Aquileia[note 1] is acomune (municipality) in theFriuli-Venezia Giulia region of northeasternItaly. It is situated at the head of theAdriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about 10 kilometres (6 mi) from the sea, on the river Natiso (modernNatisone), the course of which has changed somewhat since the Roman era.
Today, Aquileia is one of the most significant archaeological sites in northern Italy. Its ruins, including mosaics and an early Christian basilica, are aUNESCO World Heritage Site. Aquileia also holds historical importance as one of the former capitals ofFriuli, with its coat of arms being the symbol of the region.
Aquileia was founded as a colony by theRomans in 180/181 BC along the Natiso River, on land south of theJulian Alps but about 13 kilometres (8 mi) north of the lagoons. The colony served as a strategic frontier fortress at the north-east corner oftranspadane Italy (on the far side of the Po river) and was intended to protect theVeneti, faithful allies of Rome during the invasion ofHannibal in theSecond Punic War and during theIllyrian Wars. The colony would serve as a citadel to check the advance intoCisalpine Gaul of other warlike peoples, such as the hostileCarni to the northeast in what is nowCarnia andHistri tribes to the southeast in what is nowIstria. In fact, the site chosen for Aquileia was about 6 km (3.7 mi) from where an estimated 12,000 CelticTaurisci had attempted to settle in 183 BC. However, since the thirteenth century BC, the site, on the river and at the head of the Adriatic, had also been of commercial importance as the end of theBaltic amber (sucinum) trade. It is, therefore, theoretically not unlikely that Aquileia had been aGallicoppidum even before the coming of the Romans. However, few Celtic artefacts have been discovered from 500 BC to the Roman arrival.[8]
The triumvirate led 3,000 families to settle the area[citation needed] meaning Aquileia probably had a population of 20,000 soon after its founding.[vague] Meanwhile, based on the evidence of names chiselled on stone, the majority of colonizing families came fromPicenum,Samnium, andCampania, which also explains why the colony wasLatin and notRoman. Among these colonists,pedites received 50iugera of land each,centuriones received 100iugera each, andequites received 140iugera each. Either at the founding or not long afterwards, colonists from the nearbyVeneti supplemented these families.[8]
Meanwhile, in 169 BC, 1,500 more Latin colonists with their families, led by the triumvirate of Titus Annius Lucius, Publius Decius Subulo, andMarcus Cornelius Cethegus, settled in the town as a reinforcement to the garrison.[11] The discovery of the gold fields near the modernKlagenfurt in 130 BC[12] 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 centre of commerce, especially in agricultural products andviticulture. It also had, in later times at least, considerablebrickfields.
In 90 BC, the originalLatin colony became amunicipium and its citizens were ascribed to theRoman tribe Velina. The customs boundary of Italy was close by inCicero's day.Julius Caesar visited the city on a number of occasions and pitched a winter camp nearby in 59–58 BC.[citation needed]
Although theIapydes plundered Aquileia during theAugustan 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 inglass-work. Metal fromNoricum wasforged and exported. The ancient Venetic trade in amber from the Baltic continued. Wine, especially its famousPucinum was exported.Olive oil was imported fromProconsular Africa. By sea, the port of Aquae Gradatae(modernGrado) was developed. On land, Aquileia was the starting-point of several important roads leading outside Italy to the north-eastern portion of the empire — the road (Via Julia Augusta) by Iulium Carnicum (Zuglio) to Veldidena (mod.Wilten, nearInnsbruck), from which branched off the road intoNoricum, leading by Virunum (Klagenfurt) to Laurieum (Lorch) on theDanube, the road leading viaEmona intoPannonia and toSirmium (Sremska Mitrovica), the road toTarsatica (near Fiume, nowRijeka) and Siscia (Sisak), and the road to Tergeste (Trieste) and theIstrian coast.
Augustus was the first of a number of emperors to visit Aquileia, notably during the Pannonian wars in 12–10 BC. It was the birthplace ofTiberius' son by Julia, in the latter year. The Roman poetMartial praised Aquileia as his hoped-for haven and resting place in his old age.[13]
In terms of religion, the populace adopted the Roman pantheon, although theCeltic sun-god,Belenus, had a large following.Jews practiced their ancestral religion. Meanwhile, soldiers brought the martialcult of Mithras.
The ancient inland port of Aquileia
In the war against theMarcomanni in 167, the town was hard pressed; its fortifications had fallen into disrepair during the long peace. Nevertheless, when in 168Marcus Aurelius made Aquileia the principal fortress of the empire against the barbarians of the North and East, it rose to the pinnacle of its greatness and soon had a population of 100,000.Septimius Severus visited in 193. In 238, when the town took the side of theSenate against the emperorMaximinus Thrax, the fortifications were hastily restored, and proved of sufficient strength toresist for several months, until Maximinus himself was assassinated.
During the fourth century, Aquileia maintained its importance.Constantine sojourned there on numerous occasions. It became a naval station and the seat of theCorrector Venetiarum et Histriae. A mint was established, of which the coins were very numerous. The bishop of theDiocese of Aquileia obtained the rank ofmetropolitan archbishop. Acouncil held in the city in 381 was only the first of a series ofCouncils of Aquileia that have been convened over the centuries. However, the city played a part in the struggles between the rulers of the fourth century. In 340, the emperorConstantine II was killed nearby while invading the territory of his younger brotherConstans.
At the end of the fourth century,Ausonius enumerated Aquileia as the ninth among the great cities of the world, placing Rome,Constantinople,Carthage,Antioch,Alexandria,Trier,Mediolanum, andCapua before it. However, such prominence made it a target andAlaric and theVisigoths besieged it in 401, during which time some of its residents fled to the nearby lagoons. Alaric again attacked it in 408.Attila attacked the city in 452. During this invasion, on July 18, Attila and his Huns soutterly destroyed the city that it was afterwards hard to recognize its original site. The fall of Aquileia was the first of Attila's incursions into Roman territory; followed by cities likeMediolanum andTicinum.[15] The Roman inhabitants, together with those of smaller towns in the neighbourhood, fleden masse to the lagoons, where they laid the foundations of the cities ofVenice and nearbyGrado.
Yet Aquileia would rise again, though much diminished, and continue to exist until theLombards invaded in 568; the Lombards destroyed it a second time in 590. Meanwhile, the patriarch fled to the island town of Grado, which was under the protection of the Byzantines. When the patriarch residing in Grado reconciled with Rome in 606, those continuing in theSchism of the Three Chapters, rejecting theSecond Council of Constantinople, elected a patriarch at Aquileia. Thus, the diocese was essentially divided into two parts, with themainland patriarchate of Aquileia under the protection of the Lombards, and theinsular patriarchate of Aquileia seated in Grado being protected by theexarchate of Ravenna and later theDoges of Venice, with the collusion of the Lombards. The line of the patriarchs elected in Aquileia would continue in schism until 699. However, although they kept the title of patriarch of Aquileia, they moved their residence first toCormons and later toCividale.
The Lombarddukes of Friuli ruled Aquileia and the surrounding mainland territory fromCividale. In 774,Charlemagne conquered the Lombard duchy and made it into a Frankish one withEric of Friuli as duke. In 787, Charlemagne named the priest andmaster of grammar at the Palace School ofPaulinus II, the new patriarch of Aquileia. The patriarchate, despite being divided with a northern portion assigned to the pastoral care of the newly created Archbishopric of Salzburg, would remain one of the largest dioceses. Although Paulinus resided mainly at Cividale, his successor Maxentius considered rebuilding Aquileia. However, the project never came to fruition.
While Maxentius was patriarch, thepope approved the Synod of Mantua, which affirmed the precedence of the mainland patriarch of Aquileia over the patriarch of Grado. However, material conditions were soon to worsen for Aquileia. The ruins of Aquileia were continually pillaged for building material. And with the collapse of theCarolingians in the tenth century, the inhabitants would suffer under the raids of theMagyars.
By the eleventh century, the patriarch of Aquileia had grown strong enough to assert temporal sovereignty over Friuli and Aquileia. The Holy Roman Emperor gave the region to the patriarch as a feudal possession. However, the patriarch's temporal authority was constantly disputed and assailed by the territorial nobility.
In 1027 and 1044, PatriarchPoppo of Aquileia, who rebuilt the cathedral of Aquileia, entered and sacked neighbouring Grado, and, though the Pope reconfirmed the Patriarch of the latter in his dignities, the town never fully recovered, though it continued to be the seat of the Patriarchate until its formal transference to Venice in 1450.
In the fourteenth century, the Patriarchal State reached its largest extension, stretching from thePiave river to theJulian Alps and northernIstria. The seat of the Patriarchate of Aquileia had been transferred toUdine in 1238, but returned to Aquileia in 1420 whenVenice annexed the territory of Udine.
In 1445, the defeated patriarchLudovico Trevisan acquiesced in the loss of his ancient temporal estate in return for an annual salary of 5,000ducats allowed him from the Venetian treasury. Henceforth only Venetians were allowed to hold the title of Patriarch of Aquileia. The Patriarchal State was incorporated into the Republic of Venice with the name ofPatria del Friuli, ruled by aprovveditore generale or aluogotenente living in Udine.
Aquileia Cathedral is a flat-roofed basilica that was erected by Patriarch Poppo in 1031 on the site of an earlier church and rebuilt in theGothic style by PatriarchMarquard of Randeck (1365–1381).[16]
Aquileia is a smaller town today than the colony first founded by Rome. Over the centuries, sieges, earthquakes, floods and pillaging of the ancient buildings for materials mean that no building from the Roman period remain above ground. The site of Aquileia is believed to be the largest Roman city yet to be excavated and is on theUNESCO World Heritage List. Excavations, however, have revealed some of the layout of the Roman town like a segment of a street, the north-western angle of the town walls; the river port; and the former locations of baths, anamphitheatre, acircus, a cemetery, theVia Sacra, theforum and a market. TheNational Archaeological Museum of Aquileia contains over 2,000 inscriptions, statues and other antiquities and mosaics, as well as glasses of local production and acollection.
In the Monastero fraction is a fifth-century Christian basilica, later aBenedictine monastery, which now houses the Palaeo-Christian Museum.[17] Another Byzantine-style basilica, expanded in the 6th century under Justinian, was discovered at the site in 2024.[18]
^abG. Bandelli, "Aquileia dalla fondazione al II secolo d.C" inAquileia dalla fondazione al alto medioevo, M. Buora, ed. (Udine: Arte Grafiche Friulane, 1982), 20.
^Martial,Epigrams lib. 4, 25: Aemula Baianis Altini litora villis et Phaethontei conscia silva rogi, quaeque Antenoreo Dryadum pulcherrima Fauno nupsit ad Euganeos Sola puella lacus, et tu Ledaeo felix Aquileia Timauo, hic ubi septenas Cyllarus hausit aquas: uos eritis nostrae requies portusque senectae, si iuris fuerint otia nostra sui.http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/martial/mart4.shtml
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