ANTIUM (mod. Anzio)

This article appears in Volume V02, Page 147 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: ANC-APO

ANTIUM (mod. Anzio) , an ancient Volscian city on the

coast

COAST (from Lat. costa, a rib, side)

of Latium, about 33 M. S. of Rome. The legends as to its

foundation

FOUNDATION (Lat. fundatio, from fundare, to found)

, and the accounts of its early relations with Rome, are untrustworthy; but Livy's account of wars between

Antium

ANTIUM (mod. Anzio)

and Rome, early in the 4th

century

CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

B.C., may perhaps be accepted.

Antium

ANTIUM (mod. Anzio)

is named with Ardea, Laurentum and Circeii, as under Roman

protection

PROTECTION

, in the treaty with Carthage in 348 B.C. In 341 it lost its independence after a rising with the rest of Latium against Rome, and the beaks (rostra) of the six captured Antiatine ships decorated and gave their name to the orators' tribunal in the Roman Forum. At the end of the Republican period it became a resort of wealthy Romans, and the Julian and Claudian emperors frequently visited it; both Caligula and Nero were born there. The latter founded a colony of veterans and built a new harbour, the projecting moles of which are still extant. In the middle ages it was deserted in favour of

Nettuno

NETTUNO

: at the end of the 17th

century

CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

Innocent XII. and Clement XI. restored the harbour, not on the old site but to the

east

EAST
EAST, ALFRED (1849- )

of it, with the opening to the

east

EAST
EAST, ALFRED (1849- )

, a

mistake

MISTAKE (i.e. take amiss)

which leads to its being frequently silted up; it has a depth of about 15 ft. Remains of Roman villas are conspicuous all along the shore, both to the east and to the north-west of the town. That of Nero cannot be certainly identified, but is generally placed at the so-called Arco Muto, where remains of a theatre (discovered in 1712 and covered up again) also exist. Many works of art have been found. Of the famous temple of Fortune (

Horace

HORACE [QuINTus HORATIUS FLACCUS] (65-8 B.C.)

, Od. i. 35) no remains are known. The sea is encroaching slightly at Anzio, but some miles farther north-west the old Roman

coast

COAST (from Lat. costa, a rib, side)

-line now lies slightly inland (see TIBER). The Volscian city stood on higher ground and somewhat away from the shore, though it extended down to it. It was defended by a deep ditch, which can still be traced, and by walls, a portion of which, on the eastern side, constructed of rectangular blocks of tufa, was brought to light in 1897. The modern place is a summer resort and has several villas, among them the Villa Borghese.
See A. Nibby, Dintorni di Roma, i. 181; Notizie degli scavi, passim. (T. As.)

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