SUPERAEQUUM
SUPERAEQUUM or
SUPEREQUUM (Eth.
Superaequanus:
Castel Vecchio Subequo), a town of the Peligni, one of the three which possessed municipal rights, and among which the territory of that people was divided. [
PELIGNI] Hence it is mentioned both by Pliny and in the Liber Coloniarum, where it is termed “Colonia Superaequana.” It received a colony of veterans, probably under Augustus, to which a fresh body of colonists was added in the reign of M. Aurelius. (
Plin. Nat. 3.12. s. 17;
Lib. Colon. p. 229; Zumpt,
de Colon. p. 361.)
The name is not mentioned by any other author, but several inscriptions attest its municipal importance. Its site, which was erroneously transferred by Cluverius to
Palena, was clearly fixed by Holstenius at a place still called
Castel Vecchio Subequo (in older documents
Subrequo or
Subrego), where the inscriptions alluded to are still extant.
It is situated on a hill on the right bank of the Aternus, and about 4 miles on the left of the Via Valeria. Its territory probably comprised the hilly district between that road and the Aternus. (Cluver,
Ital. p. 758; Holsten.
Not. in Cluver. p. 145; Romanelli, vol. iii. pp. 134--137; Mommsen,
Inscr. R. N. p. 289.)
[
E.H.B]
