Fidenae
Encyclopedia
Fidenae, or Fidenes, home of the Fidenates, was an ancient town of Latium
Latium
Lazio is one of the 20 administrative regions of Italy, situated in the central peninsular section of the country. With about 5.7 million residents and a GDP of more than 170 billion euros, Lazio is the third most populated and the second richest region of Italy...

, situated about 8 km north of Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 on the Via Salaria
Via Salaria
The Via Salaria was an ancient Roman road in Italy.It eventually ran from Rome to Castrum Truentinum on the Adriatic coast - a distance of 242 km. The road also passed through Reate and Asculum...

, which ran between it and the Tiber
Tiber
The Tiber is the third-longest river in Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Umbria and Lazio to the Tyrrhenian Sea. It drains a basin estimated at...

. As the Tiber was the border between Etruria
Etruria
Etruria—usually referred to in Greek and Latin source texts as Tyrrhenia—was a region of Central Italy, an area that covered part of what now are Tuscany, Latium, Emilia-Romagna, and Umbria. A particularly noteworthy work dealing with Etruscan locations is D. H...

 and Latium
Latium
Lazio is one of the 20 administrative regions of Italy, situated in the central peninsular section of the country. With about 5.7 million residents and a GDP of more than 170 billion euros, Lazio is the third most populated and the second richest region of Italy...

, the left-bank settlement of Fidenae represented an extension of Etruscan presence into Latium. The site of the arx
Arx (Roman)
Arx is the Latin word for citadel. In the ancient city of Rome, the Arx, not always capitalized, was located on the northern spur of the Capitoline Hill, and is sometimes specified as the Arx Capitolina. Sentries were posted there to watch for a signal to be displayed on the Janiculum if an enemy...

 of the ancient town is probably to be sought on the hill on which lies the Villa Spada, though no traces of early buildings or defences are to be seen: pre-Roman tombs are to be found in the cliffs to the north. The later village lay at the foot of the hill on the eastern edge of the high-road, and its curia, with a dedicatory inscription to M. Aurelius by the Senatus Fidenatium, was excavated in 1889. Remains of other buildings may also be seen.

Conflicts with the Roman kingdom

Originally a settlement of Etruscans
Etruscan civilization
Etruscan civilization is the modern English name given to a civilization of ancient Italy in the area corresponding roughly to Tuscany. The ancient Romans called its creators the Tusci or Etrusci...

, it was for some while the frontier of the Roman territory and from time to time changed hands between Rome and Veii
Veii
Veii was, in ancient times, an important Etrurian city NNW of Rome, Italy; its site lies in Isola Farnese, a village of Municipio XX, an administrative subdivision of the comune of Rome in the Province of Rome...

.

In the 8th century BC
8th century BC
The 8th century BC started the first day of 800 BC and ended the last day of 701 BC.-Overview:The 8th century BC was a period of great changes in civilizations. In Egypt, the 23rd and 24th dynasties led to rule from Nubia in the 25th Dynasty...

 during the reign of Rome's
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 first king, Romulus
Romulus
- People:* Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of Rome* Romulus Augustulus, the last Western Roman Emperor* Valerius Romulus , deified son of the Roman emperor Maxentius* Romulus , son of the Western Roman emperor Anthemius...

, the Fidenates and the Veientes were defeated in a war with Rome. It may be that a colony was established there after the defeat as Livy afterwards describes Fidenae as a Roman colony.

Fidenae and Veii were again defeated by Rome in the 7th century BC
7th century BC
The 7th century BC started the first day of 700 BC and ended the last day of 601 BC.The Assyrian Empire continued to dominate the Near East during this century, exercising formidable power over neighbors like Babylon and Egypt. In the last two decades of the century, however, the empire began to...

 during the reign of Rome's third king Tullus Hostilius
Tullus Hostilius
Tullus Hostilius was the legendary third of the Kings of Rome. He succeeded Numa Pompilius, and was succeeded by Ancus Marcius...

.

Conflicts with the Roman republic

In the early Roman republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...

 Fidenae made a decision that was to cost them much of their land in favor of the new Claudia gens
Claudius (gens)
The gens Claudia, sometimes written Clodia, was one of the most prominent patrician houses at Rome. The gens traced its origin to the earliest days of the Roman Republic...

, formed from Sabine defectors. Lucius Tarquinius Superbus
Lucius Tarquinius Superbus
Lucius Tarquinius Superbus was the legendary seventh and final King of Rome, reigning from 535 BC until the popular uprising in 509 BC that led to the establishment of the Roman Republic. He is more commonly known by his cognomen Tarquinius Superbus and was a member of the so-called Etruscan...

, last king of Rome, having been expelled from it, at first looked for intervention from the Etruscans
Etruscan civilization
Etruscan civilization is the modern English name given to a civilization of ancient Italy in the area corresponding roughly to Tuscany. The ancient Romans called its creators the Tusci or Etrusci...

. Lars Porsenna of Clusium
Clusium
Clusium was an ancient city in Italy, one of several found at the site. The current municipality of Chiusi partly overlaps this Roman walled city. The Roman city remodeled an earlier Etruscan city, Clevsin, found in the territory of a prehistoric culture, possibly also Etruscan or proto-Etruscan...

, dissatisfied with Superbus' conduct and ethics, made peace with the new republic.

The Tarquins then subverted Latium
Latium
Lazio is one of the 20 administrative regions of Italy, situated in the central peninsular section of the country. With about 5.7 million residents and a GDP of more than 170 billion euros, Lazio is the third most populated and the second richest region of Italy...

. Sextus Tarquinius
Sextus Tarquinius
Sextus Tarquinius was a Roman prince, the third and youngest son of the last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus . He is primarily known for his rape of Lucretia, daughter of Spurius Lucretius Tricipitinus, wife of Collatinus....

, whose rape of Lucretia
Lucretia
Lucretia is a legendary figure in the history of the Roman Republic. According to the story, told mainly by the Roman historian Livy and the Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus , her rape by the king's son and consequent suicide were the immediate cause of the revolution that overthrew the...

 had triggered the overthrow of the monarchy (if he was not assassinated at Gabii
Gabii
Gabii was an ancient city of Latium, located due east of Rome along the Via Praenestina, which was in early times known as the Via Gabina....

), convinced the Sabines to go to war against Rome, arguing that previous treaties had been annulled by the expulsion of the kings. The Tarquins were now interested in Latin intervention. After some minor conflicts in which Rome was victorious, the Sabines took a vote and resolved on an invasion of the city of Rome (with perhaps the previous example in memory). The Tarquins brought in Fidenae and Cameria, formerly Roman allies.

The total defeat of the Sabines in 505/504 BC was followed by the siege of Fidenae. When the city was taken only a few days later the Romans assembled their prisoners and executing the senior officers before them (whipped by the rods and beheaded by the axe of the fasces
Fasces
Fasces are a bundle of wooden sticks with an axe blade emerging from the center, which is an image that traditionally symbolizes summary power and jurisdiction, and/or "strength through unity"...

, a standard punishment for treason), let the rest go with a stern warning. A garrison was placed in Fidenae, who were given much of its land. The Claudii are not mentioned in connection with the battle, but they had been given land north of the Anio river
Aniene
-External links:* http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/horaces-villa/glossary/Anio.gloss.html*...

, some of which was at Fidenae. They could only collect on that offer if Fidenae was defeated, the implication being that they were being invited to participate in the campaign; they may even have been the garrison.

Fidenae appears to have fallen permanently under Roman domination after its capture in 435 BC
Capture of Fidenae (435 BC)
Ancient Rome defeated Veii in the Capture of Fidenae in 435 BC.Plutarch provides us with two versions of how Fidenae was taken.The first goes that Romulus sent his cavalry swiftly to cut the pivots of the gate, enabling him to unexpectedly appear...

 by the Romans, and is spoken of by classical authors as a place almost deserted in their time. It seems, however; to have had some importance as a post station. It is also notable for being the site of a deadly amphitheatre collapse.

Stadium disaster

In 27 AD, an apparently cheaply built wooden amphitheatre
Amphitheatre
An amphitheatre is an open-air venue used for entertainment and performances.There are two similar, but distinct, types of structure for which the word "amphitheatre" is used: Ancient Roman amphitheatres were large central performance spaces surrounded by ascending seating, and were commonly used...

, constructed by an entrepreneur named Atilus, collapsed in Fidenae resulting in by far the worst stadium disaster in history with as many as 20,000 dead and wounded out of the total audience of 50,000. The emperor Tiberius
Tiberius
Tiberius , was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian...

 had banned gladiatoral games, it seems, and when the prohibition was lifted, the public had flocked to the earliest events, and so a large crowd was present when the stadium collapsed. The Roman Senate
Roman Senate
The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...

 responded to the tragedy by banning people with a fortune of less than 400,000 sesterces from hosting gladiator shows, and also requiring that all amphitheatres to be built in the future be erected on a sound foundation, inspected and certified for soundness. The government also "banished" Atilius.

See also

  • Roman-Etruscan Wars
    Roman-Etruscan Wars
    The Roman-Etruscan Wars were a series of wars fought between ancient Rome and the Etruscans, from the earliest stages of the history of Rome....

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