TEA´NUM
TEA´NUM (
Τέανον: Eth.
Teanensis:
Teano), sometimes called for distinction's sake TEANUM SIDICINUM (
Liv. 22.57;
Cic. Att. 8.1. 1;
Plin. Nat. 3.5. s. 9;
Τέανον Σιδικῖνον, Strab. v. p.237), an important city of Campania, situated in the interior of that province, on the Via Latina, between Cales and Casinum. (
Strab. v. p.237.)
It was therefore the frontier city of Campania, as that term was understood under the Roman Empire; but originally Teanum was not reckoned a Campanian city at all, but was the capital of the small independent tribe of the Sidicini. [
SIDICINI] It was indeed the only place of importance that they possessed, so that Livy in more than one instance alludes to it, where he is speaking of that people, merely as “their city,” without mentioning its name (
Liv. 8.2,
17). Hence its history before the Roman conquest is identical with that of the people, which will be found in the article SIDICINI.
The first mention of Teanum after the Roman conquest, is in B.C. 216, immediately after the battle of Cannae, when Marcellus sent forward a legion from Rome thither, evidently with the view of securing the line of the Via Latina. (
Liv. 22.57.)
A few years later, B.C. 211, it was selected as a place of confinement for a part of the senators of Capua, while they were awaiting their sentence from Rome; but the consul Fulvius, contrary to the opinion of his colleague App. Claudius, caused them all to be put to death without waiting for the decree of the senate. (
Liv. 26.15.) From this time Teanum became an ordinary municipal town: it is incidentally mentioned as such on several occasions, and its position on the Via Latina doubtless contributed to its prosperity.
A gross outrage offered to one of its municipal magistrates by the Roman consul, was noticed in one of the orations of C. Gracchus (ap. A.
Gel. 10.3), and we learn from Cicero that it was in his time a flourishing and populous town. (
Cic. de Leg. Agr. 2.3. 1, 35,
ad. Att. 8.11, d.) Its name repeatedly occurs in the Social War and the contest between Sulla and Marius (Appian,
App. BC 1.45,
85); and at a later period it was the place where the commanders of the legions in Italy held a kind of congress, with a view to bring about a reconciliation between Octavian and L. Antonius (
Ib. 5.20).
It was one of the cities whose territory the tribune Rullus proposed by his law to divide among the Roman people (Cic.
l.c.); but this misfortune was averted.
It subsequently, however, received a colony under Augustus (
Lib. Col. p. 238;
Plin. Nat. 3.5. s. 9), and seems to have retained its colonial rank under the Empire. (Mommsen,
Inscr. R. N. 3989, 3999.) Strabo tells us that it was the largest and most populous town on the Via Latina, and the most considerable of the inland cities of Campania after Capua. (Strab. v. pp. 237, 248.) Inscriptions and existing remains confirm this account of its importance, but we hear little more of it under the Roman Empire. The Itineraries place it 16 miles from Casinum, and 18 from Venafrum: a cross road also struck off from Teanum to Allifae, Telesia, and Beneventum. (
Itin. Ant. pp. 121, 304;
Tab. Peut.) Another branch also communicated with Suessa and Minturnae.
Teanum was not more than 5 miles from Cales: the point where the territories of the two cities joined was marked by two shrines or aediculae of Fortune, mentioned by Strabo, under the name of
αἱ δύο Τύχαι (v. p. 249).
Teanum appears to have declined during the middle ages, and the modern city of
Teano is a poor place, with only about 4000 inhabitants, though retaining its episcopal see. Many ruins of the ancient city are visible, though none of them of any great interest. They are situated below the modern city, which stands on a hill, and considerably nearer to
[p. 2.1117]Calvi (Cales).
The most important are those of an amphitheatre and a theatre, situated near the Via Latina; but numerous remains of other buildings are found scattered over a considerable space, though for the most part in imperfect preservation. They are all constructed of brick, and in the reticulated style, and may therefore probably be all referred to the period of the Roman Empire. Numerous inscriptions have also been found, as well as coins, vases, intaglios, &c., all tending to confirm the account given by Strabo of its ancient prosperity. (Romanelli, vol. iii. p. 456; Hoare's
Class. Tour, vol. i. pp. 249--264; Mommsen,
Inscr. R. N. pp. 208, 209).
At a short distance from
Teano are some mineral springs, now called
Le Caldarelle, which are evidently the same with the “aquae acidulae,” mentioned both by Pliny and Vitruvius as existing near Teanum. (
Plin. Nat. 31.2. s. 5;
Vitr. 8.3.17.) The remains of some ancient buildings, called
Il Bagno Nuovo, are still visible on the spot.
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| COIN OF TEANUM SIDICINUM. |
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