Clastidium (modern Casteggio), was a village of the Ligurian tribe of Anamares (Marici named also) in Gallia Cispadana, on the

Via Postumia The Via Postumia was an ancient Roman road of northern Italy constructed in 148 BC by the ''consul'' Spurius Postumius Albinus Magnus. It ran from the coast at Genua through the mountains to Dertona, Placentia (the termination of the Via Aemi ...

, 5 miles east of Iria (modern

Voghera The Castle of Voghera in a 19th-century etching. Voghera ( Vogherese dialect of Emilian: ''Vughera''; Latin: ''Forum Iulii Iriensium'') is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Pavia in the Italian region Lombardy. The population was 39,3 ...

) and 31 miles west of Placentia. Here in 222 BC,

Marcus Claudius Marcellus Marcus Claudius Marcellus (; 270 – 208 BC), five times elected as consul of the Roman Republic, was an important Roman military leader during the Gallic War of 225 BC and the Second Punic War. Marcellus gained the most prestigious award a Roma ...

defeated the Gauls and won the ''

spolia opima The ''spolia opima'' ("rich spoils") were the armour, arms, and other effects that an ancient Roman general stripped from the body of an opposing commander slain in single combat. The ''spolia opima'' were regarded as the most honourable of the ...

''; in 218 BC,

Hannibal Hannibal (; xpu, 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋, ''Ḥannibaʿl''; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Pu ...

took it and its stores of grain by treachery. It never had an independent government, and not later than 190 BC was made part of the colony of Placentia, founded in 218 BC. In the Augustan division of Italy, however, Placentia belonged to the 8th region, ''Aemilia'', whereas Iria certainly, and Clastidium possibly, belonged to the 9th region, ''Liguria'' (see

Theodor Mommsen Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (; 30 November 1817 – 1 November 1903) was a German classics, classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19 ...

in ''Corp. Inscrip. Lat.'' vol. v. Berlin, 1877, p. 828). The remains visible at Clastidium are scanty; there is a fountain (the ''Fontana d'Annibale''), and a Roman bridge, which seems to have been constructed of tiles, not of stone, was discovered in 1857, but destroyed.

Notes

References

*C. Giulietti, ''Casteggio, notizie storiche II. Avanzi di antichità'', Voghera, 1893. * {{EB1911 article with no significant updates Roman sites of Lombardy Roman Gaul Former populated places in Italy