Benevento
Encyclopedia
Benevento is a town and comune
of Campania
, Italy
, capital of the province of Benevento
, 50 km northeast of Naples
. It is situated on a hill 130 m (300 ft) above sea-level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and Sabato
. It is also the seat of a Catholic archbishop.
Benevento occupies the site of the ancient Beneventum, originally Maleventum or still earlier Malowent and Maloenton
. The "-vent" portion of the name probably refers to a market-place and is a common element in ancient place names. The Romans theorized that it meant "the site of bad events", from Mal(um) + eventum. In the imperial
period it was supposed to have been founded by Diomedes
after the Trojan War
.
, and at a later period one of the most important cities of southern Italy, was situated on the Via Appia at a distance of 32 miles east from Capua
; and on the banks of the river Calor (modern Calore). There is some discrepancy as to the people to which it belonged at contact: Pliny
expressly assigns it to the Hirpini
; but Livy
certainly seems to consider it as belonging to the Samnites proper, as distinguished from the Hirpini; and Ptolemy
adopts the same view. All writers concur in representing it as a very ancient city; Solinus and Stephanus of Byzantium
ascribe its foundation to Diomedes
; a legend which appears to have been adopted by the inhabitants, who, in the time of Procopius
, pretended to exhibit the tusks of the Calydonian boar
in proof of their descent. Festus
, on the contrary (s. v. Ausoniam), related that it was founded by Auson, a son of Ulysses
and Circe
; a tradition which indicates that it was an ancient Ausonian city, previous to its conquest by the Samnites. But it first appears in history as a Samnite city; and must have already been a place of strength, so that the Romans
did not venture to attack it during their first two wars with the Samnites. It appears, however, to have fallen into their hands during the Third Samnite War, though the exact occasion is unknown. It was certainly in the power of the Romans in 274 BC, when Pyrrhus
was defeated in a great battle, fought in its immediate neighborhood, by the consul Curius Dentatus
. Six years later (268 BC) they sought farther to secure its possession by establishing there a Roman colony
with Latin rights. It was at this time that it first assumed the name of Beneventum, having previously been called Maleventum, a name which the Romans regarded as of evil augury, and changed into one of a more fortunate signification. It is probable that the Oscan or Samnite name was Maloeis, or Malieis, from whence the form Maleventum would be derived, like Agrigentum from Acragas (modern Agrigento
), Selinuntium from Selinus (the ruins of which are at modern Selinunte
), etc.
As a Roman colony Beneventum seems to have quickly become a flourishing place; and in the Second Punic War
was repeatedly occupied by Roman generals as a post of importance, on account of its proximity to Campania
, and its strength as a fortress. In its immediate neighborhood were fought two of the most decisive actions of the war: the Battle of Beneventum
, (214 BC), in which the Carthaginian
general Hanno
was defeated by Tiberius Gracchus
; the other in 212 BC, when the camp of Hanno, in which he had accumulated a vast quantity of corn and other stores, was stormed and taken by the Roman consul Quintus Fulvius Flaccus
. And though its territory was more than once laid waste by the Carthaginians, it was still one of the eighteen Latin colonies which in 209 BCE were at once able and willing to furnish the required quota of men and money for continuing the war. It is singular that no mention of it occurs during the Social War; but it seems to have escaped from the calamities which at that time befel so many cities of Samnium, and towards the close of the Roman Republic
is spoken of as one of the most opulent and flourishing cities of Italy. Under the Second Triumvirate
its territory was portioned out by the Triumvirs to their veterans, and subsequently a fresh colony was established there by Augustus
, who greatly enlarged its domain by the addition of the territory of Caudium
(modern Montesarchio
). A third colony was settled there by Nero
, at which time it assumed the title of Concordia; hence we find it bearing, in inscriptions of the reign of Septimius Severus
, the titles Colonia Julia Augusta Concordia Felix Beneventum. Its importance and flourishing condition under the Roman Empire
is sufficiently attested by existing remains and inscriptions; it was at that period unquestionably the chief city of the Hirpini, and probably, next to Capua, the most populous and considerable city of southern Italy. For this prosperity it was doubtless indebted in part to its position on the Via Appia, just at the junction of the two principal arms or branches of that great road, the one called afterwards the Via Trajana
, leading from thence by Equus Tuticus into Apulia
; the other by Aeclanum
to Venusia (modern Venosa
) and Tarentum (modern Taranto
). Its wealth is also evidenced by the quantity of coins minted by Beneventum. Horace
famously notes Beneventum on his journey from Rome
to Brundusium (modern Brindisi
). It was indebted to the same circumstance for the honor of repeated visits from the emperors of Rome, among which those of Nero, Trajan
, and Septimus Severus, are particularly recorded.
It was probably for the same reason that the triumphal arch
, the Arch of Trajan
, was erected there by the senate and people of Rome and constructed by the architect Apollodorus of Damascus
in 114. The Arch of Trajan is one of the best-preserved Roman structures in the Campania. It repeats the formula of the Arch of Titus
in the Roman Forum
, with reliefs of Trajan
's life and exploits of his reign. Some of the sculptures are in the British Museum
. Successive emperors seem to have bestowed on the city accessions of territory, and erected, or at least given name to, various public buildings. For administrative purposes it was first included, together with the rest of the Hirpini, in the second region of Augustus, but was afterwards annexed to Campania and placed under the control of the consular of that province. Its inhabitants were included in the Stellatine tribe. Beneventum retained its importance down to the close of the Empire, and though during the Gothic wars it was taken by Totila
, and its walls razed to the ground, they were restored, as well as its public buildings, shortly after; and P. Diaconus speaks of it as a very wealthy city, and the capital of all the surrounding provinces.
Beneventum indeed seems to have been a place of much literary cultivation; it was the birth-place of Orbilius the grammarian, who long continued to teach in his native city before he removed to Rome, and was honored with a statue by his fellow-townsmen; while existing inscriptions record similar honors paid to another grammarian, Rutilius Aelianus, as well as to orators and poets, apparently only of local celebrity.
The territory of Beneventum under the Roman Empire was of very considerable extent. Towards the west it included that of Caudium, with the exception of the town itself; to the north it extended as far as the river Tamarus (modern Tammaro
), including the village of Pago Veiano
, which, as we learn from an inscription, was anciently called Pagus Veianus; on the northeast it comprised the town of Equus Tuticus (modern Sant'Eleuterio, near Castel Franco), and on the east and south bordered on the territories of Aeclanum and Abellinum. An inscription has preserved to us the names of several of the pagi or villages dependent upon Beneventum, but their sites cannot be identified.
The city's most ancient coins bear the legend "Malies" or "Maliesa", which have been supposed to belong to the Samnite, or pre-Samnite, Maleventum. Coins with the legend "BENVENTOD" (an old Latin
– or Samnite – form for Beneventor-um), must have been struck after it became a Latin colony.
and its walls razed (545), Benevento became the seat of a powerful Lombard
duchy
. The circumstances of the creation of duchy of Benevento
are disputed. Lombards were present in southern Italy well before the complete conquest of the Po Valley
: the duchy would have been founded in 576 by some soldiers led by a Zotto
, autonomously from the Lombard king.
Zotto's successor was Arechis I
(died in 640), from the Duchy of Friuli
, who captured Capua
and Crotone
, sacked the Byzantine Amalfi
but was unable to capture Naples
. After his reign the Eastern Roman Empire had left in southern Italy only Naples, Amalfi, Gaeta, Sorrento, the tip of Calabria and the maritime cities of Apulia
.
In the following decades, Benevento conquered some territories to the Roman-Byzantine duchy, but the main enemies was now the northern Lombard reign itself. King Liutprand intervened in several times imposing a candidate of his own to the duchy's succession; his successor Ratchis
declared the duchies of Spoleto and Benevento foreign countries where it was forbidden to travel without a royal permission.
With the collapse of the Lombard kingdom in 773, Duke Arechis II
was elevated to Prince under the new empire of the Franks
, in compensation for having some of his territory transferred back to the Papal States
. Benevento was acclaimed by a chronicler as a "second Pavia"— Ticinum geminum— after the Lombard capital was lost. The unit of this principality was short-lived: in 851, Salerno
broke off under Siconulf and, by the end of that century, Capua
was independent as well. Benevento was ruled again by Byzantine
s between 891-895.
The so-called Langobardia minor
was unified for the last time by Duke Pandolfo Testa di Ferro, who expanded his extensive control in the Mezzogiorno
from his base in Benevento and Capua
. Before his death (March 981), he had gained from Emperor Otto I
the title of Duke of Spoleto also. However, both Benevento and Salerno rebelled to his son and heir, Pandulf II
.
The first decades of the 11th century saw two more German-descended rulers to southern Italy: Henry II
, conquered in 1022 both Capua and Benevento, but returned after the failed siege of Troia. Similar results obtained Conrad II
in 1038. In these years the three states (Benevento, Capua, and Salerno) were often engaged in local wars and disputes that favoured the rise of the Normans
from mercenaries to ruler of the whole southern Italy. The greatest of them was Robert Guiscard
, who captured Benevento in 1053 after the Emperor Henry III had first authorised its conquest in 1047 when Pandulf III
and Landulf VI
shut the gates to him. These princes were later expelled from the city and then recalled after the pope failed to defend it from Guiscard. The city fell to Normans in 1077. It was a papal city until after 1081.
ceded it to Leo IX, in exchange for the Bishopric of Bamberg (1053). Landulf II, Archbishop of Benevento
, promoted reform, but also allied with the Normans. He was deposed for two years. Benevento was the cornerstone of the Papacy's temporal powers in southern Italy. The Papacy ruled it by appointed rectors, seated in a magnificent palace, and the principality continued to be a papal possession until 1806, when Napoleon granted it to his minister Talleyrand with the title of Sovereign Prince. Talleyrand was never to settle down and actually rule his new principality; in 1815 Benevento was returned to the papacy. It was united to Italy in 1860.
Manfred of Sicily
lost his life in 1266 in battle with Charles of Anjou not far from the town, in the course of the Battle of Benevento
.
The importance of Benevento in classical times is vouched for by the many remains of antiquity
which it possesses, of which the most famous is the triumphal arch
erected in honour of Trajan
by the senate
and people of Rome
in 114, with important reliefs relating to its history. Enclosed in the walls, this construction marked the entrance in Benevento of the Via Traiana
, the road built by the Spanish emperor to shorten the path from Rome to Brindisi
. The reliefs show the civil and military deeds of Trajan.
There are other considerable remains from ancient era:
Many inscriptions and ancient fragments may be seen built into the old houses. In 1903 the foundations of the Temple of Isis were discovered close to the Arch of Trajan, and many fragments of fine sculptures in both the Egyptian and the Greco-Roman style belonging to it were found. They had apparently been used as the foundation of a portion of the city wall, reconstructed in 663 under the fear of an attack by the Byzantine emperor Constans II, the temple having been destroyed by order of the bishop, St Barbatus, to provide the necessary material (A. Meomartini, 0. Marucchi and L. Savignoni in Notizie degli Scavi, 1904, 107 sqq.).
. The plan consists of a central hexagon with, at each vertex, columns taken from the temple of Isis
; these are connected by arches which support the cupola. The inner hexagon is in turn enclosed in a decagonal ring with eight white limestone pillars and two columns next to the entrance. The church has a fine cloister
of the 12th century, constructed in part of fragments of earlier buildings. The church interior was once totally frescoed by Byzantine
artists: fragments of these paintings, portraying the Histories of Christ, can be still seen in the two side apses.
Santa Sofia was almost destroyed by the earthquake of 1688, and rebuilt in Baroque
forms by commission of the then cardinal Orsini of Benevento (later Pope Benedict XIII
). The original forms were hidden, and were recovered only after the discussed restoration of 1951.
of Santa Maria Assunta, with its fine arcaded façade and incomplete square campanile
(begun in 1279 by the archbishop Romano Capodiferro) dates from the 9th century. It was rebuilt in 1114, the façade inspired by the Pisan Gothic style. Its bronze doors, adorned with bas-reliefs, are notable example of Romanesque art
which may belong to the beginning of the 13th century. The interior is in the form of a basilica
, the double aisles carried on ancient columns. There are ambones resting on columns supported by lions, and decorated with reliefs and coloured marble mosaic, and a candelabrum of 1311. A marble statue of the apostle San Bartolomeo, by Nicola da Monteforte, is also from the 14th century. The cathedral also contains a statue of St. Giuseppe Moscati
, a native of the area.
The castle is in fact made by two distinct edifices: the Torrione ("Big Tower"), which was built by the Lombards starting from 871, and the Palazzo dei Governatori, built by the Popes from 1320.
, olive
s and tobacco
. The main industry is that of food processing (sweets and pasta), although textile, mechanics and construction companies are present.
state road, and then local roads starting from Arienzo
. It is 17 km from the Naples-Bari A16 motorway. The SS372 Telesina state road allows reaching the A1 Naples-Rome, leading to the latter in less than three hours.
Benevento railway station
, on the Caserta
-Foggia
railway, has fast connections from Rome to Avellino, Bari and Lecce. Trains to Campobasso
have been mostly replaced by bus services. The connection to Naples is ensured by three stations on the MetroCampania NordEst inter-urban metro line.
Comune
In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...
of Campania
Campania
Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, capital of the province of Benevento
Province of Benevento
The Province of Benevento is a province in the Campania region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Benevento.It has an area of 2,071 km², and a total population of 289,455...
, 50 km northeast of Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
. It is situated on a hill 130 m (300 ft) above sea-level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and Sabato
Sabato
Sabato may refer to:* Sabato , a river in southern Italy* Sabato , a fictional character in the Tenchi Muyo! series* Sabato Morais , Italian-American rabbi* Instituto SabatoPeople with the surname Sabato:...
. It is also the seat of a Catholic archbishop.
Benevento occupies the site of the ancient Beneventum, originally Maleventum or still earlier Malowent and Maloenton
Oscan language
Oscan is a term used to describe both an extinct language of southern Italy and the language group to which it belonged.The Oscan language was spoken by a number of tribes, including the Samnites, the Aurunci, the Sidicini, and the Ausones. The latter three tribes were often grouped under the name...
. The "-vent" portion of the name probably refers to a market-place and is a common element in ancient place names. The Romans theorized that it meant "the site of bad events", from Mal(um) + eventum. In the imperial
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
period it was supposed to have been founded by Diomedes
Diomedes
Diomedes or Diomed is a hero in Greek mythology, known for his participation in the Trojan War.He was born to Tydeus and Deipyle and later became King of Argos, succeeding his maternal grandfather, Adrastus. In Homer's Iliad Diomedes is regarded alongside Ajax as one of the best warriors of all...
after the Trojan War
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta. The war is among the most important events in Greek mythology and was narrated in many works of Greek literature, including the Iliad...
.
Benevento in antiquity
Benevento, as Maleventum, one of the chief cities of SamniumSamnium
Samnium is a Latin exonym for a region of south or south and central Italy in Roman times. The name survives in Italian today, but today's territory comprising it is only a small portion of what it once was. The populations of Samnium were called Samnites by the Romans...
, and at a later period one of the most important cities of southern Italy, was situated on the Via Appia at a distance of 32 miles east from Capua
Capua
Capua is a city and comune in the province of Caserta, Campania, southern Italy, situated 25 km north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. Ancient Capua was situated where Santa Maria Capua Vetere is now...
; and on the banks of the river Calor (modern Calore). There is some discrepancy as to the people to which it belonged at contact: Pliny
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
expressly assigns it to the Hirpini
Hirpini
The Hirpini , were an ancient Samnite people of central Italy. While general regarded as having been Samnites, sometimes they are treated as a distinct and independent nation...
; but Livy
Livy
Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
certainly seems to consider it as belonging to the Samnites proper, as distinguished from the Hirpini; and Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
adopts the same view. All writers concur in representing it as a very ancient city; Solinus and Stephanus of Byzantium
Stephanus of Byzantium
Stephen of Byzantium, also known as Stephanus Byzantinus , was the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled Ethnica...
ascribe its foundation to Diomedes
Diomedes
Diomedes or Diomed is a hero in Greek mythology, known for his participation in the Trojan War.He was born to Tydeus and Deipyle and later became King of Argos, succeeding his maternal grandfather, Adrastus. In Homer's Iliad Diomedes is regarded alongside Ajax as one of the best warriors of all...
; a legend which appears to have been adopted by the inhabitants, who, in the time of Procopius
Procopius
Procopius of Caesarea was a prominent Byzantine scholar from Palestine. Accompanying the general Belisarius in the wars of the Emperor Justinian I, he became the principal historian of the 6th century, writing the Wars of Justinian, the Buildings of Justinian and the celebrated Secret History...
, pretended to exhibit the tusks of the Calydonian boar
Calydonian Boar
The Calydonian Boar is one of the monsters of Greek mythology that had to be overcome by heroes of the Olympian age. Sent by Artemis to ravage the region of Calydon in Aetolia because its king failed to honor her in his rites to the gods, it was killed in the Calydonian Hunt, in which many male...
in proof of their descent. Festus
Festus
Festus is a Latin word meaning "festive, festal, joyful, merry" and may refer to:* Festus, Missouri, a town in the United States*Festus, a poem by the English poet Philip James Bailey*Drew Hankinson, professional wrestler...
, on the contrary (s. v. Ausoniam), related that it was founded by Auson, a son of Ulysses
Odysseus
Odysseus or Ulysses was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
and Circe
Circe
In Greek mythology, Circe is a minor goddess of magic , described in Homer's Odyssey as "The loveliest of all immortals", living on the island of Aeaea, famous for her part in the adventures of Odysseus.By most accounts, Circe was the daughter of Helios, the god of the sun, and Perse, an Oceanid...
; a tradition which indicates that it was an ancient Ausonian city, previous to its conquest by the Samnites. But it first appears in history as a Samnite city; and must have already been a place of strength, so that the Romans
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
did not venture to attack it during their first two wars with the Samnites. It appears, however, to have fallen into their hands during the Third Samnite War, though the exact occasion is unknown. It was certainly in the power of the Romans in 274 BC, when Pyrrhus
Pyrrhus of Epirus
Pyrrhus or Pyrrhos was a Greek general and statesman of the Hellenistic era. He was king of the Greek tribe of Molossians, of the royal Aeacid house , and later he became king of Epirus and Macedon . He was one of the strongest opponents of early Rome...
was defeated in a great battle, fought in its immediate neighborhood, by the consul Curius Dentatus
Curius Dentatus
Manius Curius Dentatus , son of Manius, was a three-time consul and a plebeian hero of the Roman Republic, noted for ending the Samnite War. According to Pliny, he was born with teeth, thus earning the cognomen Dentatus, "Toothy."...
. Six years later (268 BC) they sought farther to secure its possession by establishing there a Roman colony
Colonia (Roman)
A Roman colonia was originally a Roman outpost established in conquered territory to secure it. Eventually, however, the term came to denote the highest status of Roman city.-History:...
with Latin rights. It was at this time that it first assumed the name of Beneventum, having previously been called Maleventum, a name which the Romans regarded as of evil augury, and changed into one of a more fortunate signification. It is probable that the Oscan or Samnite name was Maloeis, or Malieis, from whence the form Maleventum would be derived, like Agrigentum from Acragas (modern Agrigento
Agrigento
Agrigento , is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy, and capital of the province of Agrigento. It is renowned as the site of the ancient Greek city of Akragas , one of the leading cities of Magna Graecia during the golden...
), Selinuntium from Selinus (the ruins of which are at modern Selinunte
Selinunte
Selinunte is an ancient Greek archaeological site on the south coast of Sicily, southern Italy, between the valleys of the rivers Belice and Modione in the province of Trapani. The archaeological site contains five temples centered on an acropolis...
), etc.
As a Roman colony Beneventum seems to have quickly become a flourishing place; and in the Second Punic War
Second Punic War
The Second Punic War, also referred to as The Hannibalic War and The War Against Hannibal, lasted from 218 to 201 BC and involved combatants in the western and eastern Mediterranean. This was the second major war between Carthage and the Roman Republic, with the participation of the Berbers on...
was repeatedly occupied by Roman generals as a post of importance, on account of its proximity to Campania
Campania
Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...
, and its strength as a fortress. In its immediate neighborhood were fought two of the most decisive actions of the war: the Battle of Beneventum
Battle of Beneventum (214 BC)
The Battle of Beneventum was fought in 214 BC near modern Benevento during the Second Punic War. Roman legions under Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus defeated Hanno's Carthaginian forces, denying Hannibal reinforcements...
, (214 BC), in which the Carthaginian
Carthage
Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
general Hanno
Hanno
Hanno may refer to:* Hanno, Saitama, Honshū, Japan* Hanno , a lunar crater* Hanno , the pet white elephant of Pope Leo XPeople named Hanno:*Several ancient Carthaginians, including:...
was defeated by Tiberius Gracchus
Tiberius Gracchus
Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus was a Roman Populares politician of the 2nd century BC and brother of Gaius Gracchus. As a plebeian tribune, his reforms of agrarian legislation caused political turmoil in the Republic. These reforms threatened the holdings of rich landowners in Italy...
; the other in 212 BC, when the camp of Hanno, in which he had accumulated a vast quantity of corn and other stores, was stormed and taken by the Roman consul Quintus Fulvius Flaccus
Quintus Fulvius Flaccus
Quintus Fulvius Flaccus, son of Marcus Fulvius Flaccus , Quintus was consul in 237 BC, fighting the Gauls in northern Italy. He was censor in 231 BC, again consul in 224 BC, when he subdued the Boii...
. And though its territory was more than once laid waste by the Carthaginians, it was still one of the eighteen Latin colonies which in 209 BCE were at once able and willing to furnish the required quota of men and money for continuing the war. It is singular that no mention of it occurs during the Social War; but it seems to have escaped from the calamities which at that time befel so many cities of Samnium, and towards the close of the Roman Republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
is spoken of as one of the most opulent and flourishing cities of Italy. Under the Second Triumvirate
Second Triumvirate
The Second Triumvirate is the name historians give to the official political alliance of Octavius , Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, and Mark Antony, formed on 26 November 43 BC with the enactment of the Lex Titia, the adoption of which marked the end of the Roman Republic...
its territory was portioned out by the Triumvirs to their veterans, and subsequently a fresh colony was established there by Augustus
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
, who greatly enlarged its domain by the addition of the territory of Caudium
Caudium (ancient city)
Caudium was an ancient city in Samnium situated on the Appian Way between Beneventum to Capua. In early times it was an important site: the capital or chief city of the Caudini.-History:Grave goods, found in the necropolis nearby, show that the site was inhabited from the 8th to the...
(modern Montesarchio
Montesarchio
Montesarchio is a comune in the Province of Benevento, Campania, southern Italy. It is located 18 km south-east of Benevento in the Valle Caudina at the foot of Monte Taburno...
). A third colony was settled there by Nero
Nero
Nero , was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death....
, at which time it assumed the title of Concordia; hence we find it bearing, in inscriptions of the reign of Septimius Severus
Septimius Severus
Septimius Severus , also known as Severus, was Roman Emperor from 193 to 211. Severus was born in Leptis Magna in the province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary succession of offices under the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Severus seized power after the death of...
, the titles Colonia Julia Augusta Concordia Felix Beneventum. Its importance and flourishing condition under the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
is sufficiently attested by existing remains and inscriptions; it was at that period unquestionably the chief city of the Hirpini, and probably, next to Capua, the most populous and considerable city of southern Italy. For this prosperity it was doubtless indebted in part to its position on the Via Appia, just at the junction of the two principal arms or branches of that great road, the one called afterwards the Via Trajana
Via Traiana
300px|thumb|Via TraianaThe Via Traiana was an ancient Roman road. It was built by the emperor Trajan as an extension of the Via Appia from Beneventum, reaching Brundisium by a shorter route...
, leading from thence by Equus Tuticus into Apulia
Apulia
Apulia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its most southern portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises , and...
; the other by Aeclanum
Aeclanum
Aeclanum was an ancient town of Samnium, southern Italy, c. 25 km east-southeast of Beneventum, on the Via Appia ....
to Venusia (modern Venosa
Venosa
Venosa is a town and comune in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata, in the Vulture area. It is bounded by the comuni of Barile, Ginestra, Lavello, Maschito, Montemilone, Palazzo San Gervasio, Rapolla and Spinazzola....
) and Tarentum (modern Taranto
Taranto
Taranto is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto and is an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base....
). Its wealth is also evidenced by the quantity of coins minted by Beneventum. Horace
Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.-Life:...
famously notes Beneventum on his journey from Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
to Brundusium (modern Brindisi
Brindisi
Brindisi is a city in the Apulia region of Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, off the coast of the Adriatic Sea.Historically, the city has played an important role in commerce and culture, due to its position on the Italian Peninsula and its natural port on the Adriatic Sea. The city...
). It was indebted to the same circumstance for the honor of repeated visits from the emperors of Rome, among which those of Nero, Trajan
Trajan
Trajan , was Roman Emperor from 98 to 117 AD. Born into a non-patrician family in the province of Hispania Baetica, in Spain Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian. Serving as a legatus legionis in Hispania Tarraconensis, in Spain, in 89 Trajan supported the emperor against...
, and Septimus Severus, are particularly recorded.
Triumphal arch
A triumphal arch is a monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, crowned with a flat entablature or attic on which a statue might be...
, the Arch of Trajan
Arch of Trajan
The Arch of Trajan is an ancient Roman triumphal arch in Benevento, southern Italy. It was erected to celebrate emperor Trajan across the Via Appia, at its entrance in the city.-History:The arch was built between 114 and 117....
, was erected there by the senate and people of Rome and constructed by the architect Apollodorus of Damascus
Apollodorus of Damascus
Apollodorus of Damascus was a Greek engineer, architect, designer and sculptor who flourished during the 2nd century AD, from Damascus, Roman Syria. He was a favourite of Trajan, for whom he constructed Trajan's Bridge over the Danube for the 105-106 campaign in Dacia. He also designed the Forum...
in 114. The Arch of Trajan is one of the best-preserved Roman structures in the Campania. It repeats the formula of the Arch of Titus
Arch of Titus
The Arch of Titus is a 1st-century honorific arch located on the Via Sacra, Rome, just to the south-east of the Roman Forum. It was constructed in c.82 AD by the Roman Emperor Domitian shortly after the death of his older brother Titus to commemorate Titus' victories, including the Siege of...
in the Roman Forum
Roman Forum
The Roman Forum is a rectangular forum surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient city referred to this space, originally a marketplace, as the Forum Magnum, or simply the Forum...
, with reliefs of Trajan
Trajan
Trajan , was Roman Emperor from 98 to 117 AD. Born into a non-patrician family in the province of Hispania Baetica, in Spain Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian. Serving as a legatus legionis in Hispania Tarraconensis, in Spain, in 89 Trajan supported the emperor against...
's life and exploits of his reign. Some of the sculptures are in the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
. Successive emperors seem to have bestowed on the city accessions of territory, and erected, or at least given name to, various public buildings. For administrative purposes it was first included, together with the rest of the Hirpini, in the second region of Augustus, but was afterwards annexed to Campania and placed under the control of the consular of that province. Its inhabitants were included in the Stellatine tribe. Beneventum retained its importance down to the close of the Empire, and though during the Gothic wars it was taken by Totila
Totila
Totila, original name Baduila was King of the Ostrogoths from 541 to 552 AD. A skilled military and political leader, Totila reversed the tide of Gothic War, recovering by 543 almost all the territories in Italy that the Eastern Roman Empire had captured from his Kingdom in 540.A relative of...
, and its walls razed to the ground, they were restored, as well as its public buildings, shortly after; and P. Diaconus speaks of it as a very wealthy city, and the capital of all the surrounding provinces.
Beneventum indeed seems to have been a place of much literary cultivation; it was the birth-place of Orbilius the grammarian, who long continued to teach in his native city before he removed to Rome, and was honored with a statue by his fellow-townsmen; while existing inscriptions record similar honors paid to another grammarian, Rutilius Aelianus, as well as to orators and poets, apparently only of local celebrity.
The territory of Beneventum under the Roman Empire was of very considerable extent. Towards the west it included that of Caudium, with the exception of the town itself; to the north it extended as far as the river Tamarus (modern Tammaro
Tammaro
The Tammaro is a river in southwestern Italy, with a length of 78 kilometres and catchment area of 673 square kilometres. It rises in the Sella del Vinchiaturo in the Apennine Mountains and is a tributary of the Calore Irpino river. In ancient times it was known by the Latin name...
), including the village of Pago Veiano
Pago Veiano
Pago Veiano is a comune in the Province of Benevento in the Italian region Campania, located about 70 km northeast of Naples and about 15 km northeast of Benevento...
, which, as we learn from an inscription, was anciently called Pagus Veianus; on the northeast it comprised the town of Equus Tuticus (modern Sant'Eleuterio, near Castel Franco), and on the east and south bordered on the territories of Aeclanum and Abellinum. An inscription has preserved to us the names of several of the pagi or villages dependent upon Beneventum, but their sites cannot be identified.
The city's most ancient coins bear the legend "Malies" or "Maliesa", which have been supposed to belong to the Samnite, or pre-Samnite, Maleventum. Coins with the legend "BENVENTOD" (an old Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
– or Samnite – form for Beneventor-um), must have been struck after it became a Latin colony.
Duchy of Benevento
Not long after it had been sacked by TotilaTotila
Totila, original name Baduila was King of the Ostrogoths from 541 to 552 AD. A skilled military and political leader, Totila reversed the tide of Gothic War, recovering by 543 almost all the territories in Italy that the Eastern Roman Empire had captured from his Kingdom in 540.A relative of...
and its walls razed (545), Benevento became the seat of a powerful Lombard
Lombards
The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...
duchy
Duchy
A duchy is a territory, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess.Some duchies were sovereign in areas that would become unified realms only during the Modern era . In contrast, others were subordinate districts of those kingdoms that unified either partially or completely during the Medieval era...
. The circumstances of the creation of duchy of Benevento
Duchy of Benevento
The Duchy and later Principality of Benevento was the southernmost Lombard duchy in medieval Italy, centred on Benevento, a city central in the Mezzogiorno. Owing to the Ducatus Romanus of the popes, which cut it off from the rest of Lombard Italy, Benevento was from the first practically...
are disputed. Lombards were present in southern Italy well before the complete conquest of the Po Valley
Po Valley
The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain is a major geographical feature of Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of 46,000 km² including its Venetic extension not actually related to the Po River basin; it runs from the Western Alps to the...
: the duchy would have been founded in 576 by some soldiers led by a Zotto
Zotto
Zotto was the military leader of the Lombards in the Mezzogiorno. He is generally considered the founder of the Duchy of Benevento in 571 and its first duke : “…Fuit autem primus Langobardorum dux in Benevento nomine Zotto, qui in ea principatus est per curricula viginti annorum…” Zotto (also...
, autonomously from the Lombard king.
Zotto's successor was Arechis I
Arechis I of Benevento
Arechis I was the second duke of Benevento from 591 to his death in 641, a reign of half a century. He was from Friuli and was a relative of the dukes there, maybe a nephew of Zotto, his predecessor. He was appointed by King Agilulf in the spring of 591, after Zotto's death...
(died in 640), from the Duchy of Friuli
Duchy of Friuli
The Duchy of Friuli was one of the great territorial Lombard duchies, the first to be established. It was an important buffer between the Lombard kingdom of Italy and the Slavs...
, who captured Capua
Capua
Capua is a city and comune in the province of Caserta, Campania, southern Italy, situated 25 km north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. Ancient Capua was situated where Santa Maria Capua Vetere is now...
and Crotone
Crotone
Crotone is a city and comune in Calabria, southern Italy, on the Ionian Sea. Founded circa 710 BC as the Achaean colony of Croton , it was known as Cotrone from the Middle Ages until 1928, when its name was changed to the current one. In 1994 it became the capital of the newly established...
, sacked the Byzantine Amalfi
Amalfi
Amalfi is a town and comune in the province of Salerno, in the region of Campania, Italy, on the Gulf of Salerno, c. 35 km southeast of Naples. It lies at the mouth of a deep ravine, at the foot of Monte Cerreto , surrounded by dramatic cliffs and coastal scenery...
but was unable to capture Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
. After his reign the Eastern Roman Empire had left in southern Italy only Naples, Amalfi, Gaeta, Sorrento, the tip of Calabria and the maritime cities of Apulia
Apulia
Apulia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its most southern portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises , and...
.
In the following decades, Benevento conquered some territories to the Roman-Byzantine duchy, but the main enemies was now the northern Lombard reign itself. King Liutprand intervened in several times imposing a candidate of his own to the duchy's succession; his successor Ratchis
Ratchis
Ratchis was the Duke of Friuli and King of the Lombards . His father was Duke Pemmo. His Roman wife was Tassia. He ruled in peace until he besieged, for reasons unknown, Perugia. Pope Zachary convinced him to lift the siege and he abdicated and entered, with his family, the abbey of Montecassino...
declared the duchies of Spoleto and Benevento foreign countries where it was forbidden to travel without a royal permission.
Arechis II of Benevento
Arechis II was Duke of Benevento, in southern Italy, from 758 until his death....
was elevated to Prince under the new empire of the Franks
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
, in compensation for having some of his territory transferred back to the Papal States
Papal States
The Papal State, State of the Church, or Pontifical States were among the major historical states of Italy from roughly the 6th century until the Italian peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia .The Papal States comprised territories under...
. Benevento was acclaimed by a chronicler as a "second Pavia"— Ticinum geminum— after the Lombard capital was lost. The unit of this principality was short-lived: in 851, Salerno
Salerno
Salerno is a city and comune in Campania and is the capital of the province of the same name. It is located on the Gulf of Salerno on the Tyrrhenian Sea....
broke off under Siconulf and, by the end of that century, Capua
Capua
Capua is a city and comune in the province of Caserta, Campania, southern Italy, situated 25 km north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. Ancient Capua was situated where Santa Maria Capua Vetere is now...
was independent as well. Benevento was ruled again by Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
s between 891-895.
The so-called Langobardia minor
Langobardia Minor
Langobardia Minor was the name that, in early Middle Ages, was given to the Lombard dominion in central-southern Italy, corresponding to the duchies of Spoleto and Benevento...
was unified for the last time by Duke Pandolfo Testa di Ferro, who expanded his extensive control in the Mezzogiorno
Mezzogiorno
The Midday is a wide definition, without any administrative usage, used to indicate the southern half of the Italian state, encompassing the southern section of the continental Italian Peninsula and the two major islands of Sicily and Sardinia, in addition to a large number of minor islands...
from his base in Benevento and Capua
Capua
Capua is a city and comune in the province of Caserta, Campania, southern Italy, situated 25 km north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. Ancient Capua was situated where Santa Maria Capua Vetere is now...
. Before his death (March 981), he had gained from Emperor Otto I
Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor
Otto I the Great , son of Henry I the Fowler and Matilda of Ringelheim, was Duke of Saxony, King of Germany, King of Italy, and "the first of the Germans to be called the emperor of Italy" according to Arnulf of Milan...
the title of Duke of Spoleto also. However, both Benevento and Salerno rebelled to his son and heir, Pandulf II
Pandulf II of Salerno
Pandulf II was the prince of Salerno , the second of such princes of the family of the princes of Capua. He was originally appointed heir to the childless Gisulf I of Salerno, who had been reinstated on his throne by Pandulf's father, Pandulf Ironhead. On the former's death in 977, he succeeded...
.
The first decades of the 11th century saw two more German-descended rulers to southern Italy: Henry II
Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry II , also referred to as Saint Henry, Obl.S.B., was the fifth and last Holy Roman Emperor of the Ottonian dynasty, from his coronation in Rome in 1014 until his death a decade later. He was crowned King of the Germans in 1002 and King of Italy in 1004...
, conquered in 1022 both Capua and Benevento, but returned after the failed siege of Troia. Similar results obtained Conrad II
Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor
Conrad II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1027 until his death.The son of a mid-level nobleman in Franconia, Count Henry of Speyer and Adelaide of Alsace, he inherited the titles of count of Speyer and of Worms as an infant when Henry died at age twenty...
in 1038. In these years the three states (Benevento, Capua, and Salerno) were often engaged in local wars and disputes that favoured the rise of the Normans
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
from mercenaries to ruler of the whole southern Italy. The greatest of them was Robert Guiscard
Robert Guiscard
Robert d'Hauteville, known as Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria, from Latin Viscardus and Old French Viscart, often rendered the Resourceful, the Cunning, the Wily, the Fox, or the Weasel was a Norman adventurer conspicuous in the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily...
, who captured Benevento in 1053 after the Emperor Henry III had first authorised its conquest in 1047 when Pandulf III
Pandulf III of Benevento
Pandulf III was the prince of Benevento in the Mezzogiorno in medieval Italy, first as co-ruler with his father, Landulf V, and grandfather, Pandulf II, from 1012 or thereabouts to 1014, when the elder Pandulf died. He co-ruled with his father until his death in 1033...
and Landulf VI
Landulf VI of Benevento
Landulf VI was the last prince of Benevento. Unlike his predecessors, he never had a chance to rule alone and independent. The principality lost its independence in 1051, at which point Landulf was only co-ruling with his father, Pandulf III.Landulf was the eldest son of Pandulf and he was first...
shut the gates to him. These princes were later expelled from the city and then recalled after the pope failed to defend it from Guiscard. The city fell to Normans in 1077. It was a papal city until after 1081.
Papal Benevento
Benevento passed to the Papacy peacefully when the emperor Henry IIIHenry III, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry III , called the Black or the Pious, was a member of the Salian Dynasty of Holy Roman Emperors...
ceded it to Leo IX, in exchange for the Bishopric of Bamberg (1053). Landulf II, Archbishop of Benevento
Landulf II, Archbishop of Benevento
Landulf II was the Archbishop of Benevento from 8 November 1108 to his death. He succeeded Roffredo more than a year after the latter's death on 9 September 1107. The main source for his eventful reign is the contemporary chronicler and fellow Lombard and Benventan Falco.Landulf was a son of...
, promoted reform, but also allied with the Normans. He was deposed for two years. Benevento was the cornerstone of the Papacy's temporal powers in southern Italy. The Papacy ruled it by appointed rectors, seated in a magnificent palace, and the principality continued to be a papal possession until 1806, when Napoleon granted it to his minister Talleyrand with the title of Sovereign Prince. Talleyrand was never to settle down and actually rule his new principality; in 1815 Benevento was returned to the papacy. It was united to Italy in 1860.
Manfred of Sicily
Manfred of Sicily
Manfred was the King of Sicily from 1258 to 1266. He was a natural son of the emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen but his mother, Bianca Lancia , is reported by Matthew of Paris to have been married to the emperor while on her deathbed.-Background:Manfred was born in Venosa...
lost his life in 1266 in battle with Charles of Anjou not far from the town, in the course of the Battle of Benevento
Battle of Benevento
The Battle of Benevento was fought near Benevento, in present-day Southern Italy, on February 26, 1266, between the troops of Charles of Anjou and Manfred of Sicily. Manfred's defeat and death resulted in the capture of the Kingdom of Sicily by Charles....
.
Ancient remains
Ancient history
Ancient history is the study of the written past from the beginning of recorded human history to the Early Middle Ages. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, with Cuneiform script, the oldest discovered form of coherent writing, from the protoliterate period around the 30th century BC...
which it possesses, of which the most famous is the triumphal arch
Arch of Trajan
The Arch of Trajan is an ancient Roman triumphal arch in Benevento, southern Italy. It was erected to celebrate emperor Trajan across the Via Appia, at its entrance in the city.-History:The arch was built between 114 and 117....
erected in honour of Trajan
Trajan
Trajan , was Roman Emperor from 98 to 117 AD. Born into a non-patrician family in the province of Hispania Baetica, in Spain Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian. Serving as a legatus legionis in Hispania Tarraconensis, in Spain, in 89 Trajan supported the emperor against...
by the senate
Roman Senate
The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
and people of Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
in 114, with important reliefs relating to its history. Enclosed in the walls, this construction marked the entrance in Benevento of the Via Traiana
Via Traiana
300px|thumb|Via TraianaThe Via Traiana was an ancient Roman road. It was built by the emperor Trajan as an extension of the Via Appia from Beneventum, reaching Brundisium by a shorter route...
, the road built by the Spanish emperor to shorten the path from Rome to Brindisi
Brindisi
Brindisi is a city in the Apulia region of Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, off the coast of the Adriatic Sea.Historically, the city has played an important role in commerce and culture, due to its position on the Italian Peninsula and its natural port on the Adriatic Sea. The city...
. The reliefs show the civil and military deeds of Trajan.
There are other considerable remains from ancient era:
- The well-preserved ancient theatreRoman Theatre, BeneventoThe Roman Theatre is an ancient Roman edifice in Benevento, southern Italy. It was built in the 2nd century by emperor Hadrian near the city's cardo maximus...
, next to the Cathedral and the Port'Arsa gate. This grandiose building was erected by HadrianHadrianHadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...
, and later expanded by CaracallaCaracallaCaracalla , was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. The eldest son of Septimius Severus, he ruled jointly with his younger brother Geta until he murdered the latter in 211...
. It had a diameter of 90 meters and could house up to 10,000 (or 15,000) spectators. It is currently used for theatre, dance, and opera performances. - A large cryptoporticusCryptoporticusIn Ancient Roman architecture a cryptoporticus is a covered corridor or passageway. The usual English is "cryptoportico". The cryptoportico is a semi-subterranean gallery whose vaulting supports portico structures aboveground and which is lit from openings at the tops of its arches...
60 m long, known as the ruins of Santi Quaranta, and probably an emporiumMarketplaceA marketplace is the space, actual, virtual or metaphorical, in which a market operates. The term is also used in a trademark law context to denote the actual consumer environment, ie. the 'real world' in which products and services are provided and consumed.-Marketplaces and street markets:A...
. According to Meomartini, the portion preserved is only a fraction of the whole, which once measured 520 m in length. - A brick arch called Arco del Sacramento.
- The Ponte Leproso, a bridge on the Via Appia over the Sabato river, below the city center.
- ThermaeThermaeIn ancient Rome, thermae and balnea were facilities for bathing...
along the road to AvellinoAvellinoAvellino is a town and comune, capital of the province of Avellino in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is situated in a plain surrounded by mountains 42 km north-east of Naples and is an important hub on the road from Salerno to Benevento.-History:Before the Roman conquest, the...
. - The Bue Apis, popularly known as A ufara ("buffalo"). It is a basement in the shape of an ox or bull coming from the Temple of Isis.
Many inscriptions and ancient fragments may be seen built into the old houses. In 1903 the foundations of the Temple of Isis were discovered close to the Arch of Trajan, and many fragments of fine sculptures in both the Egyptian and the Greco-Roman style belonging to it were found. They had apparently been used as the foundation of a portion of the city wall, reconstructed in 663 under the fear of an attack by the Byzantine emperor Constans II, the temple having been destroyed by order of the bishop, St Barbatus, to provide the necessary material (A. Meomartini, 0. Marucchi and L. Savignoni in Notizie degli Scavi, 1904, 107 sqq.).
Santa Sofia
The church of Santa Sofia is a circular Lombard edifice dating to c. 760, now modernized, of small proportions, and is one of the main examples of religious Lombard architectureLombard architecture
The term Lombard achitecture refers to the architecture of the Kingdom of the Lombards in Italy, which lasted from 568 to 774 and which was commissioned by Lombard king and dukes....
. The plan consists of a central hexagon with, at each vertex, columns taken from the temple of Isis
Isis
Isis or in original more likely Aset is a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. She was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the matron of nature and magic...
; these are connected by arches which support the cupola. The inner hexagon is in turn enclosed in a decagonal ring with eight white limestone pillars and two columns next to the entrance. The church has a fine cloister
Cloister
A cloister is a rectangular open space surrounded by covered walks or open galleries, with open arcades on the inner side, running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth...
of the 12th century, constructed in part of fragments of earlier buildings. The church interior was once totally frescoed by Byzantine
Byzantine art
Byzantine art is the term commonly used to describe the artistic products of the Byzantine Empire from about the 5th century until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453....
artists: fragments of these paintings, portraying the Histories of Christ, can be still seen in the two side apses.
Santa Sofia was almost destroyed by the earthquake of 1688, and rebuilt in Baroque
Baroque architecture
Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...
forms by commission of the then cardinal Orsini of Benevento (later Pope Benedict XIII
Pope Benedict XIII
-Footnotes:...
). The original forms were hidden, and were recovered only after the discussed restoration of 1951.
The Cathedral
The CathedralCathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
of Santa Maria Assunta, with its fine arcaded façade and incomplete square campanile
Campanile
Campanile is an Italian word meaning "bell tower" . The term applies to bell towers which are either part of a larger building or free-standing, although in American English, the latter meaning has become prevalent.The most famous campanile is probably the Leaning Tower of Pisa...
(begun in 1279 by the archbishop Romano Capodiferro) dates from the 9th century. It was rebuilt in 1114, the façade inspired by the Pisan Gothic style. Its bronze doors, adorned with bas-reliefs, are notable example of Romanesque art
Romanesque art
Romanesque art refers to the art of Western Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 13th century, or later, depending on region. The preceding period is increasingly known as the Pre-Romanesque...
which may belong to the beginning of the 13th century. The interior is in the form of a basilica
Basilica
The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...
, the double aisles carried on ancient columns. There are ambones resting on columns supported by lions, and decorated with reliefs and coloured marble mosaic, and a candelabrum of 1311. A marble statue of the apostle San Bartolomeo, by Nicola da Monteforte, is also from the 14th century. The cathedral also contains a statue of St. Giuseppe Moscati
Giuseppe Moscati
Saint Giuseppe Moscati was an Italian doctor, scientific researcher, and university professor noted both for his pioneering work in biochemistry and for his piety...
, a native of the area.
Rocca dei Rettori
The castle of Benevento, best known as Rocca dei Rettori or Rocca di Manfredi, stands at the highest point of the town, commanding the valley of the rivers Sabato and Calore, and the two main ancient roads Via Appia and Via Traiana. The site had been already used by the Samnites, who had constructed here a set of defensive terraces, and the Romans, with a thermal plant (Castellum aquae), whose remains can be still seen in the castle garden. The Benedictines had a monastery there. It received the current name in the Middle Ages, when it became the seat of the Papal governors, the Rettori.The castle is in fact made by two distinct edifices: the Torrione ("Big Tower"), which was built by the Lombards starting from 871, and the Palazzo dei Governatori, built by the Popes from 1320.
Other sights
- Sant'Ilario, not far from the Arch of Traian along the first trait of the Via Traiana, is a very ancient, small building dating from the end of the 6th or the beginning of the 7th century.
- The Palazzo di Paolo V (16th century).
- The church of San Salvatore, dating from the High Middle Ages.
- The Gothic church of San Francesco alla Dogana.
- The Baroque churches of Annunziata, San Bartolomeo and San Filippo.
Frazioni
Acquafredda, Cancelleria, Capodimonte, Caprarella, Cardoncielli, Cardoni, Cellarulo, Chiumiento, Ciancelle, Ciofani, Cretazzo, Epitaffio, Francavilla, Gran Potenza, Imperatore, Lammia, Madonna della Salute, Masseria del Ponte, Masseria La Vipera, Mascambruni, Montecalvo, Olivola, Pacevecchia, Pamparuottolo, Pantano, Perrottiello, Piano Cappelle, Pino, Ponte Corvo, Rosetiello, Ripa Zecca, Roseto, Santa Clementina, San Chirico, San Cumano (anc. Nuceriola), San Domenico, Sant'Angelo a Piesco, San Vitale, Scafa, Serretelle, Sponsilli, Torre Alfieri, Vallereccia .Economy
The economy of Benvento area is traditionally agricultural. Main products include vineVine
A vine in the narrowest sense is the grapevine , but more generally it can refer to any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent, that is to say climbing, stems or runners...
, olive
Olive
The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...
s and tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
. The main industry is that of food processing (sweets and pasta), although textile, mechanics and construction companies are present.
Transportation
Benvento is connected to Naples through the modern SS7 AppiaAppian Way
The Appian Way was one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, Apulia, in southeast Italy...
state road, and then local roads starting from Arienzo
Arienzo
Arienzo is a town and comune in the Province of Caserta, Campania, southern Italy. It is located across the Appian Way.It is connected to Naples, Benevento and Caserta by regular bus services....
. It is 17 km from the Naples-Bari A16 motorway. The SS372 Telesina state road allows reaching the A1 Naples-Rome, leading to the latter in less than three hours.
Benevento railway station
Benevento railway station
Benevento railway station is the main station serving the city and comune of Benevento, in the region of Campania, southern Italy. Opened in 1868, it forms part of the Naples–Foggia railway, and is also a terminus of three secondary railways, linking Benevento with Campobasso, Salerno , and...
, on the Caserta
Caserta railway station
Caserta railway station serves the city and comune of Caserta, in the region of Campania, southern Italy. Opened in 1843, it forms the junction between the Rome–Cassino–Naples railway and the Naples–Foggia railway, and is also a terminus of the Salerno–Caserta railway.The station is currently...
-Foggia
Foggia railway station
Foggia railway station serves the city and comune of Foggia, in the region of Apulia, southern Italy. Opened in 1864, it forms part of the Adriatic Railway , and is the terminus of the Naples–Foggia railway...
railway, has fast connections from Rome to Avellino, Bari and Lecce. Trains to Campobasso
Campobasso railway station
Campobasso railway station serves the city and comune of Campobasso, in the region of Molise, southern Italy. Opened in 1883, it is a junction of three lines, to Benevento, Isernia and Termoli, respectively....
have been mostly replaced by bus services. The connection to Naples is ensured by three stations on the MetroCampania NordEst inter-urban metro line.
Airports
The nearest airports are:- Salerno-Pontecagnano (QSR) 89 km
- Napoli-CapodichinoNaples AirportNaples Airport can refer to:*Naples International Airport in Naples, Italy*Naples Municipal Airport in Naples, Florida...
(NAP) 91 km