Capua
Capua is a city in the
province of Caserta, (
Campania,
Italy) situated 25 km (16 mi) north of
Neapolis, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain.
Now counting less than 20,000 inhabitants, Capua was once one of the most important towns of ancient
Italy. The region Campania's name itself derives from that of Capua.
Ancient Capua
The name of Capua comes from the
Etruscan Capue. The meaning remains unknown. Its foundation is attributed by
Cato the Elder to the
Etruscans, and the date given as about 260 years before it was "taken" by
Rome. In the area several settlements of the
Villanovian civilization were present in pre-historical times, and these were probably enlarged by the
Oscans and subsequently by the Etruscans.
Etruscan supremacy in Campania came to an end with the
Samnite invasion in the latter half of the
5th century BCE.
About 424 BCE it was captured by the Samnites and in 343 BCE implored Roman help against its conquerors. Capua entered into alliance with Rome for protection against the Samnite mountain tribes, along with its dependent communities
Casilinum,
Calatia,
Atella, so that the greater part of Campania now fell under Roman supremacy. The citizens of Capua received the
civitas sine suffragio", citizenship without the vote.
In the second Samnite War with Rome, Capua proved an untrustworthy Roman ally, so that after the defeat of the Samnites, the Ager Falerus on the right bank of the Volturnus was confiscated. In 318 the powers of the native officials (meddices) were limited by the appointment of officials with the title praefecti Capuam Cumas
(taking their name from the most important towns of Campania); these were at first mere deputies of the praetor urbanus
, but after 123 BCE were elected Roman magistrates, four in number; they governed the whole of Campania until the time of Augustus, when they were abolished. It was the capital of Campania Felix.
In 312 BCE, Capua was connected with Rome by the construction of the Via Appia, the most important of the military highways of Italy. The gate by which it left the Servian walls of Rome bore the name Porta Capena -- perhaps the only case in which a gate in this enceinte bears the name of the place to which it led. At what time the Via Latina was prolonged to Casilinum is doubtful (it is quite possible that it was done when Capua fell under Roman supremacy, i.e. before the construction of the Via Appia); it afforded a route only 10 km (6 mi) longer, and the difficulties with its construction were much less; it also avoided the troublesome journey through the Pontine Marshes.
The importance of Capua increased steadily during the 3rd century BCE, and at the beginning of the Second Punic War it was considered to be only slightly behind Rome and Carthage themselves, and was able to furnish 30,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry. Until after the defeat of Cannae it remained faithful to Rome, but, after a vain demand that one of the consuls should always be selected from it or perhaps in order to secure regional supremacy in the event of a Carthaginian victory, it defected to Hannibal, who made it his winter quarters: he and his army were voluntarily received by Capua. Livy and others have suggested that the luxurious conditions were Hannibal's Cannae because his troops became soft and demoralized by luxurious living. Historians from Bosworth Smith onwards have been skeptical of this observing that his troops gave as good account of themselves in battle after that winter as before. After a long siege it was taken by the Romans in 211 BCE and severely punished; its magistrates and communal organization were abolished, the inhabitants who weren't killed losing their civic rights, and its territory became declared common land ager publicus
(Roman state domain). Parts of it were sold in 205 and 199 BCE, another part was divided among the citizens of the new colonies of Volturnum and Liternum established near the coast in 194 BCE, but the greater portion of it was reserved to be let by the state.
Considerable difficulties occurred in preventing illegal encroachments by private persons, and it became necessary to buy a number of them out in 162 BCE. It was, after that period, let, not to large but to small proprietors. Frequent attempts were made by the democratic leaders to divide the land among new settlers. Brutus in 83 BCE actually succeeded in establishing a colony, but it was soon dissolved; and Cicero's speeches De Lege Agrania
were directed against a similar attempt by Servilius Rullus in 63 BCE.
In the meantime the necessary organization of the inhabitants of this thickly populated district was in a measure supplied by grouping them round important shrines, especially that of Diana Tifatina, in connection with which a pagus Dianae
existed, as we learn from many inscriptions; a pagus Herculaneus
is also known.
The town of Capua belonged to none of these organizations, and was entirely dependent on the praefecti
. It enjoyed great prosperity, however, owing their growing of spelt, the grain of which was worked into groats, wine, roses, spices, unguents, etc., and also owing to its manufacture, especially of bronze objects, of which both the elder Cato and the elder Pliny speak in the highest terms.
Its luxury remained proverbial; and Campania is especially spoken of as the home of gladiatorial combats. From the gladiatorial schools of Campania came Spartacus and his followers in 73 BCE. Julius Caesar as consul in 59 BCE succeeded in carrying out the establishment of a Roman colony under the name Julia Felix in connection with his agrarian law, and 20,000 Roman citizens were settled in this territory.
The number of colonists was increased by Mark Antony. Augustus (who constructed an aqueduct from the Mons Tifata
, gave the town of Capua estates in the district of Cnossus in Crete valued at 12 million sesterces).
In the war of 69 CE it took the side of Vitellius. Under the later empire it is not often mentioned; but in the 4th century it was the seat of the consularis Campaniae
and its chief town, though Ausonius puts it behind Mediolanum (Milan) and Aquileia in his ordo nobilium urbium''.
Middle Ages Capua
See also Principality of Capua.Under
Constantine we hear of the foundation of a Christian church in Capua. In
456 it was taken and destroyed by the Vandals under
Genseric, but must have been soon rebuilt.
During the
Gothic War Capua suffered greatly. When the
Lombards invaded
Italy in the second half of the
6th century, Capua was ravaged; later, is was included in the
Duchy of Benevento, and ruled by a
gastald.
In
839, the
prince of Benevento,
Sicard, was assassinated by
Radelchis, who took over the throne. Sicard's brother
Siconulf was proclaimed independent
prince in Salerno and the
gastald of Capua declared himself independent.
In
841, the ancient Capua was burned to the ground by a band of
Saracens paid by Radelchis: it remained only the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, founded about
497. A new city was rebuilt in
856, but at some distance from the former site, where, however, another town later appeared under the name of
Santa Maria Capua Vetere ("Capua the Old").
Prince
Atenulf I conquered Benevento in
900 and united the principalities until
981, when
Pandulf Ironhead separated in his will for his children. Capua eclipsed Benevento thereafter and became the chief rival of Salerno. Under
Pandulf IV, the principality brought in the aid of the
Normans and, for a while had the loyalty of
Rainulf Drengot, until the latter abandoned him to aid the deposed
Sergius IV of Naples take back his city, annexed by Pandulf in
1027.
Upon Pandulf's death, Capua fell to his weaker sons and, in
1058, the city itself fell in a siege to Rainulf's nephew
Richard I, who took the title Prince of Aversa. For seven years (
1091-
1098),
Richard II was exiled from his city, but with the aid of his relatives, he retook the city after a
siege in 1098. His dynasty lived on as princes of Capua until the last claimant of their line died in
1156 and the principality was definitively united to the
kingdom of Sicily. Hereafter, Capua is no longer the capital of a larger principality, but a minor city in an important kingdom.
See also:
*
History of Santa Maria Capua Vetere*
Ecclesiastical history of CapuaRemains
No pre-Roman remains have been found within the town of Capua itself, but important cemeteries have been discovered on all sides of it, the earliest of which go back to the
7th or
6th century BCE.
The tombs are of various forms, partly chambers with
frescoes on the walls, partly cubical blocks of
peperino, hollowed out, with grooved lids. The objects found within them consist mainly of vases of bronze (many of them without feet, and with incised designs of Etruscan style) and of clay, some of Greek, some of local manufacture, and of paintings. On the east of the town, in the Patturelli property, a temple has been discovered with
Oscan votive inscriptions originally thought to be Oscan, now recognized as
Etruscan, some of them inscribed upon terracotta tablets, the most famous of which is the
Tabula Capuana, conserved in Berlin, still, after more than a century of searching, the second-longest Etruscan text. Other brief inscriptions are on
cippi. A group of 150
tufa statuettes represent a matron holding one or more children in her lap: three bore
Latin inscriptions of the early
Imperial period.
The site of the town being in a perfectly flat plain, without natural defences, it was possible to lay it out regularly. Its length from east to west is accurately determined by the fact that the
Via Appia, which runs from north-west to south-east from Casilinum to Calatia, turns due east very soon after passing the so-called
Arco Campano (a
triumphal arch of good brickwork, once faced with marble, with three openings, erected in honour of some emperor unknown), and continues to run in this direction for 1,600 m (6000 ancient Oscan feet).
The west gate was the
Porta Romana; remains of the east gate (the name of which we do not know) have been found. This fact shows that the main street of the town was perfectly oriented, and that before the
Via Appia was constructed, i.e. in all probability in pre-Roman times. The width of the town from north to south cannot be so accurately determined as the line of the north and south walls is not known, though it can be approximately fixed by the absence of tombs. Beloch fixes it at 4,000 Oscan feet = 1,100 m, nor is it absolutely certain (though it is in the highest degree probable, for
Cicero praises its regular arrangement and fine streets) that the plan of the town was rectangular.
Within the town are remains of
public baths on the north of the Via Appia and of a theatre opposite, on the south. The former consisted of a large
cryptoporticus round three sides of a court, the south side being open to the road; it now lies under the prisons. Beloch (see below) attributes this to the Oscan period; but the construction as shown in Labruzzi's drawing (v. 17) 1 is partly of brick-work and opus reticulatum, which may, of course, belong to a restoration. The stage of the theatre had its back to the road; Labruzzi (v. 18) gives an interesting view of the cavea. It appears from inscriptions that it was erected after the time of Augustus.
Other inscriptions, however, prove the existence of a theatre as early as 94 BC, so that the existence of another elsewhere must be assumed. We know that the Roman colony was divided into regions and possessed a
capitolium, with a temple of
Jupiter, within the town, and that the market-place, for unguents especially, was called Seplasia; we also hear of an
aedes alba, probably the original senate house, which stood in an open space known as albana. But the sites of all these are quite uncertain.
Amphitheatre
Outside the town on the north is the
amphitheatre, built in the time of Augustus, restored by
Hadrian and dedicated by
Antoninus Pius, as the inscription over the main entrance recorded. The exterior was formed by 80
Doric arcades of four storeys each, but only two arches now remain. The keystones were adorned with heads of divinities.
The interior is better preserved; beneath the arena are subterranean passages like those in the amphitheatre at
Puteoli. It is one of the largest in existence; the longer diameter is 170 m (185 yd), the shorter 140 m (152 yd), and the arena measures 75 by 45 m (83 by 49 yd), the corresponding dimensions in the Colosseum at Rome being 188, 155, 85, 53 m (205, 170, 93 and 58 yd).
To the east are considerable remains of baths — a large octagonal building, an apse against which the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie is built, and several heaps of debris. On the Via Appia, to the south-east of the east gate of the town, arc two large and well-preserved tombs of the Roman period, known as
le Carceri vecchie and
la Conocchia.
To the east of the amphitheatre an ancient road, the
Via Dianae, leads north to the Pagus Dianae, on the west slopes of the Mons Tifata, a community which sprang up round the famous and ancient temple of Diana, and probably received an independent organization after the abolition of that of Capua in
211 BC. The place often served as a base for attacks on the latter, and
Sulla, after his defeat of Gaius Norbanus, gave the whole of the mountain to the temple.
Within the territory of the
pagus were several other temples with their
magistri. After the restoration of the community of Capua, we find
magistri of the temple of Diana still existing, but they were probably officials of Capua itself.
The site is occupied by the
Benedictine church of
S. Angelo in Formis which dates from
944, and was reconstructed by the abbot Desiderius (afterwards
Pope Victor III) of
Monte Cassino, with interesting paintings, dating from the end of the
11th century to the middle of the
12th, in which five different styles may be distinguished. They form a complete representation of all the chief episodes of the
New Testament. Deposits of votive objects (favissae), removed from the ancient temple from time to time as new ones came in and occupied all the available space, have been found, and considerable remains of buildings belonging to the
Vicus Dianae (among them a triumphal arch and some baths, also a hail with frescoes, representing the goddess herself ready for the chase) still exist.
The ancient road from Capua went on beyond the
Vicus Dianae to the Volturnus (remains of the bridge still exist) and then turned east along the river valley to
Caiatia and
Telesia. Other roads ran to
Puteoli and
Cumae (the so-called Via Campana) and to
Neapolis, and as we have seen the Via Appia passed through Capua, which was thus the most important road centre of Campania.
Capua has recently been included in the hit PC game
Rome: Total War as the governing settlement of Campania and the capital of the Roman faction of Scipii.
(incomplete)
