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CAPUA (mod. S. Maria di Capua Vetere) , the chief
G. Patroni, in Atti del Congresso Internazionale di Scienze Storiche (Rome, 1904), v. 217, is inclined to place it considerably earlier. 2 Livy iv. 37, " Vulturnum Etruscorum urbem quae nunc Capua est, ab Samnitibus captam (425 B.C.) Capuamque ab duce eorum Capye, vel, quod propius vero est, a campestri agro appellatam." The Etruscan supremacy in Campania came to an end with the Samnite invasion in the latter half of the 5th century B.C. (see CAMPANIA); these conquerors, however, entered into affiance with Rome for protection against the Samnite mountain tribes, and with Capua came the dependent communities Casilinum, Calatia, Atella, so that the greater part of Campania now fell under Roman supremacy. The citizens received the civitas sine suffragio. In the second Samnite War they proved untrustworthy, so that the Ager Falerius on the right bank of the Volturnus was taken from them and distributed among citizens of Rome, the tribes Falerna being thus formed; and in 318 the powers of the native officials (meddices) were limited by the appointment of officials with the title praefecti Capuam Cumas (taking their name from the most important towns of Campania); these were at first mere deputies of the praetor urbanus, but after 123 B.C. were elected Roman magistrates, four in number; they governed the whole of Campania until the time of Augustus
Latina
inscriptions ; a pagus Herculaneus is also known. The town of Capua belonged to none of these organizations, and was entirely dependent on the praefecti. It enjoyed great prosperity, however, owing to its spelt, which was worked into groats, wine, roses, spices, unguents, &c., and also owing to its manufactures, especially of bronze objects, of which both the elder Cato and the elder Pliny speak in the highest terms (De agr. 135; Hist. Nat. xxiv. 95). Its luxury remained proverbial; and Campania is especially spoken of as the home of gladiatorial combats. From the gladiatorial schools of Campania came Spartacus and his followers in 73 B.C. Julius Caesar as consul in 59 B.C. succeeded in carrying out the establishment of a colony in connexion with his agrarian law, and 20,00o Roman citizens were settled in this territory. The number of colonists was increased by MarkAntony, Augustus
chief
village
Remains.No pre-Roman remains have been found within the town of Capua itself, but important cemeteries have been discovered on all sides of it, the earliest of which go back to the 7th or 6th century B.C. The tombs are of various forms, partly chambers with frescoes on the walls, partly cubical blocks of peperino, hollowed out, with grooved lids. The objects found within them consist mainly of vases of bronze (many of them without feet, and with incised designs of Etruscan style) and of clay, some of Greek, some of local manufacture, and of paintings. On the east of the town, in the Patturelli property, a temple has been discovered with Oscan votive inscriptions , some of them inscribed upon terra-cotta tablets, others on cippi, while of a group of 150 tuf a statuettes (representing a matron holding one or more children in her lap) three bore Latin inscriptions of the early imperial period. The site of the town being in a perfectly flat plain, without natural defences, it was possible to lay it out regularly. Its length from east to west is accurately determined by the fact that the Via Appia, which runs from north-west to south-east from Casilinum to Calatia, turns due east very soon after passing tie so-called Arco Campano (a triumphal arch of good brickwork, once faced with marble, with three openings, erected in honour of some emperor unknown), and continues to run in this direction for 54131 English feet (= 6000 ancient Oscan feet). The west gate was the Porta Romana; remains of the east gate (the name of which we do not know) have been found. This fact shows that the main street of the town was perfectly orientated, and that before the Via Appia was constructed, i.e. in all probability in pre-Roman times. The width of the town from north to south cannot be so accurately deter-mined as the line of the north and south walls is not known, though it can be approximately, fixed by the absence of tombs (Beloch fixes it at 4000 Oscan feet = 3609 English feet), nor is it absolutely certain (though it is in the highest degree probable, for Cicero praises its regular arrangement and fine streets) that the plan of the town was rectangular. Within the town are remains of thermae on the north of the Via Appia and of a theatre opposite, on the south. The former consisted of a large cryptoporticus round three sides of a court, the south side being open to the road; it now lies under the prisons. Beloch (see below) attributes this to the Oscan period; but the construction as shown in Labruzzi's drawing (v. 17) is partly of brick-work and opus reticulatum, which may, of course, belong to a restoration. The stage of the theatre had its back to the road; Labruzzi (v. 18) gives an interesting view of the cavea. It appears from inscriptions that it was erected after the time of Augustus. Other inscriptions, however, prove the existence of a theatre as early as 94 B.C., so that the existence of another elsewhere must be assumed. We know that the Roman colony was divided into regions and possessed a capitolium, with a temple of Jupiter, within the town, and that the market-place, for unguents especially, was called Seplasia; we also hear of an aedes alba, probably the original senate house, which stood in an open space known as albana. But the sites of all these are quite uncertain. Outside the town on the north is the amphitheatre, built in theFor these drawings see T. Ashby, " Dessins inedits de Carlo Labruzzi," in Melanges de l'Ecole francaise, 1903, 414.time of Augustus, restored by Hadrian and dedicated by Antoninus Pius, as the inscription over the main entrance recorded. The exterior was formed by 8o Doric arcades of four storeys each, but only two arches now remain. The keystones were adorned with heads of divinities. The interior is better preserved; beneath the arena are subterranean passages like those in the amphitheatre at Puteoli. It is one of the largest in existence; the longer diameter is 185 yds., the shorter 152, and the arena measures 83 by 49 yds., the corresponding dimensions in the colosseum at Rome being 2o5, 170, 93 and 58 yds. To the east are considerable remains of bathsa large octagonal building, an apse against which the church of S. Maria delle Grazie is built, and several heaps of debris. On the Via Appia, to the south-east of the east gate of the town, are two large and well-preserved tombs of the Roman period, known as le Carceri vecchie and la Conocchia. To the east of the amphitheatre an ancient road, the Via Dianae, leads north to the Pagus Dianae, on the west slopes of the Mons Tifata, a community which sprang up round the famous and ancient temple of Diana, and probably received an independent organization after the abolition of that of Capua in 211 B.C. The place often served as a base for attacks on the latter, and Sulla, after his defeat of C. Norbanus, gave the whole of the mountain to the temple. Within the territory of the pages were several other temples with their magistri. After the restoration of the community of Capua, we find magistri of the temple of Diana still existing, but they were probably officials of Capua itself. The site is occupied by the Benedictine
hall
The ancient road from Capua went on beyond the Vicus Dianae to the Volturnus (remains of the bridge still exist) and then turned east along the river valley to Caiatia and Telesia. Other roads ran to Puteoli and Cumae (the so-called Via Campana) and to Neapolis, and as we have seen the Via Appia passed through Capua, which was thus the most important road centre of Campania (q.v.). See Th. Mommsen in Corpus Inscrip. Lat. x. (Berlin, 1883), p. 365 seq. ; J. Beloch, Campanien (Breslau, 1890), 295 seq.; Ch. Hiilsen in Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclopadie (Stuttgart, 1899), iii. 1555. (T. As.) End of Article: CAPUA (mod. S. Maria di Capua Vetere) If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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