Extent of the Domain of Præneste
Just as the modern roads and streets in both country and city of ancient territory are taken as the first and best proof of the presence of ancient boundary lines and thoroughfares, just so the territorial jurisdiction of a city in modern Italy, where tradition has been so constant and so strong, is the best proof for the extent of ancient domain.2 Before trying, therefore, to settle the limits of the domain of Præneste from the provenience of ancient inscriptions, and by deductions from ancient literary sources, and present topographical and archæological arguments, it will be well worth while to trace rapidly the diocesan boundaries which the Roman church gave to Præneste.
The Christian faith had one of its longest and hardest fights at Præneste to overcome the old Roman cult of Fortuna Primigenia. Christianity triumphed completely, and Præneste was so important a place, that it was made one of the six suburban bishoprics,3 and from that time on there is more or less mention in the Papal records of the diocese of Præneste, or Penestrino as it began to be called.
In the fifth century A.D. there is mention of a gift to a church by Sixtus III, Pope from 432 to 440, of a certain possession in Prænestine territory called Marmorata,4 which seems best located near the town of Genazzano.
About the year 970 the territory of Præneste was increased in extent by Pope John XIII, who ceded to his sister Stefania a territory that extended back into the mountains to Aqua alta near Subiaco, and as far as the Rivo lato near Genazzano, and to the west and north from the head of the Anio river to the Via Labicana.5
A few years later, in 998, because of some troubles, the domain of Præneste was very much diminished. This is of the greatest importance here, because the territory of the diocese in 998 corresponds almost exactly not only to the natural boundaries, but also, as will be shown later, to the ancient boundaries of her domain. The extent of this restricted territory was about five by six miles, and took in Zagarolo, Valmontone, Cave, Rocca di Cave, Capranica, Poli, and Gallicano.6 These towns form a circle around Præneste and mark very nearly the ancient boundary. The towns of Valmontone, Cave, and Poli, however, although in a great degree dependent upon Præneste, were, I think, just outside her proper territorial domain.
In 1043, when Emilia, a descendant of the Stefania mentioned above, married Stefano di Colonna, Count of Tusculum, Præneste’s territory seems to have been enlarged again to its former extent, because in 1080 at Emilia’s death, Pope Gregory VII excommunicated the Colonna because they insisted upon retaining the Prænestine territory which had been given as a fief to Stefania, and which upon Emilia’s death should have reverted to the Church.7
We get a glance again at the probable size of the Prænestine diocese in 1190, from the fact that the fortieth bishop of Præneste was Giovanni Anagnino de’ Conti di Segni (1190-1196),8 and this seems to imply a further extension of the diocese to the southeast down the Trerus (Sacco) valley.
Again, in 1300 after the papal destruction of Palestrina, the government of the city was turned over to Cardinal Ranieri, who was to hold the city and its castle (mons), the mountain and its territory. At this time the diocese comprised the land as far as Artena (Monte Fortino) and and Rocca Priora, one of the towns in the Alban Hills, and to Castrum Novum Tiburtinum, which may well be Corcolle.9
The natural limits of the ancient city proper can hardly be mistaken. The city included not only the arx and that portion of the southern slope of the mountain which was walled in, but also a level piece of fertile ground below the city, across the present Via degli Arconi. This piece of flat land has an area about six hundred yards square, the natural boundaries of which are: on the west, the deep bed of the watercourse spanned by the Ponte dei Sardoni; on the east, the cut over which is built the Ponte dell’ Ospedalato, and on the south, the depression running parallel to the Via degli Arconi, and containing the modern road from S. Rocco to Cave.
From the natural limits of the town itself we now pass to what would seem to have been the extent of territory dependent upon her. The strongest argument of this discussion is based upon the natural configuration of the land. To the west, the domain of Præneste certainly followed those long fertile ridges accessible only from Præneste. First, and most important, it extended along the very wide ridge known as Le Tende and Le Colonnelle which stretches down toward Gallicano. Some distance above that town it splits, one half, under the name of Colle S. Rocco, running out to the point on which Gallicano is situated, and the other, as the Colle Caipoli, reaching farther out into the Campagna. Along and across this ridge ran several ancient roads.10 With the combination of fertile ground well situated, in a position farthest away from all hostile attack, and a location not only in plain sight from the citadel of Præneste, but also between Præneste and her closest friend and ally, Tibur, it is certain that in this ridge we have one of the most favored and valuable of Præneste’s possessions, and quite as certain that Gallicano, probably the ancient Pedum,11 was one of the towns which were dependent allies of Præneste. It was along this ridge too that probably the earlier, and certainly the more intimate communication between Præneste and Tibur passed, for of the three possible routes, this was both the nearest and safest.12
The second ridge, called Colle di Pastore as far as the Gallicano cut, and Colle Collafri beyond it, along which for four miles runs the Via Prænestina, undoubtedly belonged to the domain of Præneste.13 But it was not so important a piece of property as the ridges on either side, for it is much narrower, and it had no town at its end. There was probably always a road out this ridge, as is shown by the presence of the later Via Prænestina, but that there was no town at the end of the ridge is well proved by the fact that Ashby finds no remains there which give evidence of one. Then, too, we have plain enough proof of general unfitness for a town. In the first place the ridge runs oil into the junction of two roadless valleys, there is not much fertile land back of where the town site would have been, but above all, however, it is certain that the Via Prænestina was an officially made Roman road, and did not occupy anything more than a previous track of little consequence. This is shown by the absence of tombs of the early necropolis style along this road.
The next ridge must always have been one of the most important, for from above Cavamonte as far as Passerano, at the bottom of the ridge on the side toward Rome, connecting with the highway which was the later Via Latina, ran the main road through Zagarolo, Passerano, Corcolle, on to Tibur and the north.14 As this was the other of the two great roads which ran to the north without getting out on the Roman Campagna, it is certain that Præneste considered it in her territory, and probably kept the travel well in hand. With dependent towns at Zagarolo and Passerano, which are several miles distant from each other, there must have been at least one more town between them, to guard the road against attack from Tusculum or Gabii. The fact that the Via Prænestina later cut the Colle del Pero-Colle Seloa just below a point where an ancient road ascends the ridge to a place well adapted for a town, and where there are some remains,15 seems to prove the supposition, and to locate another of the dependent cities of Præneste.
That the next ridge, the one on which Zagarolo is situated, was also part of Præneste’s territory, aside from the fact that it has always been part of the diocese of Præneste, is clearly shown by the topography of the district. The only easy access to Zagarolo is from Palestrina, and although the town itself cannot be seen from the mountain of Præneste, nevertheless the approach to it along the ridge is clearly visible.
The country south and in front of Præneste spreads out more like a solid plain for a mile or so before splitting off into the ridges which are so characteristic of the neighborhood. East of the ridge on which Zagarolo stands, and running nearly at right angles to it, is a piece of territory along which runs the present road (the Omata di Palestrina) to the Palestrina railroad station, and which as far as the cross valley at Colle dell’Aquila, is incontestably Prænestine domain.
But the territory which most certainly belonged to Præneste, and which was at once the most valuable and the oldest of her possessions is the wide ridge now known as the Vigne di Loreto, along which runs the road to Marcigliano.16 Not only does this ridge lie most closely bound to Præneste by nature, but it leads directly toward Velitræ, her most advantageous ally. Tibur was perhaps always Præneste’s closest and most loyal ally, but the alliance with her had not the same opportunity for mutual advantage as one with Velitræ, because each of these towns commanded the territory the other wished to know most about, and both together could draw across the upper Trerus valley a tight line which was of the utmost importance from a strategic point of view. These two facts would in themselves be a satisfactory proof that this ridge was Præneste’s first expansion and most important acquisition, but there is proof other than topographical and argumentative.
At the head of this ridge in la Colombella, along the road leading to Marcigliano from the little church of S. Rocco, have been found three strata of tombs. The line of graves in the lowest stratum, the date of which is not later than the fifth or sixth century B.C., points exactly along the ancient road, now the Via della Marcigliana or di Loreto.17
The natural limit of Prænestine domain to the south has now been reached, and that it is actually the natural limit is shown by the accompanying illustration.
Through the Valle di Pepe or Fosso dell’ Ospedalato (see Plate II), which is wide as well as deep, runs the uppermost feeder of the Trerus river. One sees at a glance that the whole slope of the mountain from arx to base is continued by a natural depression which would make an ideal boundary for Prænestine territory. Nor is the topographical proof all. No inscriptions of consequence, and no architectural remains of the pre-imperial period have been found across this valley. The road along the top of the ridge beyond it is an ancient one, and ran to Valmontone as it does today, and was undoubtedly often used between Præneste and the towns on the Volscians. The ridge, however, was exposed to sudden attack from too many directions to be of practical value to Præneste. Valmontone, which lay out beyond the end of this ridge, commanded it, and Valmontone was not a dependency of Præneste, as is shown by an inscription which mentions the adlectio of a citizen there into the senate (decuriones) of Præneste.18
There are still two other places which as we have seen were included at different times in the papal diocese of Præneste,19 namely, Capranica and Cave.20 Inscriptional evidence is not forthcoming in either place sufficient to warrant any certainty in the matter of correspondence of local names to those in Præneste. Of the two, Capranica had much more need of dependence on Præneste than Cave. It was down through the little valley back of Præneste, at the head of which Capranica lay, that her later aqueducts came. The outlet from Capranica back over the mountains was very difficult, and the only tillable soil within reach of that town lay to the north of Præneste on the ridge running toward Gallicano, and on a smaller ridge which curved around toward Tibur and lay still closer to the mountains. In short, Capranica, which never attained importance enough to be of any consequence, appears to have been always dependent upon Præneste.
But as for Cave, that is another question. Her friends were to the east, and there was easy access into the mountains to Sublaqueum (Subiaco) and beyond, through the splendid passes via either of the modern towns, Genazzano or Olevano.
It is quite evident that Cave was never a large town, and it seems most probable that she realized that an amicable understanding with Præneste was discreet. This is rendered almost certain by the proof of a continuance of business relations between the two places. The greater number of the big tombs of the sixth and fifth centuries B.C. are of a peperino from Cave,21 and a good deal of the tufa used in wall construction in Præneste is from the quarries near Cave, as Fernique saw.22
Rocca di Cave, on a hill top behind Cave, is too insignificant a location to have been the cause of the lower town, which at the best does not itself occupy a very advantageous position in any way, except that it is in the line of a trade route from lower Italy. It might be maintained with some reason that Cave was a settlement of dissatisfied merchants from Præneste, who had gone out and established themselves on the main road for the purpose of anticipating the trade, but there is much against such an argument.
It has been shown that there were peaceable relations between Præneste and Cave in the fifth and sixth centuries B.C., but that the two towns were on terms of equality is impossible, and that Cave was a dependency of Præneste, and in her domain, is most unlikely both topographically and epigraphically. And more than this, just as an ancient feud can be proved between Præneste and Rome from the slurs on Præneste which one finds in literature from Plautus down,23 if no other proofs were to be had,24 just so there is a very ancient grudge between Præneste and Cave, which has been perpetuated and is very noticeable even at the present day.25
The topography of Præneste as to the site of the city proper, and as to its territorial domain is then, about as follows.
In very early times, probably as early as the ninth or tenth century B.C., Præneste was a town on the southern slope of Monte Glicestro,26 with an arx on the summit. As the town grew, it spread first to the level ground directly below, and out along the ridge west of the Valle di Pepe toward Marcigliano, because it was territory not only fertile and easily defended, being directly under the very eyes of the citizens, but also because it stretched out toward Velitræ, an old and trusted ally.27
Her next expansion was in the direction of Tibur, along the trade route which followed the Sabine side of the Liris-Trerus valley, and this expansion gave her a most fertile piece of territory. To insure this against incursions from the pass which led back into the mountains, it seems certain that Præneste secured or perhaps colonized Capranica.
The last Prænestine expansion in territory had a motive beyond the acquisition of land, for it was also important from a strategical point of view. It will be remembered that the second great trade route which came into the Roman plain ran past Zagarolo, Passerano, and Corcolle.28 This road runs along a valley just below ridges which radiate from the mountain on which Præneste is situated, and thus bordered the land which was by nature territory dependent upon Præneste.29 So this final extension of her domain was to command this important road. With the carrying out of this project all the ridges mentioned above came gradually into the possession of Praneste, as natural, expedient, and unquestioned domain, and on the ends of those ridges which were defensible, dependent towns grew up. There was also a town at Cavamonte above the Maremmana road, probably a village out on the Colle dell’Oro, and undoubtedly one at Marcigliano, or in that vicinity.
We have already seen that across a valley and a stream of some consequence there is a ridge not at all connected with the mountain on which Præneste was situated, but belonging rather to Valmontone, which was better suited for neutral ground or to act as a buffer to the southeast. We turn to mention this ridge again as territory topographically outside Præneste’s domain, in order to say more forcibly that one must cross still another valley and stream before reaching the territory of Cave, and so Cave, although dependent upon Præneste, by reason of its size and interests, was not a dependent city of Præneste, nor was it a part of her domain.30
In short, to describe Præneste, that famous town of Latium, and her domain in a true if homely way, she was an ancient and proud city whose territory was a commanding mountain and a number of ridges running out from it, which spread out like a fan all the way from the Fosso dell’Ospedalato (the depression shown in plate II) to the Sabine mountains on the north.