page_title: Municipio III
section_title: From the ancient settlements to republican Rome
hierarchical_section_title: Municipio III / History / From the ancient settlements to republican Rome
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Carte du Latium antique sur lequel figure le tracé des aqueducs de Rome. D'après un fond de carte de 1886 (G. Droysens Allgemeiner Historischer Handatlas).
context_page_description: Municipio Roma III is the third administrative subdivision of Rome.
  It was established by the Capitoline Assembly, with Resolution No. 11 of 11 March 2013, which replaced the previous Municipio Roma IV.
context_section_description: The most important ancient settlements in the territory were undoubtedly Custrumerium and Fidenae. The first one is also mentioned by Virgil in the Aeneid and was conquered by Romulus, while the date of conquest of the second one is uncertain.
  It is known that, when Rome was founded in 753 BC, Fidenae was a medium-large center that exploited the transport and communication routes both by river and land. For this reason, the Romans always tried to isolate it (especially from Veii) and to conquer it.
  According to traditional accounts, the conquest took place under the reign of Romulus, through the so-called battle of Fidenae. 
  A more accredited hypothesis traces the conquest back to 474 BC when - though the Fidenates tried to contrast the Romans through an alliance with the Etruscan city of Veii - the city was occupied by a Roman garrison in order to conquer it. The Romans sacked it and then set it on fire between 436 BC and 435 BC: the city then became a municipium of Rome and a part of the inhabitants was enslaved.
  In order to rebuild a part of the edifices burned by the Gallic fire, Rome drew a large quantity of blocks of tuff from the quarries near Fidenae. Thanks to the fall of Fidenae, the Romans gained a good position in the fight against Veii. In the late Republican age, according to Strabo, Fidenae, like Gabii and Labicum, was often taken as an example of a city subdued and reduced to a village.
  Nowadays, as a testimony to the millennial history of the Municipio, it is possible to visit the protohistoric house of Fidenae, a full-scale reconstruction, made with ancient building techniques, of a house dating back to the end of the 9th century BC, which has been found almost intact.
caption: Map of Old Latium.
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