Palestrina (ancientPraeneste;Ancient Greek:Πραίνεστος,Praínestos) is a modern Italian city andcomune (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, inLazio, about 35 kilometres (22 miles) east ofRome. It is connected to the latter by theVia Prenestina. It is built upon the ruins of the ancient city of Praeneste.
Palestrina is still dominated today by the enormous ancient Romansanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia built on a series of terraces on the slope of the hill on which the town stands. Further massive Roman terraces support the town itself. The ancient city, however, probably dates from an even earlier period from the 7th c. BC.
Ancient mythology connected the origin of Praeneste toCaeculus, or to other fabled characters such asTelegonus,Erulus orPraenestus. The name probably derives from the wordPraenesteus, referring to its overlooking location.[citation needed]
Early burials show that the site was already occupied in the 8th or 7th century BC. Excavations in the necropolis have shown that in the late 8th century BC (Orientalising Period) a major cultural advance took place with notable eastern imports and with a close relationship with Etruria; the princely 7th c. Barberini (excavated in 1855) and Bernardini tombs had contents of at least the same quality as those in the cemeteries of EtruscanCaere (Cerveteri).[3]
Praeneste soon became one of the most powerful and wealthy of the Latin towns.[4]
Of the objects found in the oldest graves dating from about the 7th century BC, the cups of silver and silver-gilt and most of the gold andamber jewellery arePhoenician (possiblyCarthaginian), but thebronzes and some of theivory articles seem to be of theEtruscan civilization.[5]
The earliest settlement was probably a citadel on the top of the hill around which a cyclopean wall was built, some of which remains today. In addition two walls of the same date and also visible today descended the slopes down to the town where a cross wall along the lower part of the sanctuary completed the circuit.[5]
Præneste was already a rich and prosperous town when Rome was still emerging. The rapid development of the Latin towns led to the Latin League for protection against the Etruscans and enemies from surrounding areas, and eventually brought Rome and Præneste together with the others.[6] But Præneste because of her history and wealth felt superior to the others and became Rome's most hated rival as Rome grew rapidly.
Ficoroni Cista from Praeneste, 4th c. BC, Villa Giulia museum, Rome
Praeneste withdrew from the Latin League in 499 BC, according toLivy (its earliest historical mention), and formed an alliance withRome after which they won theBattle of Lake Regillus against thirty Latin states.[7] After Rome was weakened by theGauls ofBrennus (390 BC), Praeneste switched allegiances to stem Roman expansion into Latium and establish power for itsself and fought against Rome in the long struggles that culminated in theLatin War. From 373 to 370, it was in continual war against Rome or its allies, and was defeated byCincinnatus.
Praeneste had made a treaty with Rome whereby it retained its own citizenship and Latin status but was required to provide troops to fight in the Roman Republic’s wars. In the Latin War of 340-338 BC, Praeneste fought with the Latin rebels against Rome to retain their remaining independence but after the defeat Praeneste was punished by the loss of part of its territory.[8] It became a city allied to Rome (foedus aequum) but equal, permitting Roman exiles to live there, which made the city more prosperous.
Dating to this period are tombs from which come the famous bronze boxes (cistae) and hand mirrors, some with inscriptions partly inEtruscan, among which is the famous is the bronzeFicoroni Cista (350-330 BC) (Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia, Rome) found in 1738. It is masterfully engraved with pictures of the arrival of theArgonauts inBithynia and the victory ofPollux overAmycus. The inscription on it is in archaic Latin:Novios Plautios Romai med fecid / Dindia Macolnia fileai dedit ("Novios Plautios made me in Rome, Dindia Macolnia gave me to her daughter"). The caskets are unique inItaly, but a large number of mirrors of precisely similar style have been discovered inEtruria. Hence, although such objects may have come from Etruria, the evidence points decisively to an Etruscan factory in or near Praeneste itself. Other imported objects in the burials show that Praeneste traded not only withEtruria but also with the Greek east.
Praenestine graves from about 240 BC onwards are surmounted by the characteristiccippus made of local stone, containing stone coffins with rich bronze, ivory and gold ornaments beside the skeleton.
Præneste was linked to Rome by the majorVia Praenestina Roman Road, which passed below the city, as an extension of the Via Gabiana.
The monumental sanctuary of Fortuna was built in around 120 BC, dominating the city and dwarfing all other buildings not only there, but even those in Rome.[11]
Its citizens were offered Romancitizenship in 90 BC in theSocial War, when concessions had to be made by Rome to cement necessary alliances and the town was made amunicipium. Soon afterwards inSulla's civil war,Gaius Marius was blockaded in the town by the forces ofSulla (82 BC). When the city was captured, Marius slew himself, the male inhabitants were massacred in cold blood, and a military colony was settled on part of its territory. From an inscription it appears that Sulla delegated the foundation of the new colony toMarcus Terentius Varro Lucullus, who wasconsul in 73 BC. Within a decade the lands of the colonia had been assembled by a few large landowners.
At the end of the 2nd century BC a grandiose urban renovation project was carried out which involved the entire southern front of the city including massive tuff terrace walls. One was flanked by a street paved with limestone slabs, now the Via del Sole. From the late Republic to the late Empire, markets, baths, shrines and even a second forum were built in the lower city, near today's Madonna dell'Aquila.[12]
Braschi Antinous from the villa "of Hadrian", Vatican Museums
Under the Empire the cool breezes of Praeneste made it a favourite summer resort of wealthy Romans, whosevillas studded the neighbourhood, though they ridiculed the language and the rough manners of the native inhabitants. The poetHorace ranked "cool Praeneste" withTibur andBaiae as favoured resorts. The emperorAugustus stayed in Praeneste, andTiberius recovered there from a dangerous illness and made it amunicipium. The emperorMarcus Aurelius was at Praeneste with his family when his 7-year-old son Verus died.[13] The ruins of the imperial villa associated withHadrian stand in the plain near the church of S. Maria della Villa, about three-quarters of a mile from the town. At the site was discovered the statue of theBraschiAntinous, now in theVatican Museums.Gaius Appuleius Diocles (104 – after 146 AD), aRomancharioteer fromLamego inLusitania (modern-day Portugal) who became one of the most celebrated athletes inancient history and is often cited as thehighest-paid athlete of all time,[14][15] was living in Praeneste after his retirement and died there.Pliny the Younger also had a villa at Praeneste, andL. Aurelius Avianius Symmachus retired there.[16]
Inscriptions show that the inhabitants of Praeneste were fond ofgladiatorial shows.
The modern town is built on the ruins of the temple of Fortuna Primigenia. Abishop of Praeneste is first mentioned in 313.
In 1297 theColonna family, which had owned Praeneste (then known as Palestrina) from the eleventh century as a fief, revolted againstPope Boniface VIII. In the following year the town was taken by Boniface's Papal forces, razed to the ground andsalted by order of the pontiff.[17]
Patriarchs of the Barberini family conferred, on various family members, the title of Prince of Palestrina. During the reign of Urban VIII, the title became interchangeable with that ofCommander of the Papal Army (Gonfalonier of the Church) as the Barberini family controlled thepapacy and the Palestrina principality.
TheWars of Castro ended (whileTaddeo Barberini held both titles) and members of the Barberini family (including Taddeo) fled into exile after the newly electedPope Innocent X launched an investigation into members of the Barberini family. Later the Barberini reconciled with the papacy when Pope Innocent X elevated Taddeo's son,Carlo Barberini to the cardinalate and his brotherMaffeo Barberini married a niece of the Pope and reclaimed the title Prince of Palestrina.
The modern town of Palestrina is centered on the terraces once occupied by the massive sanctuary of Fortuna and by other terraces below it. The town came to largely obscure the sanctuary, the monumental remains of which were revealed as a result of American bombing of German positions inWorld War II.
Archaeologists working in the 1950s were able to identify the area around the Cathedral and the Piazza Regina Margherita as the Forum of Ancient Praeneste.[19] The buildings of the forum comprised a central temple, whose walls were re-used for the cathedral, and a two-storey civilbasilica consisting of four naves separated by columns, once roofed but today an open space. Its façade included asundial described byVarro, traces of which may still be seen.
The basilica was flanked by two buildings, the easternmost containing a raised podium (suggestus)[20] and the public treasury, theaerarium, identified by an inscription dating it to ~150 BC. At some later date (perhaps around 110-100 BC[21]), the buildings flanking the basilica were each embellished with anymphaeum with amosaic floor. The western mosaic represents a seascape: a temple ofPoseidon on the shore, with fish of all kinds swimming in the sea. The eastern building was decorated with thefamous mosaic with scenes from theNile, relaid in the Palazzo Colonna Barberini[22] in Palestrina on the uppermost terrace (now the National Archaeological Museum of Palestrina).
The Via degli Arcioni complex on Via del Sole is part of a monumental set of terraces from the end of the 2nd century BC. The ancient street is supported by a series of vaulted rooms (known as the "Arcioni") which supported the upper terrace. It is part of a composite monumental façade that stands on a massiveopus quadratum wall which formed the southern defence of the upper town during the late Republican Era (2nd-1st century BC). The arches have been used until recently as shops, stables and workshops resulting in the partial destruction of the rear walls. The terraces were restored in 2017.
Water from the mountain was channelled into a conduit under the paving of Via del Sole from where it flowed behind each of the rooms before being conveyed to an underground cistern.
In the middle of the massive wall was the monumental entrance to the city; a staircase, flanked on either side by two enormous symmetrical monumental nymphaea of which only the western one (the so-called "Propylaeum") remains, leading to the forum. This monument lies on a big tuff moulded base and is a complex structure of basins and niches for fountains and water features, with a complex system of internal conduits and passages.
At the end of via degli Arcioni is an enormous cistern from the Imperial Age built of red clay-bricks. The niches on the front-side were once decorated with statues.
The town also contains remnants of ancientcyclopean walls. On the summit of the hill at 753 metres (2,470 ft), nearly 1.6 kilometres (1 mi) from the town, stood the ancient citadel which had a surrounding wall and considerable portions of its southern part, built in massive cyclopean masonry consisting of limestone blocks, are still visible. Two walls, also polygonal, which formerly united the citadel with the town, can still be traced as can the lowest wall near the base of the sanctuary. The city was extended about a century later and a new wall, still in cyclopean style, extended the defenses on the easterns side as far as the present Porta del Sole.
In the forum area anobelisk was erected in the reign ofClaudius, fragments of which can be seen in the National Archaeological Museum of Palestrina.
A calendar, which according toSuetonius was set up by the grammarianMarcus Verrius Flaccus in the imperial forum of Praeneste (at the Madonna dell'Aquila), was discovered in 1771 in the ruins of the church ofSaint Agapitus, where it had been used as building material.
The National Archeological Museum of Palestrina is housed inside the Renaissance Barberini Palace, the former baronial palace, built above the ancient temple of Fortuna. It exhibits the most important works from the ancient town of Praeneste. The famous sculpture of theCapitoline Triad is exhibited on the first floor. The second floor is dedicated to the necropoli and sanctuaries, while the third floor contains a large polychrome mosaic depicting the flooding of the Nile (Nile mosaic of Palestrina).
Thomas Mann spent some time there in 1895 and, two years later, during the long harsh summer of 1897, he stayed over again, with his brotherHeinrich Mann, in a sojourn that provided the backdrop, nearly half a century later, for Adrian Leverkühn's pact with the Devil in Mann's novelDoktor Faustus.[23]
InInferno, Dante makes reference to advice given by Guido da Montefeltro to Pope Boniface VIII to entice the surrender of Palestrina in 1298 by offering the Colonna family an amnesty. The amnesty was never intended be honored, and instead Palestrina was razed to the ground.[24]
In Voltaire's novelCandide a woman claims to be the daughter ofPope Urban X and the Princess of Palestrina.
A fictional account of Garibaldi's 1849 action at Palestrina appears inGeoffrey Trease's novelFollow My Black Plume.
^C. Densmore Curtis, The Barberini Tomb. Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome , 1925, Vol. 5 (1925), pp. 9-52Published by: University of Michigan Press for the American Academy in RomeStable URL:https://www.jstor.org/stable/4238524
^Cambridge Dictionary of Classical Civilization, Paperback edition 2008, p. 716
^Romanelli, Pietro,Palestrina, Di Mauro Editore, Naples, 1967
^Scriptores Historiae Augustae, "Marcus Aurelius", 21.1
^Struck, Peter T. (2 August 2010)."Greatest of All Time |".Lapham's Quarterly.Archived from the original on 22 December 2020. Retrieved16 January 2017.
^Tammisto, Antero. "The Nile Mosaic of Palestrina Reconsidered: the Problematic Reconstruction, Identification and Dating of the So-called Lower Complex with the Nile Mosaic and Fish Mosaic of Ancient Praeneste", in:La Mosaïque greco-romaine, IX, Volume I. École française de Rome, 2005. Morlier, Hélène et al, editors. Pages 3-24.
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