Amiternum
{{Short description|City of ancient Italy}}
{{Infobox ancient site
|name = Amiternum
|native_name =
|alternate_name =
|image = 260px
|alt =
|caption =
|map_type = Italy Abruzzo
|map_alt =
|location = L'Aquila, Province of L'Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy
|region = Abruzzo
|type = Settlement
|part_of =
|length =
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|builder =
|material =
|built =
|abandoned =
|epochs = Roman Republic - Byzantine Empire
|cultures = Ancient Rome
|dependency_of =
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|event =
|excavations =
|archaeologists =
|condition =
|ownership =
|management = Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell'Abruzzo
|public_access =
|website = [http://www.archeoabruzzo.beniculturali.it/Amiternum.html Area Archeologica Amiternum] {{in lang|it}}
|notes =
}}
Amiternum was an ancient Sabine city, then Roman city and later bishopric and Latin Catholic titular see in the central Abruzzo region of modern Italy, located {{convert|9|km|abbr=on}} from L'Aquila. Amiternum was the birthplace of the historian Sallust (86 BC).{{cite book|author=S. P. Oakley|title=A Commentary on Livy, Books VI-X : Volume IV: Book X: Volume IV|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d4w-JFdfcE8C&pg=PA414|date=13 October 2005|publisher=Oxford University Press, UK|isbn=978-0-19-156924-1|pages=414–}}
History
The site, in the upper Aterno valley, was one of the most important of Sabinum.
Amiternum was defeated by the Romans in 293 BC.
It lay at the point of junction of four roads: the Via Caecilia, the Via Claudia Nova and two branches of the Via Salaria.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}
There are considerable remains of an amphitheatre and a theatre, all of which belong to the imperial period, while on the hill of the surrounding village of San Vittorino there are some Christian catacombs.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}
A well known Roman funerary relief of the first century BC depicts the Roman funeral procession or pompa.{{cite book|author=Fred Kleiner|title=Gardner's Art through the Ages: The Western Perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mBrvazPDFoYC&pg=PT195|date=8 January 2009|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=978-0-495-57360-9|pages=195–}}
File:Amiternum 2015 by-RaBoe 097.jpg|Amphitheatre of Amiternum
File:Amiternum 2015 by-RaBoe 064.jpg|Amiternum Theatre
Ecclesiastical history
The modern name of the locality, San Vittorino, recalls the martyr Victorinus, who is looked on as the first bishop of Amiternum, allegedly of the time of the persecution by Roman Emperor Nerva (AD 30-98), although other sources put the bishopric's foundation in ca. AD 300. Around AD 400 it gained territory from the suppressed Diocese of Pitinum.
Other bishops of Amiternum include Quodvultdeus, who encouraged the religious veneration of Victorinus by constructing his tomb, Castorius, who is mentioned by Pope Gregory I, Saint Cetteus, martyred by the Lombards in 597, and Leontius, a brother of Pope Stephen II. The last known bishop is Ludovicus, who took part in a synod held in Rome in 1069.
Circa AD 1060, the bishopric was suppressed and its territory merged into the Rieti. In the mid-13th century the population was transferred to the newly founded town of L'Aquila, which was erected as a diocese by Pope Alexander IV on 20 February 1257, and incorporated the territory of the diocese of Amiternum.Giuseppe Cappelletti, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ctUCAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA417 Le chiese d'Italia dalla loro origine sino ai nostri giorni], Volume XXI, Venezia, 1870, pp. 417–418Francesco Lanzoni, [https://archive.org/stream/MN5017ucmf_0#page/n381/mode/2up Le diocesi d'Italia dalle origini al principio del secolo VII (an. 604)], vol. I, Faenza 1927, pp. 359–363Pius Bonifacius Gams, [http://www.wbc.poznan.pl/dlibra/doccontent?id=65154&dirids=1 Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae], Leipzig 1931, p. 851
= Titular see =
No longer a residential bishopric, the name Amiternum has been used by the Catholic Church since 1966 as a Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 {{ISBN|978-88-209-9070-1}}), p. 831 Latin titular bishopric.
It has had the following incumbents:
- Titular Bishop Stanislao Amilcare Battistelli, Passionists (C.P.) (1967.02.22 – 1976.01.06)
- Titular Archbishop Agostino Cacciavillan (1976.01.17 – 2001.02.21),
- as papal diplomat (Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Kenya (1976.01.17 – 1981.05.09),
- Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to India (1981.05.09 – 1990.06.13),
- Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Nepal (1985.04.30 – 1990.06.13),
- Permanent Observer to Organization of American States (OAS) (1990 – 1998.11.05),
- Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to United States of America (1990.06.13 – 1998.11.05)),
- President of Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (1998.11.05 – 2002.10.01)
- Titular Archbishop Timothy Paul Andrew Broglio (2001.02.27 – 2007.11.19)
- Titular Archbishop Luciano Suriani (2008.02.22 – ...)
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite book |last1=Buess |first1=Manuel |title=Amiternum 1. Untersuchungen zur Siedlungs- und Wirtschaftsstruktur im zentralen Abruzzenraum in römischer Zeit |date=2023 |publisher=Reichert Verlag |location=Wiesbaden |isbn=9783954903207}}
- Segenni, Simonetta (1985). Amiternum e il suo territorio in età romana. Pisa: Giardini.
Sources and external links
- [http://icarus.umkc.edu/sandbox/perseus/pecs/page.244.a.php Richard Stillwell, ed. Princeton Encyclopaedia of Classical Sites, 1976:] "Amiternum (San Vittorino), Latium, Italy"
- [http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/former/t0115.htm GCatholic with titular incumbent bio links]
Attribution:
- {{EB1911|wstitle=Amiternum|volume=1|page=859}}
{{coord|42|24|02.00|N|13|18|21.60|E|dim:2000_scale:20000_region:IT-AQ_type:landmark_source:dewiki|display=title}}
{{Commons category|Amiternum}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Roman sites of Abruzzo
Category:Former populated places in Italy
Category:Roman amphitheatres in Italy
Category:Ancient Roman theatres in Italy
Category:Populated places established in the 3rd century BC