Peltuinum was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

town of the

Vestini Vestini () were an Italic peoples, Italic tribe who occupied the area of the modern Abruzzo (central Italy), included between the Gran Sasso and the northern bank of the Aterno-Pescara, Aterno river. Their main centres were ''Pitinum ''(near mo ...

, on the ancient Via Claudia Nova, 20 km east of

L'Aquila L'Aquila ( ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy. It is the capital city of the Province of L'Aquila and the Abruzzo region in Italy. , it has a population of 69,902. Laid out within medieval walls on a hill in the wide valley of the A ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, between the modern-day settlements of Prata d'Ansidonia and Castelnuovo. It was apparently the chief town of that portion of the Vestini who dwelt west of the main Apennine chain. Remains of the town walls, of an

amphitheatre An amphitheatre (American English, U.S. English: amphitheater) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ('), meani ...

, of a temple and of other buildings still exist. The city was the birthplace of

Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo ( Peltuinum c. AD 7 – 67) was a popular Roman general, brother-in-law of the emperor Caligula and father-in-law of Domitian. The emperor Nero, highly fearful of Corbulo's reputation, ordered him to commit suicide, which t ...

, a Roman general from the age of

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68) was a Roman emperor and the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 until his ...

History

Roman age

The foundation of Peltuinum was in the middle of the 1st century BC. At the turn of the first century AD the city wall and a monumental sanctuary area were built of which excavations have brought to light a temple and a theatre. In 47 AD the L'Aquila-Foggia road from Sabina towards the market centres of Arpi and Lucera was structured as via Claudia Nova with the consequent monumentalisation of the stretch that crossed the town.

Late Antiquity and Middle Ages

Ancient sources mention a strong earthquake in the 5th century that affected Rome as well as a large part of central Italy, and the earthquake of 443 damaged Peltuinum. The population began to abandon the city, also due to the wars that increasingly marked the weakness of the Empire. The community moved towards more defensible areas and the main buildings of the city were used as quarries. During the Greek-Gothic war the territory of Peltuinum, like that of nearby Alba Fucens, were the sites of Byzantine camps of general

Belisarius BelisariusSometimes called Flavia gens#Later use, Flavius Belisarius. The name became a courtesy title by the late 4th century, see (; ; The exact date of his birth is unknown. March 565) was a military commander of the Byzantine Empire under ...

The site

Peltuinum stands on a plateau over 100 m above the surroundings. The walled area has an area of about 26 hectares. The centre is crossed east to west by the via Claudia Nova.

The walls

The walls are along the edge of a slope with a plinth in ''opus incertum''. The double-arched west gate is the only one that is preserved. After the Romans it was used as a control gate for the passage of livestock and between the towers is a space for the customs offices. The customs function was maintained for centuries.

Sanctuary

The temple overlooked the square and was a Corinthian hexastyle prostyle, with three columns on the extension of the doors and a cella with a colonnade of perhaps two orders, with the base for the cult statue on the back wall. The cella of the temple was built above a spring which must have been a sacred element in the Vestine period. The discovery of a fragmentary votive table with the dedication APELLUNE (= Apollini), reused as the threshold of one of the shops facing via Claudia Nova, in the central area of the city, has led to the hypothesis that the temple was dedicated to Apollo. The temple is framed by a U-shaped portico, on a single level and with a double nave with a spine colonnade. The fourth side, the northern one, is enclosed by walls which join the portico to the temple at the level of the pronaos. There were two entrances on the northern side of the portico (the side facing the forum square) and two at the southernmost point of the east and west arms.

Theatre

The theatre used the hillside for part of the seating and only the southern sector was supported by radial walls. The theatre was damaged by minor earthquakes.

References

{{Authority control Populated places established in the 1st century BC Roman sites of Abruzzo Former populated places in Italy Roman towns and cities in Abruzzo Prata d'Ansidonia San Pio delle Camere