Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1063

 SUELTERI. ([tin. Ant. p. 405.) According to inscriptions it was a Komaii niunicipium in which libertini had been settled. (Reines. pp. 13, 131; Spon, Miscell. v. p. 1 89 ; Orelli, Inscr. no. 39 1 4 ; Llela, ii. 6, Pliu. iii. 1 . K. 3.) It is the modern Fuengirola. {Inscr. in Al.irete, Ori;/. Linr/. Cast. i. 2.) [T. H. D.] SUELTEiil, a, people of Gallia Narbonensis, enu- merated by Pliny (iii. 4), between the CamatuUici iuid the "Verrucini. The name Selteri is placed in the Table above Forum Julia {Frejns). Nothing can be ascerlaiiied about the position of this people [Camatut.lici]. [<J- L.] SUESIA PALUS, a large lake of Germany mentioned only by Pomponius JleUi (iii. 3) along with two others, the P]stia and Melsagium, but it is impossible to say what lake he is alluding to. [L.S.] SUESSA, sometimes called for distinction's sake SUESSA AUKUNCA (2i;e<To-a: Eih. Suessanus: Sessa). a city of Latium in the widest sense of tiiat term, but previously a city of the Aurunci, situated on the SW. slope of the volcanic mountain of Rocca Jfniifna, about 5 miles S. of the Liris, and 8 from the sea. Though it became at one time the chief city of the Aurunci, it was not a very ancient city, but was founded as late as b. c. 337, in consequence of the Aurunci having abandoned their ancient city (called from their own name Aurunca), which was situated a good deal higher up, and about 5 miles N. of Suessa. [Auuunca.] Aurunca was now destroyed by the Sidicini, and Suessa became thence- forth the capital of the Aurunci (Liv. viii. 15). That people had, after their defeat by T. Manlius in B. c. 340, placed tiiemselves under the protection of Kome, and we do not know by what means they afterwards forfeited it: perhaps, like the neighbour- ing Ausonians of Vescia and Minturnae, their fidelity had been shaken by the defeat of the Romans at Lautulae: but it is clear that they had in some manner incurred the displeasure of the Romans, and given the latter the right to treat their territory as conquered land, for inB. c. 313 a Roman colony was established at Suessa. (Liv. ix. 28 ; Veil. Pat. i. 14.) It was a colony with Latin rights, and is men- tioned among those which in the Second Punic War professed their inability to furnish their required quota to the Roman armies. It was punished a few years later by the imposition of double contributions. (Liv. xsvii. 9, xxix. 15.) It is again mentioned in the Civil Wars of Marius and Sulla, when it espoused the party of the latter, but was surprised and occupied by Sertorius. (Appian, B. C. i. 85, 108). In the time of Cicero it had passed into the condition of a municipium by virtue of the Lex Julia, and is spoken of by that orator as a prosperous and flourish- ing town ; it was the scene of a massacre by Antonius of a number of military captives. (Cic. P/iil. iii. 4, iv. 2, xiii. 8.) It received a fresh colony under Augustus, and assumed in consequence the titles of "Colonia Julia Felix Classica," by which we find it designated in an inscription. {Lib. Col. >. 237; Plin. iii. 5. s. 9; Gruter, Inscr. p. 1093. 8; Orell. Jmcr. 4047.) Numerous other inscriptions attest its continuance as a flourishing and important town un- der the Roman Empire (Orell. Inscr. 130, 836, 1013, 2284,3042; Monnnsen, Iiiser.Ii.iy. pp. 210—212); and this is confirmed by existing remains: but no mention of it is found in history. Nor is its name found in the Itineraries; but we learn from existing traces that there was an ancient road which branched otf from the Via Appia at Minturnae and proceeded SUESSA rOMETIA. 1043 by Suessa to Teanum, from which it was continued to Beneventum. (Hoare's Class. Tour. vol. i. p. 145. This is evidently the same line given in the /tin. Ant. p. 121, though the name of Suessa is not there mentioned.) Suessa Aurunca was the birthplace of the cele- brated satirical poet Lucilius, wlience he is call.^d by Juvenal "Aurnncae alumnus." (Auson. Epist. 15. 9; Juv. i. 20.) The modern city of Sessa undoubtedly occupies the ancient site: and considerable ruins are still vi- sible, including, besides numerous inscriptions and other fragments, the remains of a temple incorporated into the church of the Vescovado,a. remarkable cry pto- porticus, and several extensive subterranean vaults under the church of 'S. Benedetto, constructed of reti- culated masonry. Some remains of an amphitheatre are also visible, and an ancient bridge of 21 arches, constructed for the support of the road which leads into the town at the modern Pwta del Borgo. It is still called Ponte di Ronaco, supposed to be a corrup- tion of Ponte Avrmico (Hoare, I. c. pp. 145 — 147; Giustiniani, Diz. Topogr. vol. is. p. 28, &c.). The fertile plain which extends from the foot of the liills of Sessa to the Liris and the sea, now known as the Dernanio di Sessa, is the ancient " Ager Ves- cinus," so called from the Ausonian city of Vescia, which seems to have ceased to exist at an early period [Vescia]. The district in question was pro- bably afterwards divided between the Roman colonies of Suessa and Sinuessa. [ K. H. B.] COIN OF SUESSA AUUUNCA. SUESSA POJIE'TIA {-2,ov((Tffa Uoofx^vTiavv, Dionys. : EtJi. riajwei'Tii'os), an ancient city of La- tium, which had ceased to exist in historical times, and the position of which is entirely unknown, ex- cept that it bordered on the '• Pomptinus ager" or Pomptinae Paludes, to which it was supposed to have given name. Virgil reckons it among the colonies of Alba, and must therefore have considered it as a Latin city {Aen. vi. 776): it is found also in the list of the same colonies given by Diodorus (vii. Fr. 3); but it seems certain that it had at a very early period become a Volscian city. It was taken from that people by Tarquinius Superbus, the first of the Roman kings who is mentioned as having made war on the Volscians (Liv. i. 53; Strab. V. p. 231; Vict. Vir. III. 8): Strabo indeed calls it the metropolis of the Volscians, for which we have no other authority; and it is probable that this is a mere inference from the statements as to its great wealth and power. These rcj)resent it as a place of such opulence, that it was with the booty derived from thence that Tarquinius was able to commence and carry on the construction of the Capitolinu temple at Rome. (Liv. /. c. ; Dionys. iv. 50 ; Cic. de Rep. ii. 24; Plin. vii. 16. s. 15). This was in- deed related by some writers of Apiolac, another city taken by Tarquin (Val. Antias, ap. Plin. iii. 5. s. 9), but the current tradition scums to have been 3. 2