Roman Aquileia

The Impenetrable City-Fortress, a Sentry of the Alps

Natale Barca

• Publisher: Oxbow Books
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781789257755
• Topic: Scienze sociali
• Subtopic: Archeologia

This book shows how a military colony became a large, impressive and prosperous city. Legendary for its walls and port, it was able to play a basic role in the great strategy of ancient Rome between the Po and the Danube, spanning the centuries from its foundation (181 BC) to the fateful days of blood and violence of its fall (AD 452). Based on a study of ancient sources, contemporary literature and the latest archaeological research, and written in a fast-paced and accessible style, the book provides a portrait of Aquileia in a diachronic key, under various aspects; it sets the city in the complex societal and political system of the time, gives a thorough account of the great events of which it was a protagonist or victim and offers detailed portraits of key figures, whether famous or less well-known, and analyses of epic battles. Combining academic scholarship with storytelling, biographies of important personalities and stories of political intrigue, assassinations and full-scale warfare which narrate the evocative epic of the rise, decline and disappearance of ancient cities, the volume highlights a significant topic in Roman political, social, economic, religious and military history, but one which has been inexplicably neglected in the Anglo-Saxon world until now.

Chapter 1

The northernmost stronghold

The foundation of Aquileia

In 181 BC, 12,000–15,000 war veterans, and their families, camp on the banks of the Natissa, next to the emporium of the Veneti of the Adriatic, to found the urban center of a colony of Latin law together with numerous Veneti, among which there are also some magistrates and entrepreneurs, who belong to prestigious families. The war veterans, in particular, are 3,000 infantry, 300 knights, and 60 centurions. They come from central Italy, partly from Lazio, Umbria, and Samnium, partly from the coastal strip of the Marche. All the settlers are led by Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica, Caius Flaminius, and Lucius Manlius Acidinus Fulvianus (Liv. 40.34). The triumviri deducendae coloniae just mentioned are all former senior civic magistrates, military commanders, and ambassadors, and are therefore men of the institutions, well-known and respected people. Scipio Nasica is a cousin of Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, the winner of the Battle of Zama, the episode that ended the Second Roman-Punic War (218–202 BC). In 191 BC, he was consul and fought victoriously against the Lusitani and the Galli Boi in Hispania.¹ He enjoys great esteem among his fellow citizens as one of the most virtuous Romans. For this reason, in 204 BC, he was commissioned by the Senate of Rome to welcome a venerated object of worship that arrived in the port of Ostia from the sanctuary of Cybele in Pessinus, Phrygia (Ballıhisar, Turkey). Caius Flaminius was consul in 187 BC and promoted the construction of the Via Flaminia Minor, the road that now connects Bononia (Bologna) to Arretium (Arezzo), urban centers of colonies of Latin law founded in 189 BC and 268 BC, respectively.² Acidinus Fulvianus was praetor in 188 BC. In 182 BC, he was part of an embassy sent by the Senate of Rome to the tribal leaders of Noricum in relation to the transgressio in Venetiam, together with Lucius Furius Purpureus and Quintus Minucius. We refer here to the episode of a large group of transalpine Gauls’ clandestine immigration into Lower Friuli that we recounted in the Introduction.

The territory assigned to the colony corresponds to the extreme northeastern part of Italy (present-day Friuli, Carnia and the Tarvisiano area; Venezia Giulia, bordered to the east by the ridge of the Julian Alps; the Karst).³ It extends, in particular, from the Livenza river in the south to the Middle Friuli in the north, and from the right bank of the Tagliamento river in the west to the shores of the Gulf of Trieste, up to the Bocche del Timavo, in the east. It is crossed by numerous waterways that, over time, have formed higher areas, lowlands, and marshes nearer the sea and is covered with thick vegetation, except for some clearings.

Within this territory, the land surveyors parcel out the arable areas in proportion to the number of settlers. Finally, a plot of fertile land is assigned to each family of settlers. The area of the single lot differs according to the military status of the single householder: 50 iugera if he is an infantryman, 100 iugera if he is a centurion, and 140 iugera if he is an eques, “knight” (the iugerum, pl. iugera, is a Roman measure of area; it is equivalent to ¼ ha, or 2,500 square m). Each infantryman, therefore, receives 12.5 ha of arable land; each centurion, 25.5 ha; and each eques, 35 ha.⁴ The lots are unusually large in order to reward participation in the enterprise, but they also have an economic significance linked to the commercial function that will be carried out by the city alongside the military one.

The urban center of the colony is located between the Torre river and the Natissa river on one side and a swamp to the south on the other. The remediation of the latter will be carried out through the construction of hydraulic works. The Torre and the Natissa limit the city to the west and east, respectively. The first is a tributary of the second and reaches the southwest of the city. The port and the warehouses will be built along the Natissa. One of the main founding ceremonies is that which consists of the opening of the sulcus primigenius (pomerium).⁵ The scene is animated by a man in a toga, the traditional garb of the Roman citizen, holding a plowshare that is pulled by a pair of oxen, and he is inciting the oxen with his rod while another man pulls the oxen by the reins; four magistrates, who follow the first two, comment on the event (Scrinari 1975: 193, n. 600). During the ceremony just described, an eagle appeared in the sky, and the name of the colony, Aquileia, thus derived from this episode. The first part of this story could be true, the second part probably not. In fact, it seems that the toponym Aquileia derives from the Venetic name of the river that laps the sides of the city: Akilis, or Akilia, whose root means “dark place” or “watery”. The primitive city has a rectangular plan, with streets crossing at right angles and districts placed as on a chessboard, like at the Roman military camps (Latin castrum, pl. castra).

The new colony is exposed to the dangers of enemy attack more than any other colony of Rome in northern Italy. In fact, it is located about 300 km away from the closest Roman strongholds, which are Bononia (Bologna) and Ariminum (Rimini). The problem does not arise with regard to the Veneti of the Adriatic, who are friends and allies of the Romans, nor to the Galli Carni, whose threat has now disappeared, if it ever actually emerged, but to the Istri, with which Rome has been at war for 10 years (Second Istrian War, 191–181 BC).

The war is still ongoing. In 181 BC, praetor Quintus Fabius Buteo, who has obtained Gallia Cisalpina as his province, is fighting in Istria, but with poor results.⁶ In 180 BC, peace will be restored, but it is fragile, and the common opinion is that it will not last long.

In 179 BC, 3,000 Galli Carni, led by a tribal chief named Catmelus, descend from Carnia to Lower Friuli and ask consul suffectus Quintus Fulvius Flaccus, brother of Lucius Manlius Acidinus Fulvianus, that land be assigned to them to graze their flocks. Flaccus rejects the request but nevertheless offers a job to the applicants, hiring them as mercenary soldiers.

The Third Istrian War (178–177 BC)

In 178 BC, the fighting between the Romans and the Istri resumes. Consul Aulus Manlius Vulso leads his army from Aquileia toward Istria. Under his command are two legions of Roman citizens (the First and the Third), two manipula of the Second Legion, and a cohort of auxiliaries, made available to him by the Roman colony of Placentia (Piacenza in the Po Valley). At the end of the day, the Romans camp in a hilly area on the border with Istria, 3 km from Mugla (Muggia, near Trieste), crossed by the Rosandra river. The area, easily reachable by sea, is inhabited by the Istri and is frequented by the Veneti of the Adriatic for commercial reasons.

The First Legion occupies the main camp, located at the top of a hill, close to a water source. The Placentine cohort is placed on guard on the side facing Istria. The manipula of the Second Legion are deployed between the sea and the main camp to protect the drinking water supply lines. The Third Legion, with the military tribunes, is established on the road to Aquileia to protect the supply lines for wood and hay. Meanwhile, 10 warships and other merchant ships, all commanded by Caius Furius, drop anchor in the Timavo-Locavaz river basin (the mouth of the Timavo river, called Bocche del Timavo, near the modern city of Monfalcone), an excellent port, protected from the sea, thanks to the natural “dam” formed by the two islets of Sant’Antonio and della Punta, as well as from the winds, and with an easily defensible entrance.

Furius is one of the duumvirs who command the warships that are stationed in Ankon (Ancona in the Marche) and have the task of both keeping this city under control and protecting the Adriatic coast from attacks by Illyrian pirates. He protects the stretch of the western Adriatic coast between Aquileia and the mouth of the Timavo with 10 ships. Vulso’s colleague, Lucius Cornelius, protects the stretch of the western Adriatic coast between Ankon and Aquileia with 10 other ships.

Vulso orders Furius to move to Mugla, one of the most protected natural ports in the Upper Adriatic, 3 km away from the main camp. The Istri observe the movements of the Romans from afar. They consider the Romans’ defenses to be weak, deduce from this that the enemy is disorganized, and attack the Placentine cohort and the manipula on the road between the camp and the sea. The cohort is intent on building and supplying the camp. Its members do not know how to accurately assess the extent of the attack, they panic, and, shouting “To the ships! To the ships!”, they flee toward the sea, unnecessarily detained by the consul and officers. In short, most of the First and Third Legions follow the fugitives. Only 600 soldiers remain in the camp.

The Istri burst into the camp through the wide open and no longer manned gates, overwhelm the defenders, and sack and devastate the camp. When they find a lot of food and wine, they feast, forgetting everything. This gives the Romans time to regroup. They have time to take stock. It is clear that the entire army would have fallen prey to the enemy “if only this one had remembered to keep fighting” (Liv. 61.1–5). All that remains for Vulso is to withdraw, so he returns to Aquileia, where the army will spend the winter.

The Romans take fierce revenge in 177 BC. Four legions under the orders of the consul Caius Claudius Pulcher and the proconsuls Aulus Manlius Vulso and Marcus Iunius Brutus, supported by the Galli Carni of Catmelus, move from Aquileia, heading for Istria. After entering Istria, they carry out indiscriminate looting and destruction and defeat an improvised enemy army in the Mirna river area (near Buzet and Pula, Croatia). The Istri lose between 4,000 and 8,000 men in the fight. The survivors take refuge in Vizače (Ližnjan in Croatia), a fortified center of Istria of pre-Roman foundation.⁷

Vizače is located on the rocky southeastern coast of Istria, overlooking the Kvarner bay, a couple of kilometers as the crow flies from the Adriatic Sea, in a dominant position on the protected natural bay of Budava, an ancient seaport of the locality. It is a commercial center and a haunt for pirates. The Romans siege Vizače and, to break the resistance of its defenders, deviate the river that goes to it. The defenders interpret this event as the fact that the gods have abandoned them. Epulo, king of the Istri, so as to avoid falling prisoner and ornating the triumph of the winner, commits suicide, stabbing himself. Also, his soldiers and their wives and children prefer to kill each other, or throw themselves from the walls, rather than let themselves be made slaves. The Romans take Vizače and destroy it. According to the Roman sources, over 8,000 Istri and about 200 Roman soldiers were killed in this campaign.⁸

Afterward, the praetor Quintus Fabius Buteo conquers and razes the fortified villages of Mutila and Faveria to the ground. The Istri surrender, but the Romans, in revenge, kill all their leaders and enslave over 5,000. Thus, the Senate of Rome suppresses the Kingdom of the Istri. From now on, Istria will be garrisoned by Roman soldiers. Vizače is refounded with the name of Nesactium and becomes a fully fledged Roman city. Nesactium, in 54 BC, will become a municipium, and it will continue to be an important center in Istria until the times of Emperor Augustus (27 BC–AD 14).

A fortification system is established on the Istrian border near Mugla (Muggia). It consists of a large central camp (San Rocco) and two minor forts (Grociana Piccola and Montedoro). The fort of San Rocco occupies an area of 13 ha (equivalent to 13 football fields) and is defended by large bastions.⁹ The minor encampments are outposts for the control of the south and north. Montedoro serves as a lookout point for the fleet. The Grociana Piccola, as an advanced fort with a view, serves to look out for further incursions and as a sighting center to prevent any threats. These structures are the first of their kind in the Eastern Alps.

The Galli Carni of Catmelus and some Latin support troops form the first nucleus of the garrison (from now on, we will call the Galli Carni in question “southeastern Galli Carni”). Likely, the fort of San Rocco is so extensive because it incorporates the local market frequented by the Veneti of the Adriatic. Therefore, the latter becomes a fortified village, garrisoned by the southeastern Galli Carni (see Strabo 7.5.2: Tergheste komès Karnikès).

The fortification system we are talking about strengthens the military defense system of the far northeast of Italy, previously consisting of Aquileia alone. It is destined to support Aquileia from now on as a link between maritime traffic and terrestrial transalpine roads.¹⁰ It will maintain a strategic role over time, though perhaps not continuously, at least until the foundation of Tergeste on Colle di San Giusto in the middle of the 1st century BC.¹¹

The Third Macedonian War (171–168 BC)

Pleuratus II (c. 260–250 BC), king of the Illyrians, ensured valid support for Rome in the Second Macedonian War (200–197 BC). In 172 BC, Gentius (180–168 BC), son and successor of Pleuratus II, begins to behave in an ambiguous way. The Greek city of Issa, a Roman protectorate, openly accuses him of wanting to go to war alongside Macedonia against Rome. In the meantime, relations between Rome and Perseus, son and successor of Philip V (221–179 BC), king of Macedon, have deteriorated, and the outbreak of the Third Macedonian War seems imminent.

Rome sends an embassy to Gentius to complain that the pirate raids along the Adriatic coast are damaging its interests and those of its allies but also, and above all, to ascertain his intentions.

The Third Macedonian War breaks out in 171 BC. Consul Caius Cassius Longinus, who has Cisalpine Gaul as his province, leads his army toward Macedonia through Illyria but is stopped by the Senate of Rome. On the way back, he allows his soldiers to loot and kill, set fires, and enslave entire populations in the lands of the Iapodes, Istri, and southeastern Galli Carni. All those peoples had previously collaborated with him, showing him the way to Macedonia. Longinus’ soldiers also sack some villages of Alpine populations (Taurisci?) and, even here, enslave thousands of people.

Longinus does not justify his hostile behavior. The episode damages both the good relations between the Romans and the southeastern Galli Carni as well...