Gabii

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Gabii was an ancient city of Latium, between 12 and 13 miles East of Rome. It was located on the south-eastern bank of an extinct volcanic crater-lake named the Lago di Castiglione [1].

Gabii is directly right of Roma under Collatia
Gabii is directly right of Roma under Collatia

This was an advantageous location as it was close to routes that ran north, east, and west [2]. Gabii was supposedly founded by Alba Longa or the Sicels [3], one of the three major indigenous tribes of ancient Sicily [4]. The area that would come to hold the city had been inhabited since the middle Bronze Age [2], although the urbanization of the area probably did not begin before the start of the second half of the eighth century BC [1]. This process most likely finished by the end of the seventh century BC, and, at its height, the city's borders enclosed roughly .75 square miles [1]. Through Gabii ran the Via Praenestina [3], which was in early times known as the Via Gabina.

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[edit] Legend

There is a legend that Romulus and Remus were raised in Gabii, where they learned everything from literature to the use of Greek weapons [3]. As told in Livy's History of Rome (Liv. 1,53,4), Gabii went to war with Rome during the reign of Tarquinius Superbus, and, after initial success, was defeated through the use of trickery by Tarquinius and his youngest son Sextus [5]. Dionysius of Halicarnassus states (Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 4,58) that Tarquin was lenient with Gabii, and their subsequent treaty, whose original text was written on a bullock's skin and draped over a wooden shield, was said by Dionysius of Halicarnassus to be still extant in his day in the Roman temple of Sancus [6].

[edit] Impact

Gabii's importance in the earliest history of Rome is also apparent elsewhere: the adoption of the cinctus Gabinus (a method of draping the toga which leaves both arms free) by the Romans for certain ceremonies [2] (Liv. 5,46), the unique role it played for the augurs [2] as seen from the specific term ager Gabinus used by these priests [3] (Varro, Ling. 5,33), and its presence in a Roman damnation formula [3] (Macrob. Sat. 3,9,13).

[edit] Subsequent Developments

Its subsequent history is obscure. Gabii was an ally of Rome after 493 BC [2], and we hear of it again in the 1st century BC as a small and insignificant place. In fact, since the late Republican period the city became depopulated due to the extensive use of the lapis Gabinus quarry, which was just under the arcaic city. Cicero and the Augustan poets used Gabii when demonstrating a city that had fallen from its old heights [7]. From inscriptions we learn that from the time of Augustus or Tiberius onwards it enjoyed a municipal organization. Its baths were well known [2], and Hadrian, who was responsible for much of the renewed prosperity of the small towns of Latium, appears to have been a very liberal patron, building a senate-house (Curia Aelia Augusta) and an aqueduct. After the 3rd century, Gabii practically disappears from history, though its bishops continue to be mentioned in ecclesiastical documents till the close of the 9th century.

Diana excavated in 1792 by Gavin Hamilton and sold to Ludwig of Bavaria (Glyptothek. Munich)
Diana excavated in 1792 by Gavin Hamilton and sold to Ludwig of Bavaria (Glyptothek. Munich)

[edit] Remains

The citadel of Gabii is now marked by the ruins of the medieval fortress of Castiglione. The most conspicuous relic of Gabii is a ruined temple, generally attributed to Juno, which had six Ionic or Corinthian columns in the front and six on each side, excluding the back. The temple was composed of a single room, and it was made of lapis Gabinus, a fire-resistant rock that was found in the quarries around Gabii and that also made its way into some of the buildings of Rome itself. The temple was situated in the middle of a platform, which had a colonnade of Doric columns along the back and extending around the sides. This colonnade stood in front of rooms that were probably used as shops [7]. The plan is interesting, but the style of architecture was apparently mixed. To the west of the temple was the Lago di Castiglione and to the east of the temple lay the Forum, where excavations were made by Gavin Hamilton in 1792 [7]. All the objects found were placed in the Borghese collection, but many of them were carried off to Paris by Napoleon, and still remain in the Louvre. The statues and busts are especially numerous and interesting; besides the deities Venus, Diana, Nemesis, etc., they comprise Agrippa, Tiberius, Germanicus, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Trajan and Plotina, Hadrian and Sabina, Marcus Aurelius, Septimius Severus, Geta, Gordian III and others. The inscriptions relate mainly to local and municipal matters.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Sestieri, Bietti. The Iron Age Community of Osteria Dell'Osa. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1992. 50-77.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Hornblower, Simon, and Antony Spawforth. The Oxford classical dictionary. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.
  3. ^ a b c d e Copyright © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2002ff. BNP 5, 630-631
  4. ^ Brea, L. B. Sicily Before the Greeks. Thames and Hudson, 1957. 147-149.
  5. ^ Perseus Digital Library Project. Ed. Gregory R. Crane. Tufts University. 05/10/2007 <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu>.
  6. ^ LacusCurtius. Ed. Bill Thayer. 05/11/2007 <http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/home.html>.
  7. ^ a b c The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites. Stillwell, Richard. MacDonald, William L. McAlister, Marian Holland. Princeton, N.J. Princeton University Press. 1976.

[edit] Sources