Capua
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Capua | |
---|---|
Comune di Capua | |
St. Agatha | |
Saint day | 5 February |
Website | Official website |
Capua (/ˈkæpjuə/ KAP-yoo-ə, Italian: [ˈkaːpwa]) is a city and comune in the province of Caserta, in the region of Campania, southern Italy, situated 25 km (16 mi) north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain.
History
Ancient era
The name of Capua comes from the
Etruscan supremacy in Campania came to an end with the Samnite invasion, in the latter half of the 5th century BC.[3]
About 424 BC Capua was captured by the Samnites, and in 343 BC sought Roman help against its conquerors. They allied for protection against the Samnite mountain tribes, along with its dependent communities Casilinum, Calatia, Atella, so that the greater part of Campania now fell under Roman supremacy. The citizens of Capua received the civitas sine suffragio[3] (citizenship without the vote).
In the second
In 312 BC, Capua was connected with Rome by the construction of the
The importance of Capua increased steadily during the 3rd century BC, and at the beginning of the
Considerable difficulties occurred in preventing illegal encroachments by private persons, and it became necessary to buy a number of them out in 162 BC. It was, after that period, let, not to large but to small proprietors. Frequent attempts were made by the democratic leaders to divide the land among new settlers.
In the meantime the necessary organization of the inhabitants of this thickly populated district was in a measure supplied by grouping them round important shrines. Many inscriptions testify to a pagus Dianae associated with the shrine to
The town of Capua belonged to none of these organizations, and was entirely dependent on the praefecti. It enjoyed great prosperity, however, due to their growing of
Its luxury remained proverbial, and Campania was especially spoken of as the home of gladiatorial combat. From the gladiatorial schools of Campania came Spartacus and his followers in 73 BC. Julius Caesar as consul in 59 BC succeeded in carrying out the establishment of a Roman colony under the name Julia Felix in connection with his agrarian law, and 20,000 Roman citizens were settled in this territory.[4]
The number of colonists was increased by Mark Antony, Augustus (who constructed an aqueduct from the Mons Tifata and gave the town of Capua estates in the district of Knossos in Crete valued at 12 million sesterces) and Nero.[5]
In the
Middle Ages
Under
During the Gothic War, Capua suffered greatly. When the Lombards invaded Italy in the second half of the 6th century, Capua was ravaged; later, it was included in the Duchy of Benevento, and ruled by an official styled gastald.
In 839, the
In 840, ancient Capua was burned to the ground by a band of
Prince Atenulf I conquered Benevento in 900 and united the principalities until 981, when Pandulf Ironhead separated them in his will for his children. Capua eclipsed Benevento thereafter and became the chief rival of Salerno. Under Pandulf IV, the principality brought in the aid of the Normans and, for a while had the loyalty of Rainulf Drengot, until the latter abandoned him to aid the deposed Sergius IV of Naples take back his city, annexed by Pandulf in 1027.
Upon Pandulf's death, Capua fell to his weaker sons and, in 1058, the city itself fell in a siege to Rainulf's nephew Richard I, who took the title Prince of Aversa. For seven years (1091–1098), Richard II was exiled from his city, but with the aid of his relatives, he retook the city after a siege in 1098. His dynasty lived on as princes of Capua until the last claimant of their line died in 1156 and the principality was definitively united to the kingdom of Sicily. In the 1230s, King Frederick I built the monumental City Gate of Capua.
In the early 1500s, it was reported to Pope Alexander VI that his son, Cesare Borgia, had captured the city and promptly killed all 6,000 citizens, which included women and children, while commanding French troops during the sieges of Naples and Capua.[8]
Modern Age
On 3 January 1799, during the
The
Main sights
- The cathedral of Santo Stefano, erected in 856, has a lofty campanile, and a renovated interior with three aisles; both it and the atrium have ancient granite columns. The Romanesque crypt, with ancient columns, has also been restored. It has a fine paschal candlestick, and the fragments of a pulpit with marble mosaic of the 13th century. There are also preserved in the cathedral a fine Exultet roll and an evangelarium of the end of the 12th century, bound in bronze decorated with gold filigree and enamels. The mosaics of the beginning of the 12th century in the apses of the cathedral and of San Benedetto, were destroyed about 1720 and 1620 respectively.[7]
- The small church of San Marcello was also built in 856. In 1232–1240 the emperor Frederick II erected a castle to guard the Roman bridge over the Volturnus, composed of a triumphal arch with two towers. This was demolished in 1557. The statues with which it was decorated were contemporary imitations of classical sculptures. Some of them were preserved in the Museo Campano.[7]
- The Museo Campano (the Campania Provincial Museum of Capua) was founded in 1870 and opened to the public in 1874. Since then it has become a cultural reference point for the whole territory and Campania.[citation needed]
Archaeological sites
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 BC.[5]
The tombs are of various forms, partly chambers with
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 the so-called Arch of Hadrian (a triumphal arch of brickwork, once faced with marble, with three openings, erected in honour of some emperor unknown), and continues to run in this direction for 1,600 metres (5,200 ft) (6,000 ancient Oscan feet).[5]
The west gate was the Porta Romana; remains of the east gate have also been found, although its name is unknown. This fact shows that the main street of the town was perfectly oriented, 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 determined 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 4,000 Oscan feet = 1,100 metres (3,600 ft), 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.[5]
Within the town are remains of public baths 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) 1 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.[5]
Other inscriptions, however, prove the existence of a theatre as early as 94 BC. The Roman colony was divided into regions and possessed a capitolium, with a temple of Jupiter, within the town, and the marketplace, for unguents especially, was called Seplasia; an aedes alba is also mentioned, which is probably the original senate house, which stood in an open space known as albana. But the sites of all these are uncertain.[5] A Mithraeum may also be seen, by appointment.[9]
Amphitheatre
Outside the town, in Santa Maria Capua Vetere, there is the amphitheatre, built in the time of Augustus, restored by Hadrian and dedicated by Antoninus Pius, as the inscription over the main entrance recorded. The exterior was formed by 80 Doric arcades of four stories each, but only two arches now remain. The keystones were adorned with heads of divinities.[5]
The interior is better preserved; beneath the arena are subterranean passages like those in the amphitheatre at
Colosseum (Rome, Italy) | 188 × 156 m |
Capua (Italy) | 167 × 137 m |
Italica (Spain) | 157 × 134 m |
Tours (France) | 156 × 134 m |
Carthage (Tunisia) | 156 × 128 m |
Autun (France) | 154 × 130 m |
Nîmes (France) | 133 × 101 m |
To the east are considerable remains of baths – a large octagonal building, an apse against which the church of Santa 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, arc two large and well-preserved tombs of the Roman period, known as le Carceri vecchie and la Conocchia.[5]
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 around the famous and ancient temple of Diana, and probably received an independent organization after the abolition of that of Capua in 211 BC. The place often served as a base for attacks on the latter, and
Within the territory of the pagus were several other temples with their magistri. After the restoration of the community of Capua, magistri of the temple of Diana are still attested, but they were probably officials of Capua itself.[5]
The site is occupied by the
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
See also
- History of Santa Maria Capua Vetere
- Archdiocese of Capua
- Battle of Capua
- Capua Leg
- Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli
- Siege of Capua (211 BC)
- Coinage of Capua
References
- ^ "Superficie di Comuni Province e Regioni italiane al 9 ottobre 2011". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
- ISBN 9780684167244. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Ashby 1911a, p. 294.
- ^ Ashby 1911a, pp. 294–295.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Ashby 1911a, p. 295.
- ^ Pieurre Riche, The Carolingians: A Family who forged Europe, transl. Michael Idomir Allen, (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993), 181.
- ^ a b c Ashby 1911b.
- ISBN 0-87169-127-2.
- ^ "Archaeological museum of ancient Capua - Mithraeum". Archived from the original on 8 February 2009. Retrieved 2007-11-22.
Sources
- public domain: Ashby, Thomas (1911a). "Capua (ancient city)". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 294–295. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- public domain: Ashby, Thomas (1911b). "Capua (modern city)". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 294. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Capua". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.