Lavinium

Archaeology

Pratica di Mare is observably smaller than ancient Lavinium, whose remains crop out in the surrounding fields. Recent archaeological excavations performed to the south date Lavinium to well before the legendary foundation of Rome. It was already fortified in the 7th century BC and flourishing in the 6th. Lavinium was assimilated by Republican Rome. It was connected to Rome in the north and Ardea to the south by the Via Laurentina. Under the empire it was combined with the mysterious Laurentum, where many wealthy Romans maintained a winter villa, to become Laurolavinium. The nature of the union remains ambiguous.

A number of kilns have been identified within the perimeter of the city walls. Outside the city was a sanctuary dedicated to Sol Indiges and a vast sanctuary with numerous altars, where the bronze inscribed plaque records that the Dioscuri were being venerated at one of numerous altars.

Legend and history

According to Roman mythology, which links Lavinium more securely to Rome, the city was named by Aeneas in honor of Lavinia. Lavinia was the daughter of Latinus, king of the Latins, and his wife Amata. Aeneas reached Italy and there fought a war against Turnus, the leader of the local Rutuli people. Aeneas founded not Rome but rather Lavinium, the main centre of the Latin league, from which the people of Rome sprang. Aeneas thus links the royal house of Troy with the early Roman royal house.

The foundation of Lavinium and the Rutulian war are both mentioned prominently in Virgil's Aeneid.

In ancient times Lavinium had a close association with the nearby Laurentum. According to Livy, in the eighth century BC, when Romulus and Titus Tatius jointly ruled Rome, the ambassadors of the Laurentes came to Rome, but were beaten by Tatius' relatives. The Laurentes complained, but Tatius accorded more weight to the influence of his relatives than to the injury done the Laurentes. When Tatius afterwards visited Lavinium to celebrate an anniversary sacrifice, he was slain in a tumult. Romulus declined to go to war and instead renewed the treaty between Rome and Lavinium.

In 509 BC, after the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, one of Rome's first two consuls Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus was coerced into leaving Rome because of his relation to the kings. He voluntarily went into exile in Lavinium.

In around 488 BC, Lavinium was captured by an invading army of the Volsci, led by Gaius Marcius Coriolanus and Attius Tullus Aufidius.