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PINNA

PINNA (Πίννα: Eth. Pinnensis: Civita di Penne), a city of the Vestini, situated on the eastern slope of the Apennines, about 15 miles from the sea. It is noticed both by Pliny and Ptolemy, as well as by Silius Italicus, among the cities of the Vestini, and seems to have been a municipal town of importance; but the only mention of its name in history is during the Social War, when its inhabitants distinguished themselves by their fidelity to Rome, and withstood all the efforts of the Italian allies to shake their constancy. (Diod. xxxvii. Exc. Vales. p. 612, Exc. Vat. p. 120.) The circumstances are evidently misrepresented by Valerius Maximus (5.4.7). Numerous inscriptions attest its local considration; and it appears to have received a colony, or at least an accession of citizens, under Augustus. (Plin. Nat. 3.12. s. 17; Ptol. 3.1.59; Lib. Colon. pp. 227, 257; Sil. Ital. 8.517; Inscr. ap. Romanelli, vol. iii. pp. 252, 253; Mommsen, Inscr. R. N. p. 327.) Vitruvius also notices it as having some mineral waters in its neighbourhood, which resembled those at Cutiliae (8.3.5). It early became an episcopal see, a dignity which it still retains; and the modern city undoubtedly occupies the same site with the ancient one. Some remains of ancient buildings are extant, but they are of little importance. The name of Pinna is found in the Tabula, where it is marked as a place of importance; but the distances annexed are confused and erroneous. [E. H. b.]

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  • Cross-references from this page (2):
    • Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, 3.12
    • Claudius Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos, 3.1
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