TRES TABERNAE
TRES TABERNAE was the name of a station on the Via Appia, between Aricia and Forum Appii, which is noticed not only in the Itineraries (
Itin. Ant. p. 107;
Tab. Peut), but by Cicero and in the Acts of the Apostles. From the former we learn that a branch road from Antium joined the Appian Way at this point (
Cic. Att. 2.1. 2); while in the latter it is mentioned as the place where many of the disciples met St. Paul on his journey to Rome. (
Acts, 28.15.)
It was probably therefore a village or place of some importance from the traffic on the Appian Way. Its position would appear to be clearly determined by the Antonine Itinerary, which gives 17 miles from Aricia to Tres Tabernae, and 10 from thence to Forum Appii: and it is a strong confirmation of the accuracy of these data that the distance thus obtained from Forum Appii to Rome corresponds exactly with the true distance of that place, as marked by ruins and ancient milestones.
It is therefore wholly unnecessary to change the distances in the Itinerary, as proposed by D'Anville and Chaupy, and we may safely fix Tres Tabernae at a spot about 3 miles from the modern
Cisterna, on the road to
Terracina, and very near the commencement of the Pontine Marshes. The Abbé Chaupy himself points out the existence of ancient remains on this spot, which he supposes to be those of the station Ad Sponsas mentioned only in the Jerusalem Itinerary.
It is far more likely that they are those of Tres Tabernae; if indeed the two stations be not identical, which is very probable.
This situation would also certainly accord better than that proposed by Chaupy with the mention of Tres Tabernae in Cicero, who there joined the Appian Way on his road from Antium to his Formian villa, not to Rome. (
Cic. ad Att. 2.12, 13, 14; Chaupy,
Maison d'Horace, vol. iii. p. 383; D'Anville,
Analyse de l'Italie, p. 195; Westphal,
Röm. Kampagne, p. 69.)
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