HADRIA
(Atri) Teramo, Abruzzo, Italy.
A
city of the S Piceno region, ca. 20 km from the Adriatic
coast, between the Vomano river to the N and the Matrino to the S. The first evidence of the name is from
coins datable to the 3d c. B.C.
The inscriptions (
CIL III, 14214.10; VII, 101; IX, 5016-5157) and the authors (Spartianus,
Vita Hadriani 1.1;
19.1) refer constantly to Hadria, ethnically “hadrianus”
as in Polybius (3.88.3) and Livy (
22.9.5-27; 10.7-34;
45.8-1.c. p. 227). According to Livy (
Per. 11), Hadria
was a Latin colony in 290 B.C. In 209 B.C. Hadria was
among the cities which offered aid to the Romans against
Hannibal (
Livy 27.10.7). It was perhaps about that time
that the ancestors of the Emperor Hadrian moved to
Spain from the Picenian city to which the Emperor traced
his origin (Spartianus 1.C.I.1). Following the granting
of Roman citizenship, presumably directly after the social wars, Hadria was ascribed to the tribus Malcia. It
is supposed that another colony, but of “Roman right”
was founded there by Sulla or by Augustus, which on
that occasion received the title of Veneria.
As was usual in the colonies, Hadria had duoviri. A
quinquennalis has been noted, and the office was also
offered to Hadrian in recognition of his origins. The presence of a prefect is not certain and the presence of quaestors is hypothetical. The senate and its components are
documented (
CIL ix, 5013, 5016, 5017), as is the body
of the Augustali (
CIL ix, 5020, 5016). There is evidence
of a Curator Muneris Publici (
CIL ix, 5016).
Hadria issued fused coins (aes grave), probably soon
after the founding of the colony, between 289 and 270
B.C. The complete series, from the asse to the Semuncia,
has been noted.
In the area surrounding Atri, at the foot of Mt. Pretara
and the hill of the Giustizia, were discovered two necropoleis. The funerary material found in them is similar to
that found in the mid Adriatic necropoleis of Campovalano and in the analogous phase of the necropoleis of
Alfedena. It is impossible, however, to date the material
earlier than the second half of the 6th c. B.C.
Not many remains of the Roman city have been noted.
By far the most important is the hypogeum under the
cathedral. Thought to be a piscina limaria (25 x 28 m),
it has walls in isodomic work datable to the Republican
epoch. Perhaps in the 2d or 3d c. A.D. the area was
divided into five naves by means of a series of pillars
sustaining cross-vaults. The basin may be connected with
a large bath building to which may be attributed the
remains of a mosaic pavement brought to light during
restoration of the cathedral. Another hypogeum, also
thought to be for hydraulic use, is under the municipal
building.
Recently the remains of a building, perhaps a private
house, with mosaic pavements have been identified near
the cathedral.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
CIL IX, p. 480-85; L. Sorricchio,
Hadria
Atri, I (1911); E. J. Haeberlin,
Aes Grave (1910) 203-11; F. V. Duhn,
Italische Graberkunde (1924) p. 586;
EAA 1 (1958) 885-86.
V. CIANFARANI
