VIA PRAENESTINA
(Not. app.):
a road which began at the porta Esquilina
of the Servian wall (to which the
CLIVUS SUBURANUS led) and separated
from the
VIA LABICANA just before the
PORTA PRAENESTINA. A con-
siderable amount of its pavement and some interesting tombs have been
found, notably the so-called Casa Tonda (HJ 355-357; LF 24;
BC 1886, 27) in the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele and the
MONUMENTUM
AURELIORUM. Originally it was called
VIA GABINA, and led only as far
as Gabii; then it was prolonged to Praeneste, a distance of 25 miles,
from which a branch road led on to the via Labicana; but it was mainly
a road for local traffic. It is mentioned in connection with the springs
of the
AQUA APPIA (Frontinus, de aquis, i. 5, IO) and the
AQUA VIRGO
(Plin.
NH xxxi. 42). See references under
VIA LABICANA; also
T. vi.
123-238;
x. 460-559, 564, 565 ;
PBS i. 131-138, 149-215.
Three of its milestones are known (CIL i². 833, belonging to the
second century B.C., and x. 6886, 8306, both belonging to the time of
Maxentius), but only one of its curatores (
CIL xiv. 169;
BC 1891, 131),
who was of equestrian rank.
