synonymous with pizza, which originated in the city. Neapolitan music has furthermore been highly influential, credited with the invention of the romantic guitar, according to CNN, the metro stop Toledo is the most beautiful in Europe and it won also the LEAF Award 2013 as Public building of the year. Naples is the Italian city with the highest number of accredited stars from the Michelin Guide, Naples sports scene is dominated by football and Serie A club S. S. C. Napoli, two-time Italian champions and winner of European trophies, who play at the San Paolo Stadium in the south-west of the city, the Phlegraean Fields around Naples has been inhabited since the Neolithic period. The earliest Greek settlements were established in the Naples area in the second millennium BC, sailors from the Greek island of Rhodes established a small commercial port called Parthenope on the island of Megaride in the ninth century BC
14.
Etruscan language
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The Etruscan language was the spoken and written language of the Etruscan civilization, in Italy, in the ancient region of Etruria and in parts of Campania, Lombardy, Veneto, and Emilia-Romagna. Etruscan influenced Latin, but was eventually superseded by it. Grammatically, the language is agglutinating, with nouns and verbs showing suffixed inflectional endings, nouns show four cases, singular and plural numbers, and masculine and feminine genders. Phonologically, Etruscan appears uncomplicated, with a system and an apparent contrast between aspirated and unaspirated stops. The language shows phonetic change over time, with the loss, Etruscan religion influenced that of the Romans and many of the few surviving Etruscan language artifacts are of votive or religious significance. Etruscan was written in a derived from the Greek alphabet. The Etruscan language is believed to be the source of certain important cultural words of Western Europe such as military and people. Etruscan literacy was widespread over the Mediterranean shores, as evidenced by about 13,000 inscriptions, most fairly short and they date from about 700 BC. The Etruscans had a rich literature, as noted by Latin authors, however, only one book, the Liber Linteus has survived. By AD100, Etruscan had been replaced by Latin, around 180, the Latin author Aulus Gellius mentions Etruscan alongside the Gaulish language in an anecdote. Only a few educated Romans with antiquarian interests, such as Marcus Terentius Varro, plautia Urgulanilla, the emperors first wife, was Etruscan. Livy and Cicero were both aware that highly specialized Etruscan religious rites were codified in several sets of written in Etruscan under the generic Latin title Etrusca Disciplina. The Libri Haruspicini dealt with divination from the entrails of the sacrificed animal, a third set, the Libri Rituales, might have provided a key to Etruscan civilization, its wider scope embraced Etruscan standards of social and political life, as well as ritual practices. The single extant Etruscan book, Liber Linteus, which was written on linen and this range may indicate a maximum Italian homeland where the language was at one time spoken. Outside of mainland Italy inscriptions have been found in North Africa, Corsica, Elba, Gallia Narbonensis, Greece, the Balkans, by far the greatest concentration is in Italy. An inscription found on Lemnos in 1886 is in a similar to that used to write the Etruscan language. A few concepts of word formation have been formulated, modern knowledge of the language is incomplete. Etruscan was traditionally considered to be a language isolate, in the first century BC, the Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus stated that the Etruscan language was unlike any other
15.
Cato the Elder
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He was the first to write history in Latin. He came of an ancient Plebeian family who were noted for their military service, like his forefathers, Cato was devoted to agriculture when not serving in the army. As praetor, he expelled usurers from Sardinia, as censor, he tried to preserve Romes ancestral customs and combat degenerate Hellenistic influences. His epithet Elder distinguishes him from his equally famous great-grandson Cato the Younger, Cato the Elder was born in Tusculum, a municipal town of Latium, like some generations of his ancestors. His father had earned a reputation as a soldier. However, the Tusculan Porcii had never obtained the privileges of the Roman magistracy, early in life, he so far exceeded the previous deeds of his predecessors that he is frequently spoken of not only as the leader, but as the founder of the Porcia Gens. Priscus, like Major, may have merely a epithet used to distinguish him from the later Cato of Utica. There is no information as to when he first received the title of Cato. In order to determine the date of Catos birth, we consider the records as to his age at the time of his death, other authors exaggerate the age of Cato. According to Valerius Maximus he survived his 86th year, according to Livy, the exaggerated age, however, is inconsistent with a statement recorded by Plutarch on the asserted authority of Cato himself. Cato is represented to have said that he served his first campaign in his 17th year, when Cato was very young, after his fathers death, he inherited a small property in the Sabine territory, at a distance from his native town. There, he spent most of his childhood hardening his body by exercise, overseeing and sharing the operations of the farm, learning business and the rural economy. Near this land was a small hut abandoned after the triumphs of its owner Manius Curius Dentatus, whose military feats, Cato was inspired to imitate that character, hoping to match the glory of Dentatus. Soon, an opportunity came for a campaign in 217 BC. Experts express some disagreement about Catos early military life, in 214 BC, he served at Capua, and the historian Wilhelm Drumann imagines that already, at the age of 20, he was a military tribune. Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus had the command in Campania, during the year of his fourth consulship, while Fabius communicated the valued results of military experience, he chose not to inculcate Cato with his personal and political values and preferences. At the siege of Tarentum,209 BC, Cato was again at the side of Fabius, two years later, Cato was one of the select group who went with the consul Claudius Nero on his northern march from Lucania to check the progress of Hasdrubal Barca. It is recorded that the services of Cato contributed to the victory of Sena on the Metaurus
16.
Etruscan civilization
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The Etruscan civilization is the modern name given to a powerful and wealthy civilization of ancient Italy in the area corresponding roughly to Tuscany, western Umbria, and northern Lazio. Culture that is identifiably Etruscan developed in Italy after about 800 BC, the latter gave way in the 7th century BC to a culture that was influenced by ancient Greece, Magna Graecia, and Phoenicia. The decline was gradual, but by 500 BC the political destiny of Italy had passed out of Etruscan hands, the last Etruscan cities were formally absorbed by Rome around 100 BC. Politics were based on the city, and probably the family unit. In their heyday, the Etruscan elite grew very rich through trade with the Celtic world to the north and the Greeks to the south, archaic Greece had a huge influence on their art and architecture, and Greek mythology was evidently very familiar to them. The study also excluded recent Anatolian connection, the ancient Romans referred to the Etruscans as the Tuscī or Etruscī. Their Roman name is the origin of the terms Tuscany, which refers to their heartland, and Etruria, which can refer to their wider region. In Attic Greek, the Etruscans were known as Tyrrhenians, from which the Romans derived the names Tyrrhēnī, Tyrrhēnia, the word may also be related to the Hittite Taruisa. The Etruscans called themselves Rasenna, which was syncopated to Rasna or Raśna, the origins of the Etruscans are mostly lost in prehistory, although Greek historians as early as the 5th century BC, repeatedly associated the Tyrrhenians with Pelasgians. Strabo as well as the Homeric Hymn to Dionysus make mention of the Tyrrhenians as pirates, pliny the Elder put the Etruscans in the context of the Rhaetian people to the north and wrote in his Natural History, Adjoining these the Noricans are the Raeti and Vindelici. All are divided into a number of states, the Raeti are believed to be people of Tuscan race driven out by the Gauls, their leader was named Raetus. Historians have no literature and no original Etruscan texts of religion or philosophy, therefore, much of what is known about this civilization is derived from grave goods, another source of genetic data on Etruscan origins is from four ancient breeds of cattle. Analyzing the mitochondrial DNA of these and seven other breeds of Italian cattle, the other Italian breeds were linked to northern Europe. Etruscan expansion was focused both to the north beyond the Apennine Mountains and into Campania, some small towns in the sixth century BC disappeared during this time, ostensibly consumed by greater, more powerful neighbours. However, it is certain that the structure of the Etruscan culture was similar to, albeit more aristocratic than. The mining and commerce of metal, especially copper and iron, led to an enrichment of the Etruscans and to the expansion of their influence in the Italian peninsula and the western Mediterranean Sea. Here, their interests collided with those of the Greeks, especially in the sixth century BC and this led the Etruscans to ally themselves with Carthage, whose interests also collided with the Greeks. Around 540 BC, the Battle of Alalia led to a new distribution of power in the western Mediterranean, from the first half of the 5th century BC, the new political situation meant the beginning of the Etruscan decline after losing their southern provinces
17.
Rome
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Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth
18.
Second Punic War
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The Second Punic War, also referred to as The Hannibalic War and the War Against Hannibal, lasted from 218 to 201 BC and involved combatants in the western and eastern Mediterranean. This was the major war between Carthage and the Roman Republic and its allied Italic socii, with the crucial participation of Numidian-Berber armies and tribes on both sides. The two states three major wars with each other over the course of their existence. They are called the Punic Wars because Romes name for Carthaginians was Poeni, derived from Poenici, in the following year, Hannibals army defeated the Romans again, this time in southern Italy at Cannae. In consequence of these defeats, many Roman allies went over to Carthage, against Hannibals skill on the battlefield, the Romans deployed the Fabian strategy. A sideshow of this war was the indecisive First Macedonian War in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Second Punic War was fought between Carthage and Rome and was ignited by the dispute over the hegemony of Saguntum, a Hellenized Iberian coastal city with diplomatic contacts with Rome. After great tension within the city government, culminating in the assassination of the supporters of Carthage, the city called for Roman aid, but the pleas fell on deaf ears. Following a prolonged siege and a struggle, in which Hannibal himself was wounded and the army practically destroyed. Many of the Saguntians chose to commit suicide rather than face subjugation by the Carthaginians, before the war, Rome and Hasdrubal the Fair had made a treaty. Livy reports that it was agreed that the Iber should be the boundary between the two empires and that the liberty of the Saguntines should be preserved, Hannibal departed with this army from New Carthage northwards along the coast in late spring of 218 BC. At the Ebro, he split the army into three columns and subdued the tribes there to the Pyrenees within weeks, but with severe losses. At the Pyrenees, he left a detachment of 11,000 Iberian troops, Hannibal reportedly entered Gaul with 50,000 infantry and 9,000 cavalry. He took his army by a route, avoiding the Roman allies along the coast. In the meantime, a Roman fleet with a force was underway to northern Iberia. A scouting party of 300 cavalry was sent to discover the whereabouts of the enemy and these eventually defeated a Carthaginian scouting troop of 500 mounted Numidians and chased them back to their main camp. Thus, with knowledge of the location of the enemy, the Romans marched upstream, Hannibal evaded this force and by an unknown route reached the Isère or the Durance at the foot of the Alps in autumn. He also received messengers from his Gallic allies in Italy that urged him to come to their aid, before setting out to cross the Alps, he was re-supplied by a native tribe, some of whose hereditary disputes he had helped solve. Their other commander, Publius Cornelius Scipio, returned to Rome, realizing the danger of an invasion of Italy where the tribes of the Boii, after 217 BC, he moved to Iberia
19.
Villanovian civilization
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The Villanovan culture and people branched from the Urnfield culture of Central Europe. The Villanovans introduced iron-working to the Italian peninsula, they practiced cremation, the name Villanovan comes from the type-site, that of the first archaeological finds relating to this advanced culture, remnants of a cemetery found near Villanova in northern Italy. The well tomb pit graves lined with stones contained funerary urns, they had only sporadically plundered. In 1893, a chance discovery unearthed another distinctive Villanovan necropolis at Verucchio, cremated remains were placed in cinerary urns and then buried. A custom believed to originate with the Villanovan culture is the usage of Hut urns, cinerary urns fashioned like small huts, typical sgraffito decorations of swastikas, meanders and squares were scratched with a comb-like tool. Urns were accompanied by simple bronze fibulae, razors and rings, the culture is broadly divided into a Proto-Villanovan culture from c.1100 BC to c.900 BC and the Villanovan culture proper from c.900 BC to c.700 BC. This period came just before the foundation of Etruscan cities, chamber tombs and inhumation practices were developed side-by-side with the earlier cremation practices. Generally speaking, Villanovan settlements were centered in the Adriatic Etruria, in Emilia Romagna, in Marche and in Lazio. Further south, Villanovan cremation burials are to be found in Campania, at Capua, at the tombs of Pontecagnano near Salerno, at Capo di Fiume, at Vallo di Diano. This site continuity encourages modern opinion generally to follow Massimo Pallottino in regarding the Villanovan culture as ancestral to the Etruscan civilization. Canegrate culture Prehistoric Italy S. Gozzadini, La nécropole de Villanova, Fava et Garagnani, Bologna,1870 J. P. Mallory, Villanovan Culture, G. Bartoloni, The origin and diffusion of Villanovan culture. In M. Torelli, The Etruscans, pp 53–74, M. E. Moser, The Southern Villanovan Culture of Campania,1982
20.
Oscan
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Not to be confused with Old Scandinavian, sometimes abbreviated OScan. Oscan is an extinct Indo-European language of southern Italy, the language is also the namesake of the language group to which it belonged. As a member of the Italic languages, Oscan is therefore a sister language to Latin, Oscan was spoken by a number of tribes, including the Samnites, the Aurunci, and the Sidicini. The latter two tribes were grouped under the name Osci. The language was spoken from approximately 500 BC to AD100, Oscan is known from inscriptions dating as far back as the 5th century BC. The most important Oscan inscriptions are the Tabula Bantina, the Oscan Tablet or Tabula Osca, Oscan had much in common with Latin, though there are also many striking differences, and many common word-groups in Latin were absent or represented by entirely different forms. For example, Latin volo, velle, volui, and other forms from the Proto-Indo-European root *wel were represented by words derived from *gher. Latin locus was absent and represented by the hapax slaagid, which Italian linguist Alberto Manco has recently referred to a local surviving toponym. In phonology, Oscan also showed differences from Latin, Oscan p in place of Latin qu, b in place of Latin v, Oscan was written in the Latin and Greek alphabets, as well as in a variety of the Old Italic alphabet. The Z of the alphabet is pronounced. The letters Ú and Í are differentiations of U and I, the Ú represents an o-sound, and Í is a tense. Doubling of vowels was used to denote length but a long I is written IÍ, when written in the Latin alphabet the Oscan Z does not represent but instead, which is not written differently from in the native alphabet. Oscan written with the Greek alphabet was identical to the alphabet with the addition of two letters, one for the native alphabets H and one for its V. The letters η and ω do not indicate quantity, sometimes, the clusters ηι and ωϝ denote the diphthongs /ei/ and /ou/ respectively while ει and oυ are saved to denote monophthongs /iː/ and /uː/ of the native alphabet. Other times, ει and oυ are used to denote diphthongs, vowels are regularly lengthened before ns and nct and possibly before nf and nx as well. If the other consonant follows, the new vowel is the same as that of the following vowel, short a remains in most positions. Long ā remains in an initial or medial position, Long ē becomes the sound of í or íí. Long ī is spelt with i but when written with doubling as a mark of length with ií, short o remains mostly unchanged, written ú, before a final -m, o becomes more like u. Long ō becomes denoted by u or uu
21.
Samnium
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Samnium is a Latin exonym for a region of Southern Italy anciently inhabited by the Samnites. Their own endonyms were Safinim for the country and Safineis for the people, the language of these endonyms and of the population was the Oscan language. However, not all the Samnites spoke Oscan, and not all the Oscan-speakers lived in Samnium, the ancient geographers were unable to relay a precise definition of Samniums borders. Moreover, the areas it included vary depending on the period considered. The main configurations are the borders it had during the floruit of the Oscan speakers, from about 600 BC to about 290 BC and this originary Samnium should not be confused with the later territory of the same name. Romes first Emperor, Augustus, divided Italy into 11 regions, although these entities only served administrative purposes, and were identified with the sole numeral, by scholarly convention the Regio IV has been dubbed Samnium. Ancient Samnium had actually split up into three of the Augustan regions. The name survives in Italian today, but it only a small portion of what it once was - virtually, only the Province of Benevento. Etymologically the name Samnium is generally recognized to be a form of the name of the Sabines, from Safinim, Sabinus, Sabellus and Samnis an Indo-European root can be extracted, *sabh-, which becomes Sab- in Latino-Faliscan and Saf- in Osco-Umbrian, Sabini and *Safineis. The eponymous god of the Sabines, Sabus, seems to support this view, the Greek terms, Saunitai and Saunitis, remain outside the group. Nothing is known of their origin, at some point in prehistory, a population speaking a common language extended over both Samnium and Umbria. Salmon conjectures that it was common Italic and puts forward a date of 600 BC and this date does not necessarily correspond to any historical or archaeological evidence, developing a synthetic view of the ethnology of proto-historic Italy is an incomplete and ongoing task. The linguist, Julius Pokorny, carries the etymology somewhat further back, the general concept is our own kith and kin, Pokornys von eigener Art, Gesamtheit der eigenen Leute, Liebe, Sippegenossen, Sippenangehörigen, and the like. Samnium mostly lay on the Apennine area, it was delimited by Latium to the north, by Lucania to the south, by Campania to the west, and by Apulia to the east. The principal cities of the region were Bovaiamom, renamed Bovianum by Latins and Maleventum, for most of their history the Samnites were landlocked, but during a brief period they controlled parts of both coasts of the Italian peninsula. The Samnites were composed of at least four tribes, the Pentri, the Caraceni, the Caudini and they may have later been joined by the Frentani. The earliest written record of the people is a treaty with the Romans from 354 BC, which set their border at the Liris River. Shortly thereafter the Samnite Wars broke out, they won an important battle against the Roman army in 321 BC, by 290 BC, the Romans were able to break the Samnites power after some hard fought battles
22.
Casilinum
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Casilinum was an ancient city of Campania, Italy, situated some 3 miles north-west of Capua. While the original town, doubtless dependent on neighboring Capua. Remains of this town have been found at some 25 feet below the modern ground-level. During the Second Punic War, Casilinum was first occupied by Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus in 217 BCE, Casilinum eventually lost its independence and became a praefectura. Caesar founded a colony at the town in 59 BCE, which was renewed by Mark Antony in 44 BCE. The veterans settled within the town took the side of Octavian after Caesars death, only its position at the junction of major roads appears to have redeemed it from insignificance. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
23.
Calatia
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Calatia was an ancient town of Campania, southern Italy, c.10 km southeast of Capua, on the Via Appia, near the point where the Via Popillia branches off from it. It is represented by the church of Giacomo alle Galazze, the Via Appia here, as at Capua, abandons its former SE direction for a length of 2,000 Oscan feet, for which it runs due east and then resumes its course SE. Ruins include remains of the walls and the necropolis was partially excavated in 1882. The ten shafts lined with slabs of tuff which may have been the approaches to tombs or may have served as wells. The history of Calatia is similar to that of its powerful neighbor Capua. In 313 BC it was taken by the Samnites and recaptured by the dictator Fabius Maximus Rullianus, the Samnites captured it again in 311 BC, but it must have been retaken at an unknown date. In the 3rd century BC we find it issuing coins with an Oscan legend, in 174 BC it is mentioned that its walls were being repaired by the censors. In 59 BC a colony was established here by Caesar, attribution This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Calatia
24.
Atella
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Atella was an ancient Oscan city of Campania, halfway between Naples and Capua. Its ruins lie between the towns of Orta di Atella and SantArpino and it was occupied by Rome in 210 BC, the chief citizens executed and the survivors enslaved or exiled, the city was refounded as a home for the refugees from Nuceria. In the slave revolt of Spartacus, the army was brought to the city after they defeated Lucius Furius and Lucius Cossinius in Nuceria. Near the city, a fight out between the rebels and a Roman force. The Christian bishopric with see at Atella dates back, according to recent hagiography, to a bishop named Canio, the Greek legend of Saint Januarius mentions a bishop of Atella as one of those who accompanied the relics of that saint to Naples. A later bishop of Atella named Elpidius built a church over the tomb of Saint Canio, in two of his letters, Pope Gregory the Great mentions a Bishop Importunus of Atella. The diocese of Atella continued to exist until it became one of those incorporated into the new see of Aversa, no longer a residential bishopric, Atella is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see. The town has a cathedral, the 14th-century duomo of Santa Maria da Nives. The diocese was restored in 1968 as Latin Catholic titular bishopric. The territory of ancient Atella is now in the comuni of Caivano, Cardito, Cesa, Frattamaggiore, Grumo Nevano, gCatholic with titular incumbent bio links
25.
Samnite Wars
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The First, Second, and Third Samnite Wars were fought between the Roman Republic and the Samnites, who lived on a stretch of the Apennine Mountains to the south of Rome and the north of the Lucanians. The first of these wars was the result of Romes intervening to rescue the Campanian city of Capua from a Samnite attack. The second one was the result of Romes intervention in the politics of the city of Naples and developed into a contest over the control of much of central, the third war also involved a struggle over the control of this part of Italy. The Samnites were one of early Romes most formidable rivals, by the time of the first of these wars, the southward expansion of Rome’s territory had reached the River Liris, which was the boundary between Latium and Campania. This river is now called Garigliano and it is the boundary between the regions of Lazio and Campania. In those days the name Campania referred to the plain between the coast and the Apennine Mountains which stretched from the River Liris down to the bays of Naples, the northern part of this area was inhabited by the Sidicini, the Aurunci and the Ausoni. The central and southern part was inhabited by the Campanians, who were people who had migrated from Samnium and were related to the Samnites. The Samnites were a confederation of four tribes who lived on the mountains to the east of Campania and were the most powerful people in the area, the Samnites, Campanians and Sidicini spoke Oscan languages. Their languages were part of the Osco-Umbrian linguistic family which also included Umbrian, the Lucanians who lived to the south were also Oscan speakers. Diodorus Siculus and Livy report that in 354 BC Rome and the Samnites concluded a treaty, modern historians have proposed that the treaty established the river Liris as the boundary between their spheres of influence, with Romes lying to its north and the Samnites to its south. This arrangement broke down when the Romans intervened south of the Liris to rescue the Campanian city of Capua from an attack by the Samnites. Livy is the only preserved source to give an account of the war which has become known in modern historiography as the First Samnite War. In addition, the Fasti Triumphales records two Roman triumphs dating to this war and some of the described by Livy are also mentioned by other ancient writers. According to Livy, the First Samnite War started not because of any enmity between Rome and the Samnites, but due to outside events, the spark came when the Samnites without provocation attacked the Sidicini, a tribe living north of Campania with their chief settlement at Teanum Sidicinum. Unable to stand against the Samnites, the Sidicini sought help from the Campanians, However, Livy continues, the Samnites defeated the Campanians in a battle in Sidicine territory and then turned their attention toward Campania. First they seized the Tifata hills overlooking Capua and, having left a force to hold them. There they defeated the Campanians in a battle and drove them within their walls. This compelled the Campanians to ask Rome for help, at Rome, the Campanian ambassadors were admitted to an audience with the Senate
26.
Volturno
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The Volturno is a river in south-central Italy. The river is 175 kilometres long, after a course of some 120 kilometres it receives, about 8 kilometres east of Caiazzo, the Calore River. The direct length of the course is about 50 kilometres, so that the whole is slightly longer than that of the Liri-Garigliano. The river has always had a considerable importance, and the colony of Volturnum was founded in 194 BC at its mouth on the south bank by the Romans. A fort had already placed there during the Roman siege of Capua to serve, with Puteoli. Augustus placed a colony of veterans here, the Via Domitiana from Sinuessa to Puteoli crossed the river at this point, and some remains of the bridge are visible. The river was navigable as far as Capua, in 554, the Byzantine general Narses defeated a Frankish-Alamannic army near this river, during the Gothic War. The Piedmontese troops and those of Garibaldi inflicted on the Neapolitan forces at the battle of the Volturno, on 1 and 2 October, the Volturno also gave its name to the Volturno Line, a German defensive position in Italy during World War II. Attribution This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh. Purcell, N. R. Talbert, T. Elliott, cS1 maint, Multiple names, authors list
27.
Appian Way
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The Appian Way was one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy and its importance is indicated by its common name, recorded by Statius, Appia longarum. The Appian Way was used as a route for military supplies since its construction for that purpose in 312 B. C. The Appian Way was the first long road built specifically to transport troops outside the region of greater Rome. The few roads outside the city were Etruscan and went mainly to Etruria. By the late Republic, the Romans had expanded over most of Italy and were masters of road construction, Rome had an affinity for the people of Campania, who, like themselves, traced their backgrounds to the Etruscans. The Samnite Wars were instigated by the Samnites when Rome attempted to ally itself with the city of Capua in Campania, the Italic speakers in Latium had long ago been subdued and incorporated into the Roman state. They were responsible for changing Rome from a primarily Etruscan to a primarily Italic state, dense populations of sovereign Samnites remained in the mountains north of Capua, which is just north of the Greek city of Neapolis. Around 343 BC, Rome and Capua attempted to form an alliance, the Samnites reacted with military force. Between Capua and Rome lay the Pontine Marshes, a swamp infested with malaria, a tortuous coastal road wound between Ostia at the mouth of the Tiber and Neapolis. The via Latina followed its ancient and scarcely more accessible path along the foothills of Monti Laziali and Monti Lepini, in the First Samnite War the Romans found they could not support or resupply troops in the field against the Samnites across the marsh. A revolt of the Latin League drained their resources further and they gave up the attempted alliance and settled with Samnium. The Romans were only biding their time while they looked for a solution, the first answer was the colonia, a cultivation of settlers from Rome, who would maintain a permanent base of operations. The Second Samnite War erupted when Rome attempted to place a colony at Cales in 334, the Samnites, now a major power after defeating the Greeks of Tarentum, occupied Neapolis to try to ensure its loyalty. The Neapolitans appealed to Rome, which sent an army and expelled the Samnites from Neapolis, in 312 BC, Appius Claudius Caecus became censor at Rome. He was of the gens Claudia, who were descended from the Sabines taken into the early Roman state. He had been given the name of the ancestor of the gens. He was a populist, i. e. an advocate of the common people, a man of inner perspicacity, in the years of success he was said to have lost his outer vision and thus acquired the name caecus, blind
28.
Servian walls
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The Servian Wall was an ancient Roman defensive barrier constructed around the city of Rome in the early 4th century BC. It is presumed that the wall is named after the sixth Roman King, due to the ease with which the Gauls entered the city, it is conjectured that at some time previous to this, Rome had been forced by its Etruscan rulers to dismantle any significant prior defenses. The wall was built from blocks of tuff quarried from the Grotta Oscura quarry near Romes early rival Veii. In addition to the blocks, some sections of the structure incorporated a deep fossa, or ditch in front of it, along part of its topographically weaker northern perimeter was an agger, a defensive ramp of earth heaped up to the wall along the inside. This thickened the wall, and also gave defenders a base to stand while repelling any attack, the wall was also outfitted with defensive war engines, including catapults. The Servian Wall was formidable enough to repel Hannibal during the Second Punic War, Hannibal famously invaded Italy across the Alps with elephants, and had crushed several Roman armies in the early stages of the war. However, the wall was never put to the test as Hannibal only once, in 211 BC, brought his Carthaginian army to Rome as part of a feint to draw the Roman army from Capua. When it was clear that this had failed, he turned away, without approaching closer than 3 miles to Rome, as a Roman army sallied out of the Servian walls, during the Roman civil wars, the Servian walls were repeatedly overrun. The wall was maintained through the end of the Republic. By this time, Rome had already begun to grow outside the original Servian Wall. The organization of Rome into regions under Augustus placed regions II, III, IV, VI, VIII, X, the wall became unnecessary as Rome became well protected by the ever-expanding military strength of the Republic and of the later Empire. As the city continued to grow and prosper, it was essentially unwalled for the first three centuries of the Empire, when German tribes made further incursions along the Roman frontier in the 3rd century AD, Emperor Aurelian had the larger Aurelian Walls built to protect Rome. Sections of the Servian Wall are still visible in various locations around Rome, the largest section is preserved just outside Termini Station, the main railway station in Rome. Another notable section on the Aventine incorporates an arch for a defensive catapult from the late Republic, the following lists the gates that are believed to have been built, clockwise from the westernmost. Porta Flumentana – this gate was where the via Aurelia entered Rome after crossing the Tiber River, porta Carmentalis – the western end of the Capitoline. Porta Fontinalis – led from the end of the Capitoline into the Campus Martius along the via Lata. Porta Sanqualis – on the Quirinal, porta Salutaris – on the Quirinal. Porta Quirinalis – on the Quirinal, porta Collina – the northernmost gate, on the Quirinal, leading to the via Salaria
29.
Porta Capena
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The Porta Capena was a gate in the Servian Wall near the Caelian Hill, in Rome, Italy according to Roman tradition the sacred grove where Numa Pompilius and the nymph Egeria would meet. It was one of the entries to the city of Rome. The origin of the name is unknown, although it may refer to the fact that the leads to Capua. A well at the Porta Capena provided holy water for the ceremony of Mercuralia. According to 1st century AD writer Juvenal, the Porta Capena was frequented by beggars, in particular, he says that it was a common place for Jewish beggars. Porta Capena square hosts the FAO headquarters, between 1937 and 2004, it was home to the obelisk of Axum. The Porta Capena was featured as a location visited by the Cornelii family in the popular Latin textbook series, Ecce Romani
30.
Via Latina
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The Via Latina was a Roman road of Italy, running southeast from Rome for about 200 kilometers. It led from the Porta Latina in the Aurelian walls of Rome to the pass of Mons Algidus and it follows, too, a far more natural line of communication, without the engineering difficulties that the arrow-straight Via Appia had to overcome. As a through-route, it preceded the Via Labicana, though the latter may have been preferred in later times, at Fregellae, it crossed the Liri, and then passed through Aquino and Cassino, both comparatively low-lying towns. In later times, however, there was in all probability a shortcut by Rufrae along the line taken by the modern highroad and railway. The distance from Rome to Casilinum was 129 Roman miles by the Via Appia,135 Roman miles by the old Via Latina through Venafrum,126 Roman miles by the shortcut past Rufrae. Tombs of Via Latina This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Latina. T. Ashby in Papers of the British School at Rome iv
31.
Pontine Marshes
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The northwestern border runs approximately from the mouth of the river Astura along the river and from its upper reaches to Cori in the Monti Lepini. The former marsh is a low tract of agricultural land created by draining and filling. The area amounts to about 80,000 ha, the Via Appia, a Roman military road constructed in 312 BC, crosses the inland side of the former marsh in a long, straight stretch flanked by trees. Before then, travelers had to use the Via Latina along the flanks of the mountains and it was part of ancient Latium adiectum and still belongs to Lazio. Bordered by the Aurunci Mountains, this land is reclaimed, as well. Leaving Terracina, the Via Appia crosses it, as well, the marsh was an extensive alluvial plain at about sea level created by the failure of the streams draining the mountains to find clearly defined outlets to the sea through the barrier dunes. Above sea level, it was a swamp, below, it was mud flats. Sparsely inhabited throughout much of their history, the Pontine Marshes were the subject of land reclamation work performed periodically. The tribe of the Volsci began with minor draining projects in the vicinity of Tarracina in connection with their occupation of it in the pre-Roman period, the road proved difficult to keep above water. Under Augustus, a compromise was reached with the construction of a parallel canal, the part of the marsh above sea level was successfully drained by channels, and new agricultural land of legendary fertility came into being. Whenever the channels were not maintained, the swamp reappeared, meanwhile, frequent epidemics of malaria at Rome and elsewhere kept the reclamation issue alive. Under Benito Mussolinis regime in the 1930s, the problem was solved by placing dikes. It continues to need constant maintenance, Italian confidence in the project was so high, the city placed by Mussolini in 1932 in the center of the marsh, Latina, became the capital of a new province, Latina. The marsh itself was located in Latium Novum, the part of the region. The two terms create some confusion in the literature, as the region was heavily settled. The underlying land form is a horst–graben, in expansion of the crust causes a section to drop. Underneath the marsh is such a valley, while the steeply sided Volscian Mountains, the graben was formed over a period approximated by the end of the Pliocene about 2.588 million years ago. The natural outcome of this topography was the creation of outer barrier islands
32.
Carthage
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Carthage was the Phoenician city-state of Carthage and during the 7th to 3rd centuries BC, included its sphere of influence, the Carthaginian Empire. The empire extended over much of the coast of North Africa as well as encompassing substantial parts of coastal Iberia, Carthage was founded in 814 BC. At the height of the prominence it served as a major hub of trade. The city also had to deal with potentially hostile Berbers, the inhabitants of the area where Carthage was built. In 146 BC, after the third and final Punic War, Roman forces destroyed, redesigned, nearly all of the other Phoenician city-states and former Carthaginian dependencies subsequently fell into Roman hands. According to Roman sources, Phoenician colonists from modern-day Lebanon, led by Dido, Queen Elissa was an exiled princess of the ancient Phoenician city of Tyre. At its peak, the metropolis she founded, Carthage, came to be called the city, ruling 300 other cities around the western Mediterranean Sea. Elissas brother, Pygmalion of Tyre, had murdered Elissas husband, Elissa escaped the tyranny of her own country, founding the new city of Carthage and subsequently its later dominions. Details of her life are sketchy and confusing, but the following can be deduced from various sources, according to Justin, Princess Elissa was the daughter of King Belus II of Tyre. When he died, the throne was jointly bequeathed to her brother, Pygmalion and she married her uncle Acerbas, also known as Sychaeus, the High Priest of Melqart, a man with both authority and wealth comparable to the king. This led to increased rivalry between the elite and the monarchy. Pygmalion was a tyrant, lover of both gold and intrigue, who desired the authority and fortune enjoyed by Acerbas, Pygmalion assassinated Acerbas in the temple and kept the misdeed concealed from his sister for a long time, deceiving her with lies about her husbands death. At the same time, the people of Tyre called for a single sovereign, in the Roman epic of Virgil, the Aeneid, Queen Dido, the Greek name for Elissa, is first introduced as a highly esteemed character. In just seven years, since their exodus from Tyre, the Carthaginians have rebuilt a successful kingdom under her rule and her subjects adore her and present her with a festival of praise. Her character is perceived by Virgil as even more noble when she offers asylum to Aeneas and his men, who have recently escaped from Troy. A spirit in the form of the god, Mercury, sent by Jupiter, reminds Aeneas that his mission is not to stay in Carthage with his new-found love, Dido. Virgil ends his legend of Dido with the story that, when Aeneas tells Dido, her heart broken, as she lay dying, she predicted eternal strife between Aeneas people and her own, rise up from my bones, avenging spirit she says, an invocation of Hannibal. The settlements at Crete and Sicily were in conflict with the Greeks
33.
Battle of Cannae
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The Battle of Cannae was a major battle of the Second Punic War that took place on 2 August 216 BC in Apulia, in southeast Italy. The army of Carthage, under Hannibal, surrounded and decisively defeated an army of the Roman Republic under the consuls Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro. It is regarded both as one of the greatest tactical feats in history and as one of the worst defeats in Roman history. Having recovered from their losses at Trebia and Lake Trasimene, the Romans decided to engage Hannibal at Cannae, with roughly 86,000 Roman, the Romans massed their heavy infantry in a deeper formation than usual, while Hannibal utilized the double-envelopment tactic. This was so successful that the Roman army was destroyed as a fighting force. Following the defeat, Capua and several other Italian city-states defected from the Roman Republic to Carthage, shortly after the start of the Second Punic War, the Carthaginian general Hannibal crossed into Italy by traversing the Pyrenees and the Alps during the summer and early autumn. He quickly won major victories over the Romans at Trebia and at Lake Trasimene, after these losses, the Romans appointed Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus as dictator to deal with the threat. Fabius used attrition warfare against Hannibal, cutting off his supply lines, the majority of Romans were eager to see a quick conclusion to the war. It was feared that, if Hannibal continued plundering Italy unopposed, therefore, when Fabius came to the end of his term, the Senate did not renew his dictatorial powers and command was given to consuls Gnaeus Servilius Geminus and Marcus Atilius Regulus. But on this occasion, so great was the alarm and terror of what would happen, they resolved to bring not only four, Rome typically employed four legions each year, each consisting of four thousand foot soldiers and two hundred cavalry. Eight legions, some 40,000 Roman soldiers and an estimated 2,400 cavalry, however, some have suggested that the destruction of an army of 90,000 troops would be impossible. They argue that Rome probably had 48,000 troops and 6,000 cavalry against Hannibals 35,000 troops and 10,000 cavalry, Livy quotes one source stating the Romans added only 10,000 men to their usual army. While no definitive number of Roman troops exists, all agree that the Carthaginians faced a considerably larger foe. Consuls were each assigned two of the four legions to command, rarely employing all four legions at once to the same assignment, however, the Senate feared a real threat and not only employed all four legions into the field, but all eight, including allies. Ordinarily, each of the two consuls would command his own portion of the army, but since the two armies were combined into one, Roman law required them to alternate their command on a daily basis. The traditional account puts Varro in command on the day of the battle, however, his low origins seem to be exaggerated in the sources, and Varro may have been made a scapegoat by the aristocratic establishment. In the spring of 216 BC, Hannibal took the initiative and seized the large depot at Cannae, in the Apulian plain. Hannibal recently harvested his crops so he had an army ready for action in the city of Cannae
34.
Hannibal
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Hannibal Barca, was a Carthaginian general, considered one of the greatest military commanders in history. His father Hamilcar Barca was the leading Carthaginian commander during the First Punic War and his younger brothers were Mago and Hasdrubal, and he was brother-in-law to Hasdrubal the Fair. One of his most famous achievements was at the outbreak of the Second Punic War, when he marched an army which included war elephants from Iberia over the Pyrenees, Hannibal occupied much of Italy for 15 years but was unable to march on Rome. An enemy counter-invasion of North Africa forced him to return to Carthage, after the war, Hannibal successfully ran for the office of sufet. During this time, he lived at the Seleucid court, where he acted as advisor to Antiochus III the Great in his war against Rome. Antiochus met defeat at the Battle of Magnesia and was forced to accept Romes terms and his flight ended in the court of Bithynia, where he achieved an outstanding naval victory against a fleet from Pergamon. He was afterwards betrayed to the Romans and committed suicide by poisoning himself, military historian Theodore Ayrault Dodge called Hannibal the father of strategy, because his greatest enemy, Rome, came to adopt elements of his military tactics in its own strategic arsenal. This praise has earned him a reputation in the modern world. The English form of the name is derived from the Latin, Greek historians rendered the name as Anníbas Bárkas. Hannibals name was recorded in Carthaginian sources as ḤNBʻL and its precise vocalization remains a matter of debate. Suggested readings include Ḥannibaʻl or Ḥannibaʻal, meaning grace of Baʻal, Baal is gracious, or Baal has been gracious, or Ḥannobaʻal, Barca was the surname of his aristocratic family, meaning shining or lightning. It is thus equivalent to the Arabic name Barq or the Hebrew name Barak or the ancient Greek epithet keraunos, in English, his clan are sometimes collectively known as the Barcids. As with Greek and Roman practice, patronymics were a part of Carthaginian nomenclature. Hannibal was one of the sons of Hamilcar Barca, a Carthaginian leader and he was born in what is present day Tunisia. He had several sisters and two brothers, Hasdrubal and Mago and his brothers-in-law were Hasdrubal the Fair and the Numidian king Naravas. He was still a child when his sisters married, and his brothers-in-law were close associates during his fathers struggles in the Mercenary War, in light of Hamilcar Barcas cognomen, historians refer to Hamilcars family as the Barcids. However, there is debate as to whether the cognomen Barca was applied to Hamilcar alone or was hereditary within his family, if the latter, then Hannibal and his brothers also bore the name Barca. After Carthages defeat in the First Punic War, Hamilcar set out to improve his familys, with that in mind and supported by Gades, Hamilcar began the subjugation of the tribes of the Iberian Peninsula
35.
Livy
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Livy and Augustuss wife, Livia, were from the same clan in different locations, although not related by blood. Livy was born as Titus Livius in Patavium in northern Italy, there is a debate about the year of Titus Livius birth,64 BC or more likely 59 BC. At the time of his birth, his city of Patavium was the second wealthiest on the Italian peninsula. Patavium was a part of the province of Cisalpine Gaul at the time, in his works, Livy often expressed his deep affection and pride for Patavium, and the city was well known for its conservative values in morality and politics. Livy’s teen years were during the 40s BC, a time that coincided with the wars that were occurring throughout the Roman world. The governor of Cisalpine Gaul at the time, a man called Asinius Pollio, had tried to bring Patavium into the camp of Marcus Antonius, the wealthier citizens of Patavium refused to contribute money and arms to Asinius Pollio, and went into hiding. Therefore, Livy and the residents of Patavium did not end up supporting Marcus Antonius in his campaign for control over Rome. Later on, Asinius Pollio made a jibe at Livys patavinity and his jibe at Livy and his patavinity, however, may have been said because the city of Patavium had rejected Asinius Pollio, and he still harboured harsh feelings toward the city as a whole. Titus Livius probably went to Rome in the 30s BC, and it is likely that he spent an amount of time in the city after this. During his time in Rome, he was never a senator nor held any other governmental position and his elementary mistakes in military matters show that he was never a soldier. However, he was educated in philosophy and rhetoric and it seems that Livy had the financial resources and means to live an independent life. He devoted a part of his life to his writings. Livy was known to give recitations to small audiences, but he was not heard of to engage in declamation and he was familiar with the emperor Augustus, formerly Octavian, and the imperial family. Octavian was one of the three men fighting for the control of Rome during the Civil Wars in the 40s BC, Octavian gained power after defeating Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra, and was later given the honorary name of Augustus. Considering that Augustus came to be known as the greatest Roman emperor in the eyes of the Romans and it is said that Livy was the one who encouraged the future emperor Claudius, who was born in 10 BC, to explore the writing of history during his childhood. Livy himself was married and had at least one daughter and one son, Livy’s most famous work was his history of Rome. In it he explains the history of the city of Rome. Because he was writing under the emperor Augustus, Livy’s history emphasizes the great triumphs of Rome and he wrote his history with embellished accounts of Roman heroism in order to promote the new type of government implemented by Augustus when he became emperor
36.
Battle of Capua (211 BC)
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The Second Battle of Capua was fought in 211 BC, when the Romans besieged Capua. It is described by Polybius at 9. 4-7, and by Livy at 26. 4-6, Capua had defected to Hannibal after the Battle of Cannae in 216 BC. Hannibal had made Capua his winter quarter in 215 BC and had conducted his campaigns against Nola, by 211 BC, Hannibal was busy in the south of Italia and the Romans were ready to try again, banking on taking it before Hannibals army could return to Capua. Hannibal feared that if he approached Capua, the Romans would simply withdraw, as they had done on other occasions, only to return to lay siege again once he had left. He thus tried to break the siege by marching on Rome itself, hoping that that threat would force the Roman army to break off the siege and march back to Rome to defend it. Once the Roman army was in the open, he would turn to engage it in a pitched battle and defeat them once again. However, Hannibal found the defences of Rome too formidable for an assault and as he had planned this movement as a feint. The Roman besiegers of Capua, knowing this, ignored his march on Rome and his feint having failed, Hannibal was forced to retreat south and Capua unrelieved fell to the Romans shortly afterwards. Polybius - The Rise of the Roman Empire, pp 387-394
37.
Castel Volturno
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Castel Volturno is a comune in the Province of Caserta in the Italian region Campania, located about 35 kilometres northwest of Naples and about 35 kilometres west of Caserta on the Volturno river. Castel Volturno was a settlement of the Oscans and then of the Etruscans, who called it Volturnum, and was a trade point on the road to Casilinum and Capua. Volturnum became a Roman colony in 194 BC and, in 95 AD, it was reached by the Via Domitiana, and received a large bridge connecting the two shores of the river with the same name. The town decayed after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, in 841 it was ravaged by Saracens. After 856, the Lombard bishop Radipert had a built on what remained of the bridge. After a period under local counts, in 1062 it was given to Montecassino while in 1206. Alfonso V of Naples gave it to his daughter, but, the following year the king sold it to the city of Capua, which held it until the abolition of feudalism in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1810. In 1812 it became an autonomous commune, in 1860 it was annexed to the newly unified Kingdom of Italy. Castel Volturno received a boost in its activities after the nearby lands were dried during the Fascist government, and after the new Domiziana Road. The Castel Volturno massacre was a massacre perpetrated by the Casalesi clan that led to the deaths of seven people on September 18,2008. The massacre outside the Ob Ob Exotic Fashion tailor shop on the Via Domitiana was widely characterized as part of a conflict between the native Camorra and the immigrant African drug gangs. Joseph Ayimbora,34, survived by feigning death, he helped identify the killers. Castle Chapel of San Castrese Torre di Patria, a tower built in the 15th century Villaggio Coppola Castel Volturno official website Castel Volturno info website
38.
Liternum
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Liternum was an ancient town of Campania, southern central Italy, on the low sandy coast between Cumae and the mouth of the Volturnus. It was probably once dependent on Cumae, in 194 BC it became a Roman colony. Although Livy records that the town was unsuccessful, excavation reveals a Roman town existed there until the 4th century AD, the town is mainly famous as the residence of the elder Scipio Africanus, who withdrew from Rome and died there. His tomb and villa are described by Seneca the Younger, in Ovids Metamorphoses Liternum is mentioned for its mastic trees, lentisciferum. Augustus Caesar is said to have conducted a colony of veterans to Liternum, however, the place never had any great importance, and the lagoons behind it made it unhealthy. The construction of the Via Domitiana through Liternum made it a posting station, the Hunterian Museums page on Liternum, with maps and photos. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
39.
Cicero
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Marcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman philosopher, politician, lawyer, orator, political theorist, consul, and constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy family of the Roman equestrian order. According to Michael Grant, the influence of Cicero upon the history of European literature, Cicero introduced the Romans to the chief schools of Greek philosophy and created a Latin philosophical vocabulary distinguishing himself as a translator and philosopher. Though he was an orator and successful lawyer, Cicero believed his political career was his most important achievement. During the chaotic latter half of the 1st century BC marked by civil wars, following Julius Caesars death, Cicero became an enemy of Mark Antony in the ensuing power struggle, attacking him in a series of speeches. His severed hands and head were then, as a revenge of Mark Antony. Petrarchs rediscovery of Ciceros letters is often credited for initiating the 14th-century Renaissance in public affairs, humanism, according to Polish historian Tadeusz Zieliński, the Renaissance was above all things a revival of Cicero, and only after him and through him of the rest of Classical antiquity. Cicero was born in 106 BC in Arpinum, a hill town 100 kilometers southeast of Rome and his father was a well-to-do member of the equestrian order and possessed good connections in Rome. However, being a semi-invalid, he could not enter public life, although little is known about Ciceros mother, Helvia, it was common for the wives of important Roman citizens to be responsible for the management of the household. Ciceros brother Quintus wrote in a letter that she was a thrifty housewife, Ciceros cognomen, or personal surname, comes from the Latin for chickpea, cicer. Plutarch explains that the name was given to one of Ciceros ancestors who had a cleft in the tip of his nose resembling a chickpea. However, it is likely that Ciceros ancestors prospered through the cultivation. Romans often chose down-to-earth personal surnames, the family names of Fabius, Lentulus, and Piso come from the Latin names of beans, lentils. Plutarch writes that Cicero was urged to change this name when he entered politics. During this period in Roman history, cultured meant being able to speak both Latin and Greek, Cicero used his knowledge of Greek to translate many of the theoretical concepts of Greek philosophy into Latin, thus translating Greek philosophical works for a larger audience. It was precisely his broad education that tied him to the traditional Roman elite, according to Plutarch, Cicero was an extremely talented student, whose learning attracted attention from all over Rome, affording him the opportunity to study Roman law under Quintus Mucius Scaevola. Ciceros fellow students were Gaius Marius Minor, Servius Sulpicius Rufus, the latter two became Ciceros friends for life, and Pomponius would become, in Ciceros own words, as a second brother, with both maintaining a lifelong correspondence. Cicero wanted to pursue a career in politics along the steps of the Cursus honorum
40.
Diana (mythology)
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In Roman mythology, Diana was the goddess of the hunt, the moon, and nature being associated with wild animals and woodland, and having the power to talk to and control animals. She was eventually equated with the Greek goddess Artemis, though she had an independent origin in Italy, Diana was worshipped in ancient Roman religion and is revered in Roman Neopaganism and Stregheria. Diana was known to be the goddess of childbirth and women. She was one of the three goddesses, along with Minerva and Vesta, who swore never to marry. Oak groves were especially sacred to her as were deer, according to mythology, Diana was born with her twin brother, Apollo, on the island of Delos, daughter of Jupiter and Latona. She made up a triad with two other Roman deities, Egeria the water nymph, her servant and assistant midwife, and Virbius, the woodland god. Diana is a form developed from an ancient *divios, corresponding to later divus, dius, as in Dius Fidius, Dea Dia. It is rooted in Indoeuropean *dyw, meaning sky or daylight, from which also derived the name of Vedic god Dyaus and the Latin deus, dies. On the Tablets of Pylos a theonym διϝια is supposed as referring to a deity precursor of Artemis, Modern scholars mostly accept the identification. The ancient Latin writers Varro and Cicero considered the etymology of Dīāna as allied to that of dies, the persona of Diana is complex and contains a number of archaic features. According to Georges Dumézil it falls into a subset of celestial gods. Such gods, while keeping the original features of celestial divinities, the celestial character of Diana is reflected in her connection with light, inaccessibility, virginity, and her preference for dwelling on high mountains and in sacred woods. Diana therefore reflects the world in its sovereignty, supremacy, impassibility. At the same time, however, she is seen as active in ensuring the succession of kings and these functions are apparent in the traditional institutions and cults related to the goddess. This ever open succession reveals the character and mission of the goddess as a guarantor of kingly status through successive generations. Her function as bestower of authority to rule is also attested in the story related by Livy in which a Sabine man who sacrifices a heifer to Diana wins for his country the seat of the Roman empire. Diana was also worshipped by women who wanted to be pregnant or who, once pregnant and this form of worship is attested in archeological finds of votive statuettes in her sanctuary in the nemus Aricinum as well as in ancient sources, e. g. Ovid. According to Dumezil the forerunner of all gods is an Indian epic hero who was the image of the Vedic god Dyaus
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Capua (Campania)". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the 
