CARVENTUM
CARVENTUM (
Καρούεντον: Eth.
Carventanus), an ancient city of Latium, mentioned in the list given by Dionysius of the thirty states of the Latin League (5.61, where the reading
Καρυεντανοί for
Καρυεντανοί is clearly proved by Steph. B s. v.). No subsequent mention occurs of the city, which was probably destroyed at an early period by the Aequians or Volscians, but the citadel, Arx Carventana, which appears to have been a fortress of great strength, is repeatedly mentioned during the wars of the Romans with the Aequians.
It was twice surprised by the latter people; the first time it was retaken by the Romans, but on the second occasion, B.C. 409, it defied all the efforts of the consul, and we are not told when it was subsequently recovered. (
Liv. 4.53,
55.)
From the circumstances in which the Arx Carventana here occurs, it seems probable that it was situated not far from Mount Algidus, or the northern declivities of the Alban Hills; but there is no clue to its precise position. Nibby and Gell incline to place it at
Rocca Massima, a castle on a rocky eminence of the Volscian mountains, a few miles from Cora. (Nibby,
Dintorni, vol. iii. p. 17; Gell,
Top. of Rome, p. 374.)
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E.H.B]
