page_title: Aquileia
section_title: Roman Era
hierarchical_section_title: Aquileia / History / Roman Era
caption_attribution_description: English: Ancient Roman columns in Aquileia - Italy. with Italian cypress (Cupressus sempervirens ). Italiano: Scavi del foro della città romana di Aquileia.
context_page_description: Aquileia is an ancient Roman city in Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about 10 kilometres from the sea, on the river Natiso, the course of which has changed somewhat since Roman times. Today, the city is small, but it was large and prominent in Antiquity as one of the world's largest cities with a population of 100,000 in the 2nd century AD. and is one of the main archeological sites of Northern Italy.
context_section_description: Aquileia was founded as a colony by the Romans in 180/181 BC along the Natiso River, on land south of the Julian Alps but about 13 kilometres (8 mi) north of the lagoons. The colony served as a strategic frontier fortress at the north-east corner of transpadane (on the far side of the Po river) Italy and was intended to protect the Veneti, faithful allies of Rome during the invasion of Hannibal and the Illyrian Wars.  The colony would serve as a citadel to check the advance into Cisalpine Gaul of other warlike peoples, such as the hostile Carni to the northeast in what is now Carnia and Histri tribes to the southeast in what is now Istria.  In fact, the site chosen for Aquileia was about 6 km from where an estimated 12,000 Celtic Taurisci nomads had attempted to settle in 183 BC.  However, since the 13th century BC, the site, on the river and at the head of the Adriatic, had also been of commercial importance as the end of the Baltic amber (sucinum) trade.  It is, therefore, theoretically not unlikely that Aquileia had been a Gallic oppidum even before the coming of the Romans. However, few Celtic artifacts have been discovered from 500 BC to the Roman arrival.
  The colony was established with Latin rights by the triumvirate of Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica, Caius Flaminius, and Lucius Manlius Acidinus, two of whom were of consular and one of praetorian rank. Each of the men had first hand knowledge of Cisalpine Gaul.  Nasica had conquered the Boii in 191.  Flaminius had overseen the construction of the road named after him from Bologna to Arezzo.  Acidinus had conquered the Taurisci in 183.
  The triumvirate led 3,000 families to settle the area meaning Aquileia probably had a population of 20,000 soon after its founding. Meanwhile, based on the evidence of names chiseled on stone, the majority of colonizing families came from Picenum, Samnium, and Campania, which also explains why the colony was Latin and not Roman.  Among these colonists, pedites received 50 iugera of land each, centuriones received 100 iugera each, and equites received 140 iugera each. Either at the founding or not long afterward, colonists from the nearby Veneti supplemented these families.
  Roads soon connected Aquileia with the Roman colony of Bologna probably in 173 BC. In 148 BC, it was connected with Genua by the Via Postumia, which stretched across the Padanian plain from Aquileia through or near to Opitergium, Tarvisium, Vicetia, Verona, Bedriacum, and the three Roman colonies of Cremona, Placentia, and Dertona.  The construction of the Via Popilia from the Roman colony of Ariminium to Ad Portum near Altinum in 132 BC improved communications still further. In the 1st century AD, the Via Gemina would link Aquileia with Emona to the east of the Julian Alps, and by 78 or 79 AD the Via Flavia would link Aquileia to Pula.
  Meanwhile, in 169 BC, 1,500 more Latin colonists with their families, led by the triumvirate of Titus Annius Lucius, Publius Decius Subulo, and Marcus Cornelius Cethegus, settled in the town as a reinforcement to the garrison. The discovery of the gold fields near the modern Klagenfurt in 130 BC brought the growing colony into further notice, and it soon became a place of importance, not only owing to its strategic military position, but as a center of commerce, especially in agricultural products and viticulture. It also had, in later times at least, considerable brickfields.
  In 90 BC, the original Latin colony became a municipium and its citizens were ascribed to the Roman tribe Velina. The customs boundary of Italy was close by in Cicero's day. Caesar visited the city on a number of occasions and pitched winter camp nearby in 59-58 BC.
  Although the Iapydes plundered Aquileia during the Augustan period, subsequent increased settlement and no lack of profitable work meant the city was able to develop its resources. Jewish artisans established a flourishing trade in glasswork. Metal from Noricum was forged and exported. The ancient Venetic trade in amber from the Baltic continued. Wine, especially its famous Pucinum was exported. O
caption: A view of the archaeological area of Aquileia.
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