Map of the Roman Empire - Terracina
Terracina
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Ancient Terracina. A flourishing maritime city of Latium situated on the Tyrrhenian sea, about 10 miles from Circeii. Cicero makes mention that Terracina was a customary halting-place along the Appian Way.
Tarracīna - Now Terracina, more anciently called Anxur, an ancient town of Latium, situated fifty-eight miles southeast of Rome, on the Via Appia and upon the coast, with a strongly fortified citadel upon a high hill, on which stood the Temple of Iupiter Anxurus. Remains of the ancient citadel are still visible. - Harry Thurston Peck. Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. New York. Harper and Brothers.
History of Terracina. Terracina appears in ancient sources with two names: the Latin Tarracina and the Volscian Anxur (Plin. NH 3.59: "lingua Volscorum Anxur dictum"). The latter is the name of Jupiter himself as a youth (Iuppiter Anxur or Anxurus), and was the tutelary god of the city, venerated on the Mons Neptunius (current Monte S. Angelo), where a temple dedicated to him still exists... It was probably in consequence of the road cut just mentioned that some of the more important buildings of the imperial period were erected in the low ground by the shore, and near the small harbour. The construction of the coast road, the Via Severiana, from Ostia to Terracina, added to the importance of the place; and the beauty of the promontory with its luxuriant flora and attractive view had caused it to be frequented by the Romans as early as 200 BCE. Terracina became an important centre for the development of the fertile valley lying to the west, and started to grow new settlements at the foot of the first one, which turned into a sanctuary area with some patrician mansions. Marcus Favonius, the imitator of Cato the Younger, was born in Terracina, as was the emperor Galba (in 3 BC); both Galba and Domitian possessed villas in the area of the city. Various new public edifices were erected starting from the time of Sulla: these included a new theatre and forum, while the sanctuary was renovated, as well as the port (under Trajan and Antoninus Pius, 2nd century CE). The last Roman construction was that of a new line of walls during the 5th century CE. - Wikipedia
Tarracina (Anxur, Trachas, Trachina), a maritime town of the Volsci, in Latium, on Via Appia, bet. Ad Medias (10) and Fundi (13). A colonia and municip. Galba was born near it. Terracina. - Classical Gazetteer
Terracina
TARRACI´NA (Ταρράκινα, Strab.; Ταρράκηνα, Steph. B. sub voce: Eth. Ταρρρακινίτης,
Tarracinensis: Terracina), a city of Latium in the more extended sense of that
name, but originally a Volscian city, situated on the Tyrrhenian sea, about 10
miles from Circeii, and at the extremity of the Pomptine Marshes. It was also
known by the name of ANXUR and we learn from Pliny and Livy that this was its
Volscian name, while Tarracina was that by which it was known to the Latins and
Romans. (Plin. Nat. 3.5. s. 9; Ennius ap. Fest. s. v. Anxur; Liv. 4.59.) The
name of Anxur is frequently used at a much later period by the Roman poets (Hor.
Sat. i. 5. 26; Lucan 3.84; Martial, 5.1. 6, &c.), obviously because Tarracina
could not be introduced in verse; but Cicero, Livy, and all other prose writers,
where they are speaking of the Roman town, universally call it Tarracina. The
Greek derivation of the latter name suggested by Strabo (v. p.233), who says it
was originally called Τραχινή, from its rugged situation, is probably a mere
etymological fancy. The first mention of it in history occurs in the treaty
between Rome and Carthage concluded in B.C. 509, in which the people of
Tarracina are mentioned in common with those of Circeii, Antium, &c., among the
subjects or dependencies of Rome. (Pol. 3.22.) It seems certain therefore that
Tarracina, as well as Circeii, was included in the Roman dominions before the
fall of the monarchy. But it is clear that it must have again fallen under the
dominion of the Volscians, probably not long after this period. It was certainly
in the possession of that people, when its name next appears in history, in B.C.
406. On that occasion it was attacked by N. Fabius Ambustus, and taken by a
sudden assault, while the attention of the Volscian armies was drawn off in
another direction. (Liv. 4.57; Diod. 14.16.) Livy speaks of it as having at this
time enjoyed a long period of power and prosperity, and still possessing great
wealth, which was plundered by the Roman armies. A few years afterwards (B.C.
402) it again fell into the hands of the Volscians, through the negligence of
the Roman garrison (Liv. 5.8). In B.C. 400, it was again besieged by the Roman
arms under Valerius Potitus, and though his first assaults were repulsed, and he
was compelled to have recourse to a blockade, it soon after fell into his hands.
(Ib. 12, 13.) An attempt of the Volscians to recover it in 397 proved
unsuccessful (Ib. 16), and from this time the city continued subject to Rome.
Nearly 70 years later, after the conquest of Privernum, it was thought advisable
to secure Tarracina with a Roman colony, which was established there in B.C.
329. (Liv. 8.21; Vell. 1.14.)
The condition of Tarracina as a Roman colony is not quite clear, for Velleius
notices it as if it had been one of the “Coloniae Latinae,” while Livy certainly
does not consider it as such, for he omits its name among the thirty Latin
colonies in the time of the Second Punic War, while he on two occasions mentions
it in connection with the other maritime colonies, Antium, Minturnae, &c. In
common with these, the citizens of Tarracina in vain contended for exemption
from military service during the Second Punic War, and at a later period claimed
exemption from naval service also. (Liv. 27.38, 36.3.) There can, therefore, be
no doubt that Tarracina was a “colonia maritima civium,” and it seems to have
early become one of [p. 2.1104]the most important of the maritime towns subject
to Rome. Its position on the Appian Way, which here first touched on the sea (Strab.
v. p.233; Hor. Sat. 1.5. 26), doubtless contributed to its prosperity; and an
artificial port seems to have in some degree supplied the want of a natural
harbour. (Liv. 27.4.) In a military point of view also its position was
important, as commanding the passage of the Appian Way, and the narrow defile of
Lautulae, which was situated a short distance from the city on the side of Fundi.
(Liv. 22.15.) [LAUTULAE]
Under the Roman Republic Tarracina seems to have continued to be a considerable
and flourishing town. Cicero repeatedly notices it as one of the customary
halting-places on the Appian Way, and for the same reason it is mentioned by
Horace on his journey to Brundusium. (Cic. de Orat. 2.59, ad Fam. 7.23, ad Att.
7.5; Hor. Sat. 1.5. 26; Appian, App. BC 3.12; V. Max. 8.1.13.) At the outbreak
of the civil war between Caesar and Pompey, Tarracina was occupied by the latter
with three cohorts under the praetor Rutilius Lupus, but they abandoned their
post, when Pompey withdrew to Brundusium. (Caes. B.C. 1.24; Cic. Att. 8.1. 1,
B.) Again, during the civil war between Vespasian and Vitellius, Tarracina was
evidently regarded as a place of importance in a military point of view, and was
occupied by the partisans of Vespasian, but was wrested from them by L.
Vitellius just before the death of his brother. (Tac. Hist. 3.57, 76, 77.) It
was at Tarracina also that the funeral convoy of Germanicus was met by his
cousin Drusus and the chief personages of Rome. (Id. Ann. 3.2.) The
neighbourhood seems to have been a favourite site for villas under the Roman
Empire: among others the Emperor Domitian had a villa there (Martial. 5.1. 6);
and it was at another villa near the town, on the road to Fundi, that the
emperor Galba was born. (Suet. Galb. 4.) In addition to the other natural
advantages of the situation, there existed mineral springs in the neighbourhood,
which seem to have been much frequented. (Martial, 5.1. 6, 10.51. 8.) The
important position of Tarracina doubtless prevented its falling into decay as
long as the Western Empire subsisted. Its name is found in the Itineraries as a
“civitas” (Itin. Ant. p. 187; Itin. Hier. p. 611), and even after the fall of
the Roman dominion it appears as a fortress of importance during the Gothic
wars. (Procop. B. G. 2.2, 4, &c.)
The position of Tarracina at the extremity of the Pomptine Marshes, just where a
projecting ridge of the Volscian mountains runs down to the sea, and separates
the marshy tract on the W. from a similar but much smaller tract on the E.,
which extends from thence towards Fundi, must in all ages have rendered it a
place of importance. The ancient city stood on the hill above the marshes.
Horace distinctly describes it as standing on lofty rocks, which were
conspicuous afar, from their white colour:-- “Impositum saxis late candentibus
Anxur”
(Hor. Sat. 1.5. 26); and the same circumstance is alluded to by other Latin
poets. (Lucan 3.84; Sil. Ital. 8.392.) Livy also describes the original Volscian
town as “loco alto situm” (5.12), though it extended also down the slope of the
hill towards the marshes ( “urbs prona in paludes,” 4.59). At a later period it
not only spread itself down the hill, but occupied a considerable level at the
foot of it (as the modern city still does), in the neighbourhood of the port.
This last must always have been in great part artificial, but the existence of a
regular port at Tarracina is noticed by Livy as early as B.C. 210. (Liv. 27.4.)
It was subsequently enlarged and reconstructed under the Roman Empire, probably
by Trajan, and again restored by Antoninus Pius. (Capit. Ant. P. 8.) Its remains
are still distinctly visible, and the whole circuit of the ancient basin,
surrounded by a massive mole, may be clearly traced, though the greater part or
it is now filled with sand. Considerable portions of the ancient walls also
still remain, constructed partly in the polygonal style, partly in the more
recent style known to the Romans as “opus incertum.” Several ancient tombs and
ruins of various buildings of Roman date are still extant in the modern city and
along the line of the Via Appia. The modern cathedral stands on the site of an
ancient temple, of which only the substructions and two columns remain. This is
generally called, though on very uncertain authority, a temple of Apollo. The
most celebrated of the temples at Tarracina was, however, that of Jupiter, which
is noticed by Livy (28.11, 40.45), and the especial worship of this deity in the
Volscian city under the title of Jupiter Anxurus is alluded to by Virgil (Aen.
7.799). He was represented (as we are told by Servius) as a beautiful youth, and
the figure of the deity corresponding to this description is found on a Roman
coin of the Vibian family. (Eckhel, vol. v. p. 340.) It is probable that this
temple was situated in the highest part of the city, very probably in the
ancient citadel, which occupied the summit of a hill above the town, where
remains of its walls and substructions are still extant.
Tarracina was distant by the Via Appia 62 miles from Rome, and 18 from the Forum
Appii. (Itin. Ant. p. 107; Itin. Hier. p. 611; Westphal, Röm. Kamp. p. 68.)
Three miles from the city, at the side of the Via Appia, as well as of the canal
which was frequently used by travellers, was the fountain of Feronia, celebrated
by Horace, together with the sacred grove attached to it. [FERONIA]
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman
Geography (1854) William Smith, LLD, Ed.