Calatia
Calatia, an ancient town of
Campania,
Italy, 6 m. SE of
Capua, on the
Via Appia, near the point where the
Via Popillia branches off from it. It is represented by the church of Giacomo alle Galazze. The Via Appia here, as at Capua, abandons its former SE direction for a length of 2,000
Oscan ft. (1,804 English ft.), for which it runs due east and then resumes its course SE. There are no ruins, but a considerable quantity of debris; and the pre-Roman
necropolis was partially excavated in 1882. Ten shafts lined with slabs of
tufa which were there found may have been the approaches to tombs or may have served as wells. The history of Calatia is practically that of its more powerful neighbor Capua, but as it lay near the point where the Via Appia turns east and enters the mountains, it had some strategic importance. In
313 BC it was taken by the
Samnites and recaptured by the
dictator Quintus Fabius; the Samnites captured it again in
311 BC, but it must have been retaken at an unknown date. In the
3rd century BC we find it issuing coins with an Oscan legend, but in
211 BC it shared the fate of Capua. In
174 BC we hear of its walls being repaired by the
censors. In
59 BC a colony was established here by
Caesar.
