Empulum

E´MPULUM (Ampiglione), a small town of Latium, a dependency of Tibur, which was taken in B.C.355 by the Roman consuls. (Liv. 7.18.) This is the only mention of its name, and we have no clue to its position; but the resemblance of name has induced Gell and Nibby to regard the remains of an ancient town visible at a place called Ampiglione (about 5 miles E. of Tivoli, on the road to Siciliano), as those of Empulum. Considerable portions of the walls remain, constructed of polygonal blocks of tufo--the only instance of the employment of that material in this style of construction; but they are not of a massive character, and are intermixed with portions of reticulated and other masonry, decidedly of the Roman period. The site was probably used in later times as that of a Roman villa. (Gell, Top. of Rome, pp. 199-201; Nibby, Dintorni, vol. ii. pp. 10, 11.)