Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Benevento


Ancient era
Benevento, as Maleventum, one of the chief cities of Samnium, and at a later period one of the most important cities of southern Italy, was situated on the Via Appia at a distance of 51 kilometres (32 mi) east from Capua; and on the banks of the river Calor (modern Calore). There is some discrepancy as to the people to which it belonged at contact: Pliny expressly assigns it to the Hirpini; but Livy certainly seems to consider it as belonging to the Samnites proper, as distinguished from the Hirpini; and Ptolemy adopts the same view. All writers concur in representing it as a very ancient city; Solinus and Stephanus of Byzantium ascribe its foundation to Diomedes; a legend which appears to have been adopted by the inhabitants, who, in the time of Procopius, pretended to exhibit the tusks of the Calydonian Boar in proof of their descent. Festus, on the contrary (s. v. Ausoniam), related that it was founded by Auson, a son of Ulysses and Circe; a tradition which indicates that it was an ancient Ausonian city, previous to its conquest by the Samnites. But it first appears in history as a Samnite city; and must have already been a place of strength, so that the Romans did not venture to attack it during their first two wars with the Samnites. It appears, however, to have fallen into their hands during the Third Samnite War, though the exact occasion is unknown. It was certainly in the power of the Romans in 274 BC, when Pyrrhus was defeated in a great battle, fought in its immediate neighborhood, by the consul Curius Dentatus. Six years later (268 BC) they further sought to secure its possession by establishing there a Roman colony with Latin rights. It was at this time that it first assumed the name of Beneventum, having previously been called Maleventum, a name which the Romans regarded as of evil augury, and changed into one of a more fortunate signification. It is probable that the Oscan or Samnite name was Maloeis, or Malieis (Μαλιείς in Ancient Greek), whence the form Maleventum would derive, like Agrigentum from Acragas (modern Agrigento), Selinuntium from Selinus (the ruins of which are at modern Selinunte), etc.

As a Roman colony Beneventum seems to have quickly become a flourishing place; and in the Second Punic War was repeatedly occupied by Roman generals as a post of importance, on account of its proximity to Campania, and its strength as a fortress. In its immediate neighborhood were fought two of the most decisive actions of the war: the Battle of Beneventum, (214 BC), in which the Carthaginian general Hanno was defeated by Tiberius Gracchus; the other in 212 BC, when the camp of Hanno, in which he had accumulated a vast quantity of corn and other stores, was stormed and taken by the Roman consul Quintus Fulvius Flaccus. And though its territory was more than once laid waste by the Carthaginians, it was still one of the eighteen Latin colonies which in 209 BCE were at once able and willing to furnish the required quota of men and money for continuing the war. It is singular that no mention of it occurs during the Social War; but it seems to have escaped from the calamities which at that time befell so many cities of Samnium, and towards the close of the Roman Republic is spoken of as one of the most opulent and flourishing cities of Italy. Under the Second Triumvirate its territory was portioned out by the Triumvirs to their veterans, and subsequently a fresh colony was established there by Augustus, who greatly enlarged its domain by the addition of the territory of Caudium (modern Montesarchio). A third colony was settled there by Nero, at which time it assumed the title of Concordia; hence we find it bearing, in inscriptions of the reign of Septimius Severus, the titles Colonia Julia Augusta Concordia Felix Beneventum. Its importance and flourishing condition under the Roman Empire is sufficiently attested by existing remains and inscriptions; it was at that period unquestionably the chief city of the Hirpini, and probably, next to Capua, the most populous and considerable city of southern Italy. For this prosperity it was doubtless indebted in part to its position on the Via Appia, just at the junction of the two principal arms or branches of that great road, the one called afterwards the Via Trajana, leading thence by Equus Tuticus into Apulia; the other by Aeclanum to Venusia (modern Venosa) and Tarentum (modern Taranto). Its wealth is also evidenced by the quantity of coins minted by Beneventum. Horace famously notes Beneventum on his journey from Rome to Brundusium (modern Brindisi). It was indebted to the same circumstance for the honor of repeated visits from the emperors of Rome, among which those of Nero, Trajan, and Septimus Severus, are particularly recorded.

The Arch of Trajan, provided with a portcullis, as it appeared in the 18th century, etching by Piranesi. Some of the bas-reliefs are now in the British Museum.
It was probably for the same reason that the triumphal arch, the Arch of Trajan, was erected there by the senate and people of Rome and constructed by the architect Apollodorus of Damascus in 114. The Arch of Trajan is one of the best-preserved Roman structures in the Campania. It repeats the formula of the Arch of Titus in the Roman Forum, with reliefs of Trajan's life and exploits of his reign. Some of the sculptures are in the British Museum. Successive emperors seem to have bestowed on the city accessions of territory, and erected, or at least given name to, various public buildings. For administrative purposes it was first included, together with the rest of the Hirpini, in the second region of Augustus, but was afterwards annexed to Campania and placed under the control of the consular of that province. Its inhabitants were included in the Stellatine tribe. Beneventum retained its importance down to the close of the Empire, and though during the Gothic wars it was taken by Totila, and its walls razed to the ground, they were restored, as well as its public buildings, shortly after; and P. Diaconus speaks of it as a very wealthy city, and the capital of all the surrounding provinces.

Beneventum indeed seems to have been a place of much literary cultivation; it was the birthplace of Orbilius the grammarian, who long continued to teach in his native city before he removed to Rome, and was honored with a statue by his fellow-townsmen; while existing inscriptions record similar honors paid to another grammarian, Rutilius Aelianus, as well as to orators and poets, apparently only of local celebrity.

The territory of Beneventum under the Roman Empire was of very considerable extent. Towards the west it included that of Caudium, with the exception of the town itself; to the north it extended as far as the river Tamarus (modern Tammaro), including the village of Pago Veiano, which, as we learn from an inscription, was anciently called Pagus Veianus; on the northeast it comprised the town of Equus Tuticus (modern Sant'Eleuterio, near Castel Franco), and on the east and south bordered on the territories of Aeclanum and Abellinum. An inscription has preserved to us the names of several of the pagi or villages dependent upon Beneventum, but their sites cannot be identified.

The city's most ancient coins bear the legend "Malies" or "Maliesa", which have been supposed to belong to the Samnite, or pre-Samnite, Maleventum. Coins with the legend "BENVENTOD" (an old Latin – or Samnite – form for Beneventor-um), must have been struck after it became a Latin colony

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