Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/460

 444 NOLA. 123.) The house in which he died was afterwards consecrated as a temple to his memory (Dion Cass. Ivi. 46). From this time we find no liistorical men- tion of Nola till near the close of the Roman Empire; but there is no doubt that it continued throughout this period to be one of the most flourishing anji considerable cities of Campani.o. (Strab. v. pp. 247, 249 ; Ptol. iii. 1. § 69 ; Itin. Ant. p. 109 ; Orel!. Inscr. 2420, 3S55, &c.; Mommsen, Inscr. R. N. pp. 101 — 107.) Its territory was ravaged by Alaric in A. D. 410 (Augustin, Civ. Dei, i. 10); but the city itself would seem to have escaped, and is said to have been still very wealthy (" urbs ditissima ") as late as A. D. 455, when it was taken by Genseric, king of the Vandals, who totally destroyed the city, and sold all the inhabitants into captivity. {Hist. Miscall. XV. np. 552, 553.) It is probable that Nola never recovered this blow, and sank into comparative in- significance in the middle ages ; but it never ceased to exist, and is still an episcopal city, with a popula- tion of about 10,000 souls. There is no doubt that the ancient city was situated on the same site with the modern one. It is described both by Livy and Silius Italicus as standing in a level plain, with no natural defences, and owing its strength as a fortress solely to its walls and towers (Liv. xxiii. 44; Sil. Ital. xii. 163); a circumstance which renders it the more remarkable that it should have held out so long against the Koman arms in the Social War. Scarcely any re- mains of the ancient city are now visible; but Ambrosius Leo, a local writer of the eariy part of the 16th century, describes the remains of two am- phitheatres as still existing in his time, as well as the foundations of several ancient buildings, which he considered as temples, beautiful mosaic pavements, &c. (Ambrosii Leonis de Urbe Nola, i. 8, ed. Venet. 1514.) All these have now disappeared; but nu- merous inscriptions, which have been discovered on the spot, are still preserved there, together with the interesting inscription in the Oscan language, actually discovered at Abella, and thence commonly known as the Cippus Abellanus [Abella]. From this curious monument, which records the terms of a treaty be- tween the two cities of Nola and Abella, we leam that the name of the former city was written in the Oscan language " Nuvla." (Mommsen, f/wfer. Jtal Dialekte, pp. 119 — 127.) But the name of Nola is most celebrated among antiquarians as the place from whence a countless multitude of the painted Greek vases (commonly known as Etruscan) have been supplied to almost all the museums of Europe. These vases, which are uniformly found in the ancient sepulchres of the neighbourhood, are in all proba- bility of Greek origin: it has been a subject of much controversy whether they are to be regarded as pro- ductions of native art, manufactured on the spot, or as imported from some other quarter; but the latter supposition is perhaps on the whole the most probable. The great love of these objects of Greek art which appears to have prevailed at Nola may be sutficiently accounted for by the strong Greek predilections of the inhabitants, noticed by Dionysius {Exc. Leg. p. 231 5), without admitting the existence of a Greek colony, for which (as already stated) there exists no sufficient authority. (Kramer, ilher den Styl. u. die Herkunft Griechischen Thongefdsse, pp. 145 — 159; Abeken, Mittel Italien, pp. 332—339.) Nola is celebrated in ecclesiastical history as the see of St. Paulinus in the 5th century ; and also as the place where, according to tradition, the use of KOMENTUM, bells was first introduced in churches; whence were derived the names of " nola " and " campana," usually applied to such bells in the middle ages. (Du Cange, Glossar. s. ».) The territory of Nola, in common with all the Canipanian plain, was one of great natural fertility. According to a well-known anecdote related by Aulus Gellius (vii. 20), it was originally mentioned with great praise by Virgil in the Georgics (ii. 225); but the people of Nola having given offence to the poet, he afterwards struck out the name of their city, and left the line as it now stands. [E. H. B] COIN OF NOLA. NOLIBA or NOBILI, a town of the Oretani in Hispaiiia Tarraconensis, probably situated between the Anas and Tagus ; but its site cannot be satis- factorily determined. It is mentioned only by Livy (xxxv. 22). [T. H. D.] NOMADES. [NuMiDiA.] NOMAE (NVai)) a town of Sicily, mentioned only by Diodorus (xi. 91) as the place where Ducetius was defeated by the Syracusans in n. c. 451. Its site is wholly uncertain. Some authors identify it with Noae [Noae] ; but there is no authority for this. [E. H. B.] NOMENTUM (HwfxevTov : Eth. Nia/u.^i'TTuos, Steph. B.; Nomentanus: Mentana), an ancient city of Latium, situated on the Sabine frontier, about 4 miles distant from the Tiber, and 14^ from Rome, by the road which derived from it the name of Via Nomentana. It was included in the territory of the Sabines, according to the ex- tension given to that district in later times, and hence it is frequently reckoned a Sabine town; but the authorities for its Latin origin are decisive. Virgil enumerates it among the colonies of Alba (Aen. vi. 773); and Dionysius also calls it a colony of th.at city, founded at the same time with Crus- tumerium and Fidenae, both of which are frequently, but eiToneously, called Sabine cities. (Dionys. ii. 53.) Still more decisive is the circumstance that its name occurs among the cities of the Prisci Latini which were reduced by the elder Tarqnin (Liv. i. 38; Dionys. iii. 50), and is found in the list given by Dionysus (v. 61) of the cities which concluded the league against Rome in b. c. 493. There is, therefore, no doubt that Nomentum was, at this period, one of the 30 cities of the Latin League (Niebuhr, vol. ii. p. 17, note); nor does it appear to have ever fallen into the hands of the Sa- bines. It is again mentioned more than once during the wars of the Romans with the Fidenates and their Etruscan allies; and a victory was gained under its walls by the dictator Servilius Priscus, b. c. 435 (Liv. iv. 22, 30, 32) ; but the Nomentani them- selves are not noticed as taking any part. They, however, joined with the other cities of Latium in the great Latin War of b. c. 338; and by the peace which followed it obtained the full rights of Roman citizens. (Liv. viii. 14.) From this time we hear no more of Nomentum in history; but it seems to have continued a tolerably flourishing town ; and we