LISTA
LISTA (
Λίστα), a very ancient city of Central Italy, which, according to Varro (ap. Dionys. 1.14), was the metropolis of the Aborigines, when that people still dwelt in the mountain valleys around Reate.
It was surprised by the Sabines by a night attack from Amiternum; and the inhabitants took refuge in Reate, from whence they made several fruitless attempts to recover possession of their city; but failing in this, they declared it, with the surrounding territory, sacred to the gods, and imprecated curses on all who should occupy it.
This circumstance probably accounts for the absence of all other mention of it; though it would seem that its ruins still remained in the time of Varro, or at least that its site was clearly known.
This has been in modern times a subject of much dispute.
According to the present text of Dionysius, it was situated 24 stadia from Tiora, the ruins of which are probably those at
Castore near
Sta. Anatolia, in the upper valley of the
Salto, 36 miles from
Rieti. Bunsen accordingly places it at
Sta. Anatolic itself, where there are some remains of an ancient city. But Holstenius long ago pointed out a site about 3 miles from Reate itself, on the road from thence to
Civita Ducale, still ealled
Monte di Lesta, where there still exist, according to a local antiquarian, Martelli, and Sir W. Gell, the remains of an ancient city, with walls of polygonal construction, and a site of considerable strength.
The situation of these ruins would certainly be a more probable position for the capital of the Aborigines than one so far removed as
Sta. Anatolia from their other settlements, and would accord better with the natural line of advance of the Sabines from Amiternum, which must have been by the pass of
Antrodoco and the valley of the
Velino. In this case we must understand the distance of 24 stadia (3 miles), as stated by Dionysius (or rather by Varro, whom he cites), as having reference to Reate itself, not to Tiora. (Bunsen,
Antichi Stabilimenti Italici, in
Ann. d. Inst. Arch. vol. vi. p. 137; Gell's
Topography of Rome, p. 472; Holsten,
Not. in Cluver. p. 114.)
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E.H.B]
