The ruins of Crustumerium,
one of the most ancient cities of Latium in early historical ages,
were discovered in the area of Marcigliana (a District Park),
in the 4th borough of the city of Rome.
The location of the city was debated for centuries, interpreting
the ancient sources, but only in the 1980's the certainty about
the site of Crustumerium was reached. The archaelogical excavations
showed that the most ancient finds in Crustumerium date back to
Bronze Age and early Iron Age. Near this city, moreover, vases
of great interest by shape and colours were found: indeed the
presence of red-coloured painted figures is a particularly rare
event. Some of these vases, purloined by grave-robbers, were retrieved
by the police just thanks to their originality: they were recognized
on the catalogue of an auction sale in New York. After being rescued
they have been exposed, with other retrieved works of art, in
an exhibition at Castel Sant'Angelo, in Rome.
Its origins are not yet clear, since, according to Servius it
was founded by the Siculians, while others maintained it was founded
by the people of Alba Longa (Diodorus and Dyonisus),
by the Sabines (Plutarch) or by the Latins. According to
the legend, reported by Virgil in its poem "Aeneid",
Crustumerium was one of the five cities who forged the weapons
used by peoples of central Italy to fight against Aeneas: "On
the anvils five great cities forge arrows, the mighty Atina, the
magnificent Tivoli, Crustumerium, Ardea and the many-towered Antemnae."
(Aeneid,
VII, 629-631).
Then the city conflicted also with Romulus, who probably at last
conquered it. Crustumerium was also involved in the rape of the
Sabine women, since it's mentioned as one of the cities from where
the girls came to Rome, even if this doesn't mean Crustumerium
was a Sabine city .
The subsequent events, historically more reliable, tell us that
Crustuminus Ager (Crustumerium countryside) was annexed
by Rome in 499 or 495 B.C.E. and this determined an increase in
the number of Roman tribes from 17 to 21, after the creation of
the new Clustumina tribe. In particular Titus Livy (History
of Rome, II, 14) quotes the capture of Crustumerium as occurred
under the consulate of Titus Aebutius and C. Vetusius (499 B.C.E.).
The decline
The decline of Crustumerium
is confirmed by the fact that no source mentions the city in the
chronicles of fourth and third century B.C.E., neither in the
tales regarding the terrible defeat of the Romans against the
Gauls in 390 B.C.E. near Allia
river. This battle was mentioned by many sources since was
a great distress for the Romans, and occurred near the Crustumini
montes (mounts of Crustumerium), from which Allia river
rises: it's difficult to believe that there was an inhabited city
at a distance of few hundreds of meters from the battle field,
not being involved and quoted in the chronicles, this could mean
the city was already abandoned.
The likely desertion of the city is confirmed by the dramatic
reduction of the archaeological surface finds compared to the
former period, and the lack of sepulchral areas ascribable to
this period is also meaningful.
Productions
Crustumerium soil was renowned
for its fertility, and gave an high quality fodder, a variety
of olives and a variety of pears, called crustuminae, quoted
by Virgil (Georgicon,
I, 88) and later even by Rabelais (Gargantua and Pantagruel,
III, 13), obviously quoting the classical sources.
References:
- IERARDI
Mario (1997) Storia di Crustumerium. Nuovo Arcobaleno, Anno
I, numero 1, novembre 1997.
- Rome
Archaeological Superintendence webpage on Crustumerium (in Italian)
- http://www.parks.it/romanatura/Epun.html
(in Italian)
- Department
of Archaeology University of Cambridge (in English)
- Archaeological
team of Rome Railwaymen Recreational Facilities (in Italian)
- http://www.parks.it/romanatura/riserva.marcigliana/index.html
(in Italian)
- webpage
on Crustumerium, "J. Pintor" junior secondary school,
Rome (in Italian)
page created: February 3rd 2008 and last updated: October 4th 2009