SULMO
(Sulmona) Abruzzi, Italy.
The city
is situated near the S extremity of the territory inhabited
by the Paeligni, on a plateau delimited by the rivers
Gizio and the Vella, near their confluence. Together with
Corfinium and Superaequum, Sulmo was one of the
principal centers of the Paeligni population, maintaining
its importance into the mediaeval period. No traces of
the Paeligni settlement remain, but the conspicuous number of burials found in the area demonstrate that the
population must have been distributed in numerous pagi
of modest size. The first inhabited center at Sulmo must
have been similar to these, but it must have become more
important than the other settlements in the last centuries
of the Republic because of its position on the road that
led to Samnium. In the 1st c. B.C. after the social war,
Sulmo was designated a municipium under the Roman
state.
The plan of the ancient city is recognizable in the
orthogonal arrangement of the network of medieaval
streets at the center of the modern urban center. The
urban area is almost square ca. 400 m to the side (Ovid,
Am. 3.15.12: moenia quae campi iugera pauca tenent).
Outside the city on the slopes of Mt. Morrone, near
the Abbey of S. Spirito, are the ruins of a large sanctuary
built on terraces. Because of its massive bulk the building has always been partially visible, and the mediaeval
tradition identified it with the
poteche di Ovidio, linking
it with the native poet. Excavations have revealed the
religious character of the monument and its pertinence
to the cult of Hercules Curinus. The complex is arranged
on two artificial terraces oriented SW, but not precisely
aligned. The upper terrace, which is earlier, is built
against the rocky side of the mountain and is sustained
by a mighty wall in polygonal work that is 4.25 m high.
On the shelf-like area, built against the back wall, is a
chapel in which votive gifts with inscribed bases have
been found. In front of the entrance was a votive altar
in bronze. The lower terrace, which is larger, is constructed of masonry and follows the architectural plan
common in the sanctuaries of Latium in the 1st c. B.C.
The front of the terrace, which is 13.7 m above ground
level at its highest point, is supported by vaulted chambers; and the lower parts rest on a filled wall faced with alternating courses of opus incertum and opus reticulatum.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
EAA 7 (1966) 555-57 (A. La Regina);
id.,
Quaderni dell'Istituto di Topografia Antica dell'Università di Roma 2 (1966) 107-16; H. Blanck,
AA (1970)
344-46; F. van Wonterghem,
AntCl 42 (1973) 36-48; id.,
Documenti di Antichità Italiche e Romane, II (Soprintendenza alle Antichità degli Abruzzi, 1973); id.,
Forma
Italiae (
Paeligni).
In preparation. A. LA REGINA
