ANAGNIA
(Anagni) Italy.
The capital of the
Ernici in the valley of the Sacco (Trerus) at an elevation
of 460 m. In 305 B.C. the Ernici were finally defeated by
Rome (
Livy 9.43.24). The city later became a civitas
without suffrage, and by the time of Cicero (
De Dom.
81) it was a municipium.
In the pre-Roman period the city must have extended
slightly beyond the area covered in the Roman era. Inside the enclosing wall in the S part of the city several
tombs from the second half of the 4th c. B.C. are of
great importance for the dating of the great city wall
in opera quadrata, which is largely preserved. Within it
may be distinguished several brief stretches of very fine
polygonal work, which must be dated to the period of
the city's independence. The three sanctuaries in the
city probably date from the same period. One of these
was dedicated to Venus Libitina.
The walls from the Roman period are datable to the
end of the 4th c. with various rebuildings, among which
are the extensive terraces called the Arcazzi. A large
foundation datable to the age of Sulla must have provided an artificial level for the forum above. In the
suburbs has been found a large votive deposit of the
late Republican era in connection with a sanctuary perhaps dedicated to Ceres. There are also remains probably
of the Coinpitum Anagninum (mentioned in the Itineraries) on the Via Latina and the Via Labicana (cf. also
Livy 26.4.12) and of various villas, among them the
Villa Magna built by Septimius Severus (
CIL X, 5909).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
R. A. De Magistris,
Storia di Anagni
(1889); P. Zappasodi,
Anagni attraverso i secoli (1908);
M. Mazzolani,
Anagnia (Forma Italiae) (1969).
F. CASTAGNOLI
