Ariminum
Ariminum, Ariminum, coastal town in Umbria, now Rimini
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Arimini Proper-name noun: neuter genitive singular of Ariminum
- a town in Umbria, on the shore of the Adriatic, at the mouth of a river of the same name; the most northern place of Italy proper, connected with Rome by the Via Flaminia, now Rimini, Plin. 3, 15, 20, § 115; Luc. 1, 231; cf. Mann. Ital. I. 455.
- —Hence, Ărīmĭnensis, e, adj., pertaining to Ariminum: folia, Hor. Epod. 5, 42: ager, Plin. 10, 21, 25, § 50; subst.: Ărīmĭnenses, ium, m., the inhabitants of Ariminum, Cic. Verr. 2, 1, 14; id. Caecin. 35, 112.
ARI´MINUM (Ἀρίμινον: Eth. Ariminensis: Rimini), one of the most important and celebrated cities of Umbria, situated on the coast of the Adriatic, close to the mouth of the river Ariminus, from which it derived its name (Fest. S. V.), and only about 9 miles S. of the Rubicon which formed the boundary of Cisalpine Gaul. Strabo tells us that it was originally an Umbrian city (5. p. 217.): it must have passed into the hands of the Senonian Gauls during the time that they possessed the whole of this tract between the Apennines and the sea: but we have no mention of its name in history previous to the year B.C. 268, when the Romans, who had expelled the Senones from all this part of Italy, established a colony at Ariminum. (Liv. Epit. xv.; Eutrop. 2.16; Vellei. 1.14; Strab. l. c.) The position of this new settlement, close to the extreme verge of Italy towards Cisalpine Gaul, and just at the point where the last slopes of the Apennines descend to the Adriatic and bound the great plains which extend from thence without interruption to the Alps, rendered it a military post of the highest importance, and it was justly considered as the key of Cisalpine Gaul on the one side, and of the eastern coast of Italy on the other. (Strab. 5. p. 226; Plb. 3.61.) At the same time its port at the mouth of the river maintained its communications by sea with the S. of Italy, and at a later period with the countries on the opposite side of the Adriatic.
The importance of Ariminum was still further increased by the opening in B.C. 221 of the Via Flaminia which led from thence direct to Rome, and subsequently of the Via Aemilia (B.C. 187) which established a direct communication with Placentia. (Liv. Epit. 20.39.2.) Hence we find Ariminum repeatedly playing an important part in Roman history. As early as B.C. 225 it was occupied by a Roman army during the Gaulish war: in B.C. 218 it was the place upon which Sempronius directed his legions in order to oppose Hannibal in Cisalpine Gaul; and throughout the Second Punic War it was one of the points to which the Romans attached the greatest strategic importance, and which they rarely failed to guard with a considerable army. (Plb. 2.23, 3.61, 77; Liv. 21.51, 24.44.) It is again mentioned as holding a similar place during the Gallic war in B.C. 200, as well as in the civil wars of Sulla and Marius, on which occasion it suffeared severely, for, having been occupied by Carbo, it was vindictively plundered by Sulla. (Liv. 31.10, 21; Appian. B.C. 1.67, 87, 91; Cic. Ver. 1.1. 4) On the outbreak of hostilities between Caesar and Pompey, it was the first object of the former to make himself master of Ariminum, from whence he directed his subsequent operations both against Etruria and Picenum. (Caes. B.C. 1.8, 11; Plut. Caes. 32; Cic. ad Farn. 16.1. 2; Appian. B.C. 2.35.) So also we find it conspicuous during the wars of Antonius and Octavius (Appian. B.C. 3.46, 5.33); in the civil war between Vitellius and Vespasian (Tan. Hist. 3.41, 42); and again at a much later period in the contest between Belisarius and the Goths. (Procop. B. G. 2.10, 17, 3.37, 4.28.)
Nor was it only in a military point of view that Ariminum was of importance. It seems to have been from the first a flourishing colony: and was one of the eighteen which in B.C. 209, notwithstanding the severe pressure of the Second Punic War, was still able to furnish its quota of men and money. (Liv. 27.10.) It was indeed for a time reduced to a state of inferiority by Sulla, as a punishment for the support it had afforded to his enemies. (Cic. pro Caec. 35: for the various explanations which have been given of this much disputed passage see Savigny, Vermischte Schriften, vol. 1. p. 18, &c. and Marquardt, Handbuch der Röm. Alterthiümer, vol. 3. p. 39--41.) But notwithstanding this, and the heavy calamity which it had previously suffered at his hands, it appears to have quickly revived, and is mentioned in B.C. 43 as one of the richest and most flourishing cities of Italy. (Appian, App. BC 4.3.) At that period its lands were portioned out among the soldiers of the Triumvirs: but Augustus afterwards atoned for this injustice by adorning it with many splendid public works, some of which are still extant: and though we hear but little of it during the Roman empire, its continued importance throughout that period, as well as its colonial rank, is attested by innumerable inscriptions. (Orell. Inscr. 80, 3049, 3174, &c.; Plin. Nat. 3.15. s. 20.) After the fall of the Western Empire it became one of the cities of the Pentapolis, which continued subject to the Exarchs of Ravenna until the invasion of the Lombards at the close of the 6th century.
Pliny tells us that Ariminum was situated between the two rivers ARIMINIUS and APRUSA. The former, at the mouth of which was situated the port of Ariminum (Strab. 5. p. 217) is now called the Marecchia, and flows under the walls of the town on the N. side. The Aprusa is probably the trifling stream now called Ausa, immediately S. of Rimini. In the new division of Italy under Augustus the limits of the 8th region (Gallia Cispadana) were extended as far as the Ariminus, but the city Ariminum seems to have been also included in it, though situated on the S. side of that river. (Plin. l. c.;Ptol. 3.1.22.) The modern city of Rimini still retains two striking monuments of its ancient grandeur. The first is the Roman bridge of five arches over the Ariminus by which the town is approached on the N.: this is built entirely of marble and in the best style of architecture: it was erected, as we learn from the inscription still remaining on it, by Augustus, but completed by Tiberius: and is still, both from its perfect preservation and the beauty of its construction, the most striking monument of its class which remains in Italy. On the opposite side of the town the gate leading to Pesaro is a triumphal arch, erected in honour of Augustus: it is built like the bridge, of white marble, of the Corinthian order, and in a very pure style of architecture, though partially disfigured by some later additions. (Eustace, Classical Tour, vol. i. pp. 281, 282; Rampoldi, Diz. Corogr. vol. 3. p. 594. The inscriptions are given by Muratori, p. 2006; and Orelli, 604.) A kind of pedestal in the centre of the town, with a spurious inscription, pretends to be the Suggestum from which Caesar harangued his troops at Ariminum, after the passage of the Rubicon.
The coins of Ariminum which bear the Latin legend ARIM belong to the period of the Roman colony.
[E.H.B]Now Rimini; a town in Umbria, at the mouth of the little river Ariminus. It was originally inhabited by Umbrians and Pelasgians, was afterwards in the possession of the Senones, and was colonized by the Romans in B.C. 268, from which time it appears as a flourishing place. After leaving Cisalpine Gaul, it was the first town on the eastern coast of Italy at which a person arrived in Italia proper.
On the Adriatic coast half way between Ancona and Ravenna and between the Ariminus (Marecchia) and the Aprusa (Ausa) rivers. According to Strabo it was first an Umbrian colony, then in 268 B.C. a Latin colony, recolonized under Augustus. In the 3d c. B.C. Ariminum, with Arretium, was a stronghold in the line of defense against the Gauls in the Padana plain. It was the terminal point of the Via Flaminia, and later also of the Via Aemilia and the Via Popilia, making the city a port of notable size at the mouth of the Ariminus. Ariminum followed the party of Marians, and as a consequence was damaged and depressed by the Sullans. The site was of great strategic importance in the 2d c. B.C., and later was Caesar's point of departure for the civil war. It was the temporary headquarters of Augustus during the Illyrian wars, and was later variously involved in the events of the 3d-4th c. A.D., and in the Gothic war at the time of Justinian. Ariminum was a component of the Adriatic pentarchy. It was the seat of a bishopric at least from the 4th c., and in A.D. 359 was also the seat of a council.
The principal monuments are an arch of Augustus, a bridge of Tiberius, and an amphitheater. At either side of the arch stretches of the walls remain and bases of towers contemporary with the first colonization, both in polygonal work of local stone. Of the new circuit wall constructed in the time of Sulla in opera quadrata, there remains the S gate with two arches, which has since been reconstructed in another position. Several funerary monuments found along the Via Flaminia complete the Republican remains at Ariminum, made more understandable today by the discovery of ceramic workshops contemporary with the first colonial city plan. The arch, which dates from 27 B.C., was substituted for the E gate, and is the monument commemorating the roadbuilding policies of Augustus. It is a single span framed by the Corinthian order in Classical style, and is the oldest preserved monument of this type. It bears four shields with images of divinities inspired by the ideology of the period after the battle of Actium. The bridge of Tiberius, from A.D. 14, is an imposing work with decoratibn and inscription which indicate its sacred nature. The amphitheater, probably Hadrianic, in the NE part of the city near the large ancient port, has a single row of arches. It was in rubble concrete revetted with brick, and with pilasters in the Tuscan order.
The city was orthogonal in plan except in the SE sector, but the outline of the walls was semicircular, conforming to the concavity of the land. The grid of streets is almost entirely preserved in the modern streets, with the forum at the intersection of the principal axes. In the Imperial age a block adjacent to the forum held the theater. The cardo led to the port and was originally the principal road of the city. Later, following the junction of the Via Flaminia with the Via Aemilia, the most heavily used artery became and remained the decumanus. The port was gradually moved as the course of the river changed with time, and as a consequence a second forum was built to the W in late antiquity in the area that became the center of life in the mediaeval period.
Excavations in the last ten years have documented the life and activity of the urban center during the first colonial age and have also brought to light an important phase of late antiquity. The latter is linked with a period of impressive rebuilding, especially in the private sector. Large homes contained polychrome mosaic pavements featuring geometric and figured designs of great variety and size, and showing a notable level of artistic achievement. The plans of private buildings from the late and middle Imperial age are also shown by recent excavation to be outstanding and complex. Evidence is scarce concerning the city's economic life, with the exception of the ceramic workshops located in the S and W suburbs and a private horreum mentioned in an inscription and perhaps located near the ancient port. The entrance to this is now buried and unrecognizable. A suburb beyond the Marecchia, and included within the mediaeval walls, is perhaps of ancient origin. Necropoleis have been recognized to the S and E, but little is known of them. In the E burial area the first Christian ecclesiastical building was constructed. The territory to the NW shows traces of a centuriation oriented secundum caelum, and considered to be very ancient. There were numerous inhabited centers in the territory around Ariminum, and from mediaeval documents it appears that the land was farmed throughout the entire ancient period.
BIBLIOGRAPHYTonini, Storia civile e sacra riminese, I-IV (1848); Aurigemma, Guida ai più notevoli monumenti romani e al Museo archeologico di Rimini (1934) MPI; G. A. Mansuelli, Ariminum (1941) MPI; id., “L'arco di Augusto a Rimini” Emilia Romana II (1944) 109-91; id., “Additamenta ariminensia,” Studi in onore di C. Lucchesi (1952) 113-28; id., “Il monumento augusteo del 27 a.C.,” Arte antica e moderna 8 (1959) 363-91; 11 (1960) 16-35; Arias, “Mosaico romano policromo di Rimini,” Studi in onore di C. Luechesi (1952) 1-10; Zuffa, “Nuove scoperte di archeologia e storia riminese,” Studi archeologici riminesi (Studi Romagnoli 13) (1964) 47-94MPI.
G. A. MANSUELLI