Mediolanum
Mediolanum, the ancient city where Milan now stands, was originally an Insubrian city, but afterwards became an important Roman city in Northern Italy.
The city was settled by a
During the Principate the population was 40,000 in AD 200; when the city became capital of the Western Roman Empire under emperor Maximian (r. 286–305), the population rose to 100,000 people and thus Milan became one of the largest cities in Roman Italy.[3][4][5]
History
The city was settled by a
Mediolanum was important for its location as a hub in the road network of northern Italy. Polybius describes the country as abounding in wine, and every kind of grain, and in fine wool. Herds of swine, both for public and private supply, were bred in its forests, and the people were well known for their generosity.[10]
During the Augustan age Mediolanum was famous for its schools; it possessed a theater and an amphitheatre (129.5 X 109.3 m[11]). A large stone wall encircled the city in Caesar's time, and later was expanded in the late third century AD, by Maximian. Mediolanum was made the seat of the prefect of Liguria (Praefectus Liguriae) by Hadrian, and Constantine made it the seat of the vicar of Italy (Vicarius Italiae). In the third century Mediolanum possessed a mint,[12] a horreum and imperial mausoleum. In 259, Roman legions under the command of Emperor Gallienus soundly defeated the Alemanni in the Battle of Mediolanum.
In 286, Diocletian moved the capital of the Western Roman Empire from Rome to Mediolanum. He chose to reside at Nicomedia in the Eastern Empire, leaving his colleague Maximian at Mediolanum. Maximian built several gigantic monuments, the large circus (470 x 85 metres), the thermae or Baths of Hercules, a large complex of imperial palaces and other services and buildings of which fewer visible traces remain. Maximian increased the city area surrounded by a new, larger stone wall (about 4.5 km long) encompassing an area of 375 acres with many 24-sided towers. The monumental area had twin towers; one that was included in the convent of San Maurizio Maggiore remains 16,60 m high.
It was from Mediolanum that the
At the time of the bishop St. Ambrose (bishop 374–397), who quelled the Arians, and emperor Theodosius I, Mediolanum reached the height of its ancient power.[14]
The city also possessed a number of basilicas, added in the late fourth century AD. These are
In 402, the city was besieged by the
Detailed map of Mediolanum
Extant structures
Some of the monuments of the Roman Mediolanum still to be seen in Milan:
- in the basilica of S. Ambrogio:
- the Chapel of S. Vittore, with Late Antiquemosaics
- the so‑called "Tomb of Stilicho", assembled from a Roman sarcophagus and other material.
- a large collection of inscriptions.
- the Chapel of S. Vittore, with
- the Colonne di San Lorenzo, a colonnade in front of the church of S. Lorenzo.
- Roman lapidary material in the Archi di Porta Nuova.
- the scant remains of a large amphitheatre, now in an archaeological park dedicated to their preservation.
- a tower (16.6 m high) of the Convento di San Maurizio Maggiore.
- a bit of moenia (walls) and a tower with 24 sides (Maximian, 3rd century)
- the church of San Lorenzo(IV-V sec.) and the San Aquilino chapel.
- ruins of the imperial palace.
- some ruins from the Baths of Hercules; further remains of ceilings and floors are in the archaeological museum.
- the body of St. Ambrose (d. 397) and those possibly of SS. Gervasius and Protasius — or at any rate, of earlier men, found in St. Ambrose's time, are still seen in the crypt of the church of S. Ambrogio.
- crypt of San Giovanni in Conca
- a bit of the moenia and some remnants of pavements in piazza Missori and in the namesake station of Milan Metro.
Legacy
The ancient city name is commemorated in the Mediolanum Forum at Assago and the Mediolanum Corporate University, Milan.
See also
- Milan#History, for the medieval and modern history of Milan
- Walls of Milan
- Diocletian
Notes
- ^ ISBN 978-2-7605-1588-8.
- ^ a b "Cronologia di Milano dalla fondazione fino al 150 d.C." (in Italian). Retrieved 11 July 2018.
- ISBN 9780521893312.
- CUP Archive. 1963. p. 356.
- ^ Macadam, Alta; Rossiter, Stuart; Blanchard, Paul; Muirhead, Findlay; Bertarelli, Luigi Vittorio (1971). Northern Italy, from Alps to Florence. A & C Black.
- Ab Urbe condita5.34-35.3.
- ^ Polybius, Histories
- ISBN 2-87772-237-6.
- ^ Compare G. Quintela and V. Marco '"Celtic Elements in Northwestern Spain in Pre-Roman times" e-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies, 2005, referring to "a toponym, clearly in the second part of the composite Medio-lanum (=Milan), meaning 'plain' or flat area..."
- ^ Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898): "Gallia Cisalpina"
- Flavian Amphitheatre in Rome and the vast amphitheatre in Capua.
- JSTOR 295905.
- ^ There were Milanese cults of Saints Gervasius and Protasius, St. Victor Maurus (304), Sts. Nabor and Felix, and Sts. Nazarius and Celsus and the legendary Saint Sebastian.
- ^ The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites (eds. Richard Stillwell, William L. MacDonald, Marian Holland McAllister)
- ^ According to Procopius, the losses at Milan amounted to 300,000 men.
References
- Polybius (1889). Histories. London, New York: Macmillan.[1]
- Thurston Peck, Harry (1898). Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. New York: Harper and Brothers.[2]
- MacDonald Stillwell, Richard; McAlister, William L.; Holland, Marian (1976). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691035423.[3]