CASTRUM TRUENTI´NUM
CASTRUM TRUENTI´NUM called also TRUENTUM, from the name of the river on which it stood (
Plin. Nat. 3.13. s. 18; Troento civitas,
Itin. Ant. p. 101), was a maritime city of Picenum, situated at the mouth of the river Truentus (
Tronto). From the name it would appear to have been a Roman town, though we have no account of its settlement, and it certainly never ranked as a colony.
But according to Pliny there was a town previously existing on the spot, which was a Liburnian settlement, and the only one of that people still remaining in Italy. (Plin.
l.c.) Castrum Truentinum is mentioned during the Civil Wars as one of the places occupied by Caesar during his advance through Picenum from Ariminum (
Cic. Att. 8.1. 2 B); but this is the only occasion on which its name occurs in history. Its territory (the “ager Truentinus” ) was among those portioned out by Augustus (
Lib. Colon. p. 226); and its continued existence throughout the Roman empire is attested by the geographers and the Itineraries. (
Strab. v. p.241; Mel. 2.4;
Sil. Ital. 8.434;
Itin. Ant. pp. 308, 313;
Tab. Peut.) All authorities agree in placing it near the mouth of the Truentus, but its exact site has not been determined. D'Anville placed it at
Monte Brandone, on the N. bank of the river, a short distance from the sea; but according to Romanelli some vestiges of it are still visible on the right bank of the
Tronto, at a spot called
Torre di Martin Sicuro. (D'Anville,
Anal. Géogr. de l'Ital. p. 169; Romanelli, vol. iii. p. 294.)
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