FORUM SEMPRONII
Eth.
FORUM SEMPRONII Φόρον Σεμπρώνιον, Strab.;
Φόρος Σεμπρωνίου, Ptol.: Eth.
Forosemproniensis:
Fossombrone), a town of Umbria, situated on the Flaminian Way, in the valley of the Metaurus, 16 miles from Fanum Fortunae (
Fano), on the Adriatic. (
Strab. v. p.227;
Itin. Ant. p. 125.) We have no account of its foundation, or the origin of its name: but it was the only town in the valley of the Metaurus, between its mouth and the central range of the Apennines; and from this circumstance, and its position on so frequented a highroad, it seems to have risen into a place of some importance, and was a flourishing municipal town under the Roman empire. (Strab.
l.c.; Plin. Nat. 3.14. s. 19;
Ptol. 3.1.53; Orell.
Inscr. 3774, 4039, 4063.)
The site of the ancient city is marked by the vestiges of a theatre, and other ruins of Roman date, which are visible about 2 miles from the modern city of
Fossombrone: this last retains the ancient episcopal see, and its name is evidently a mere corruption of Forum Sempronii. (Calindri,
Statistica del Pontif. Stato, p. 121.)
The latter was 8 miles distant from the celebrated pass of Intercisa, or the
Furlo. [
INTERCISA] The great battle in which Hasdrubal was defeated by the Roman consuls Livius and Nero, in B.C. 207, was probably fought in the neighbourhood of Forum Sempronii, but the exact site is uncertain. [
METAURUS]
[
E.H.B]
