Aquileia, Italy

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Aquileia was founded by the Romans as a Latin colony in 181 B.C. in the north-eastern corner of the plain of the Po at the northern end of the Adriatic. It grew to become one of the largest and wealthiest cities of the Roman Empire. After the city was destroyed by Attila the Hun in A.D. 453, the survivors clustered in a drastically reduced settlement around the Basilica, which is the origin of the small present-day town. Most of the ancient city lies unexcavated beneath the surrounding fields.


Numismatic References

Paolucci, R. and A. Zub. La monetazione di Aquileia Romana. (Padova, 2000).



Moneta Historical Research by Tom Schroer

AQUILEIA (Italy - 45°47'N, 13°22'E) is situated at the eastern edge of the Venetian plain seven miles from the Adriatic Sea via the Natisone canal, formerly the Natiso River. The Gauls seized the area in 186 BC and the Romans ejected them in 181 BC, at which time the Romans decided to establish a colony to act as a customs station, outpost, and mining center since there were nearby gold mines. Two very important highways converged on Aquileia, the Via Annia and the Via Postumia, and nearly all east-west traffic passed through the city.  Aquileia was originally in a region known as Cisalpine Gaul, which became a separate province after the Social War (91-87 BC) and was not finally incorporated into Italy until 42 BC. It grew to a population of nearly 100,000 people and became known as 'Roma Secunda'. The long prosperity which it sustained was due not only to its location but because of its relative security within the Empire. After being attacked by the Taurisci and Iapudes in 52 BC it was not bothered again for over 200 years until the Marcomanni and Quadi beseiged it in 168 AD. An imperial mint was established there about 294, the eve of the great Diocletianic reform of the bronze coinage, and its activity was sporadic through 324, when it was closed for ten years. After it reopened in 334 it remained continuously active until finally closed under Valentinian III about 430. The city was destroyed by Attila the Hun in 452 and never recovered its former glory, most of its survivors having moved to the more defensible area of Venice. There are still considerable remains of the old Roman city, which at the time of its destruction was the ninth largest metropolis in the Roman Empire.


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AQUILEIA, a once famous city, near the Adriatic sea, and the barrier of Italy on that side.  In the Byzantine Empire it was the capital of the Venetian territory, but was destroyed by the Huns, under Attila, in A.D. 453.  It is now only a mass of ruins and hovels, the resort of fishermen.

It was at the siege of this town, by the ferocious Thracian, Maximinus, that the women of Aquileia afforded a memorable instance of courage and devotion; for the cordage belonging to the machines of war being worn out, they all cut off their tresses to supply the defect.

The initial letters of the name as a mint mark frequently occurs on the exergue of Roman coins for Diocletian downwards. 


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Recommended Links

Aquileia.net
Museo Archeologico di Aquileia