Fidenae

Fidenae was an ancient Latin (or Sabine?) town along the Via Salaria, near the fifth or sixth milestone. Archaeological excavations have shown that the site was occupied in the Iron Age; there is a modern reconstruction of one of the huts at modern Fidene (satellite photo). This type of hut was common in Latium before the hilltop settlements united and became cities. A memory of this age may have been preserved in the story that Romulus captured Fidenae and killed its king (Livy, 1.14).

According to the Roman historian Livy, Fidenae allied itself to Veii in the fifth century, which resulted in its destruction when Rome attacked its Etruscan rival (Livy, 4.22 and 4.35). The place was abandoned (cf. Horace, Epistle, 1.11.8), only used to quarry tufa (Vitruvius, On Architecture, 2.7.1), but it could be used for public gatherings. During one of these, in the year 27 CE, a wooden amphitheater collapsed; according to Suetonius, no less than twenty thousand people were killed (Tiberius, 40). The site was also used by Hannibal during his war against Rome (Livy, 26.10).

Also online

• George Dennis, The Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria (1848), Castel Giubileo