Three Taverns
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Tre Taverne (; , ''Treis Tabernai'') was a place on the ancient
Appian Way The Appian Way (Latin and Italian language, Italian: Via Appia) is one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient Roman Republic, republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy. Its importance is in ...
, about 50 km (31 miles) from
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
, designed for the reception of travellers, as the name indicates.


History

Tres Tabernae originated as a post station on the
Appian Way The Appian Way (Latin and Italian language, Italian: Via Appia) is one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient Roman Republic, republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy. Its importance is in ...
(), around the 3rd century BC. Here, the Christian saint
Paul of Tarsus Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Apostles in the New Testament, Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the Ministry of Jesus, teachings of Jesus in the Christianity in the 1st century, first ...
, on his way to Rome, was met by a band of Roman Christians (
Acts The Acts of the Apostles (, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; ) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its message to the Roman Empire. Acts and the Gospel of Luke make up a two-par ...
28:15). The "Tres Tabernae was the first ''
mansio In the Roman Empire, a ''mansio'' (from the Latin word ''mansus,'' the perfect passive participle of ''manere'' "to remain" or "to stay") was an official stopping place on a Roman road, or ''via'', maintained by the central government for the use ...
'' or ''mutatio'', that is, halting-place for relays, from Rome, or the last on the way to the city. At this point three roads run into the Via Appia, that from
Tusculum Tusculum is a ruined Classical Rome, Roman city in the Alban Hills, in the Latium region of Italy. Tusculum was most famous in Roman times for the many great and luxurious patrician country villas sited close to the city, yet a comfortable dist ...
, that from
Alba Longa Alba Longa (occasionally written Albalonga in Italian sources) was an ancient Latins (Italic tribe), Latin city in Central Italy in the vicinity of Lake Albano in the Alban Hills. The ancient Romans believed it to be the founder and head of the ...
, and that from
Antium Antium was an Ancient history, ancient coastal town in Latium, south of Rome. An oppidum was founded by people of Latial culture (11th century BC or the beginning of the 1st millennium BC), then it was the main stronghold of the Volsci people unti ...
; so necessarily here would be a halting-place, which took its name from the three shops there, the general store, the blacksmith's, and the refreshment-house...Tres Tabernae is translated as Three Taverns." The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition identifies it as "an ancient village of
Latium Latium ( , ; ) is the region of central western Italy in which the city of Rome was founded and grew to be the capital city of the Roman Empire. Definition Latium was originally a small triangle of fertile, volcanic soil (Old Latium) on whic ...
, Italy, a post station on the Via Appia, at the point where the main road was crossed by a branch from Antium". It is by some fixed some 3 m. S.E. of the modern village of
Cisterna A cisterna (: cisternae) is a flattened membrane vesicle found in the endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus. Cisternae are an integral part of the packaging and modification processes of proteins occurring in the Golgi. Function Proteins begi ...
just before the Via Appia enters the
Pontine Marshes 250px, Lake Fogliano, a coastal lagoon in the Pontine Plain The Pontine Marshes ( , ; , formerly also ; [] by Titus Livius, [] and [] by Pliny the Elder''Natural History'' 3.59.) is an approximately quadrangular area of former marshland ...
, at a point where the modern road to Norma, Lazio, Ninfa and
Norba Norba, an ancient town of Latium (''Adjectum''), Italy. It is situated 1 mile northwest of the modern town of Norma, on the western edge of the Volscian Mountains or Monti Lepini. The town is perched above a precipitous cliff with a splendid ...
diverges to the north-east, where a few ruins still exist (''Grotte di Nottola''), 33 m. from Rome. Others believe that it stood at Cisterna itself, where a branch road running from Antium by way of
Satricum Satricum (located near the modern hamlet of Le Ferriere), was an ancient town of Latium vetus, situated on the right bank of the Astura River approximately southeast of Rome. It lay in a low-lying region south of the Alban Hills, at the northwes ...
actually joins the Via Appia. However, excavations that took place at km 58.1 of the Via Appia Nuova between 1993 and 2001 revealed a bath plant and some further buildings. Around the 3rd century AD, the area was invaded by marshes, and the inhabitants of the nearby '' Ulubrae'' likely moved to ''Tres Tabernae'', which grew of importance and became a Christian
episcopal see An episcopal see is the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, making it synonymous with ''diocese'' ...
with a
Palaeo-Christian Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the historical era of the Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Christianity spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyo ...
cathedral dedicated to St. Paul. In 307, emperor Flavius Severus was assassinated (or forced to commit suicide) here by Heraclius, by order of other emperors
Maximian Maximian (; ), nicknamed Herculius, was Roman emperor from 286 to 305. He was ''Caesar (title), Caesar'' from 285 to 286, then ''Augustus (title), Augustus'' from 286 to 305. He shared the latter title with his co-emperor and superior, Diocleti ...
and
Maxentius Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius ( 283 – 28 October 312) was a Roman emperor from 306 until his death in 312. Despite ruling in Italy and North Africa, and having the recognition of the Senate in Rome, he was not recognized as a legitimate ...
. The barbaric invasions in Italy caused a further expansions of the marshes, and Tres Tabernae declined so that, in 592,
Pope Gregory I Pope Gregory I (; ; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great (; ), was the 64th Bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 until his death on 12 March 604. He is known for instituting the first recorded large-scale mission from Ro ...
united its diocese to that of Velletri. Later in the high Middle Ages, Tres Tabernae was ravaged several times by the
Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Rom ...
s, until it was completely destroyed in 868. The position of the Tres Tabernae is also shown in the
Tabula Peutingeriana ' (Latin Language, Latin for 'The Peutinger Map'), also known as Peutinger's Tabula, Peutinger tablesJames Strong (theologian) , James Strong and John McClintock (theologian) , John McClintock (1880)"Eleutheropolis" In: ''The Cyclopedia of Bibli ...
in a location south of Rome.''Chronology''
hs-augsburg.de online;


Notes


References

* * {{coord, 41, 33, 43, N, 12, 52, 26, E, region:IT-LT_type:city_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Roman towns and cities in Italy New Testament words and phrases Populated places established in the 3rd century BC Populated places disestablished in the 9th century Roman waystations in Italy