Clastidium (modern
Casteggio
Casteggio is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Pavia in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 61 km south of Milan and about 25 km south of Pavia. As of 31 July 2010, it had a population of 6,537 and an area of 17.8 ...
), 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 Aemil ...
, 5 miles east of Iria (modern
Voghera) 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 th ...
''; in 218 BC,
Hannibal 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 classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19th centu ...
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