Suessula

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Suessula
LocationProvince of Naples, Italy
RegionCampania
Coordinates40°59′23.47″N 14°23′53.41″E / 40.9898528°N 14.3981694°E / 40.9898528; 14.3981694
TypeSettlement

Suessula was an ancient city of

Acerrae, Suessula is now a vanished city and the archeological site belongs to the city of Acerra, and not to San Felice a Cancello
as reported in some sources.

History

Ancient

Suessula is repeatedly mentioned during the

First Samnite War (343 BC) it was the scene of a decisive victory by Marcus Valerius Corvus over the Samnites, who had gathered together the remains of their army which had been previously defeated at Mount Gaurus (Livy vii. 37). In the following Campanian War
the Suessulani followed the fortunes of the citizens of Capua, and shared the same fate, so that at the close of the contest, in 338 BC, they must have obtained the status of civitas, but without the right of suffrage (Id. viii. 14).

In the Second Punic War the city played a considerable part, though apparently more from its position than its own importance. Suessula was on the line of the

M. Claudius Marcellus with the view of protecting Nola, and watching the operations of Hannibal against that city (Liv. xxiii. 14, 17). From this time the Romans seem to have kept up a permanent camp there for some years, which was known as the Castra Claudiana
, from the name of Marcellus who had first established it, and which is continually alluded to during the operations of the subsequent campaigns (Liv. xxiil. 31, xxiv. 46, 47, xxv. 7, 22, xxvi. 9).

After this period, Suessula fades into obscurity. It continued to be a municipal town of Campania, though apparently one of a secondary class; and inscriptions attest its municipal rank under the Roman Empire. It had received a body of veterans as colonists under Sulla, but did not attain the colonial rank (Strabo v. p. 249; Plin. iii. 5. s. 9; Orell. Inscr. 129, 130, 2333; Lib. Col. p. 237). The Tabula Peutingeriana places it on a line of road from Capua to Nola, at the distance of 9 miles from each of those cities (Tab. Peut).

Middle Ages and modern

Suessula was an

excavated there between 1878 and 1886, and important finds of vases and bronzes have been made. The dead were generally buried within slabs of tuff arranged to form a kind of sarcophagus. Inscriptions, as well as capitals of columns and other architectural fragments, have been found there (Francesco Maria Pratilli
, Via Appia, iii. 3. p. 347; Romanelli, vol. iii. p. 590).

References

  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Suessula". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Suessula". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 21.
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