Faventia
- a city of Gallia Cisalpina, which produced excellent linen cloth, now Faënza, Varr. R. R. 1, 2, 7; Liv. Epit. 88; Vell. 2, 28, 1; Sil. 8, 598.—
- II Deriv.
- A Făventīnus, a, um, adj., of or belonging to Faventia, Faventine: ager, Varr. R. R. 1, 2, 7; Col. 3, 3, 2: lina, Plin. 19, 1, 2, § 9.—
- B Făventīni, ōrum, m., the inhabitants of Faventia, Plin. 3, 15, 20, § 116.
FAVE´NTIA(Φαουεντία, Ptol.; Φαβεντία, Steph. B.: Eth. Faventinus: Faenza), a city of Gallia Cispadana, situated on the Via Aemilia, 10 miles from Forum Cornelii ( Imola), and the same distance from Forum Livii ( Forli). (Plin. Nat. 3.15. s. 20; Strab. 5. p.217; Ptol. 3.1.46; Itin. Ant. pp. 126, 287.) It is noted in history as the place where Carbo and Norbanus were defeated with great loss by Metellus, the general of Sulla, in B.C. 82. (Appian, App. BC 1.91; Vellei. 2.28; Liv. Epit. lxxxviii.) With this exception, we find little notice of it in history; but it appears to have been, under the Roman empire, a municipal town of some consideration, and, in common with many of the other cities on the Via Aemilia, continued to retain its prosperity down to a late period. (Plin. Nat. 7.49. s. 50; Spartian. Hadr. 7; Capit. Ver. 1; Procop. B. G. 3.3; Itin. Hier. p. 616.) Its territory was peculiarly favourable to vines, and, according to Varro, exceeded all other districts in Italy in the quantity of wine produced. (Varr. R. R. 1.2.7; Colum. 3.3.2.) Silius Italicus, on the other hand, speaks of it as crowned with pines (8.598). In the time of Pliny, Faventia was celebrated for its manufactures of linen, which was considered to surpass all others in whiteness. (Plin. Nat. 19.1. s. 2.) We learn from the Itineraries that a cross road led from hence across the Apennines direct to Florentia in the valley of the Arnus, a distance of 70 miles. ( Itin. Ant. p. 283.) The intermediate stations are unknown, but the road must evidently have ascended the valley of the Lamone(the Anemo of Pliny), which flows under the walls of Faenza.
[E.H.B]Now Faenza; a town in Gallia Cisalpina, on the river Anemo and the Via Aemilia. It was celebrated for its manufacture of linens (Pliny , Pliny H. N. xix. 1).
A Roman city on the Via Aemilia near the Lamone river, and ca. 29 km SW of Ravenna. It was founded in the course of Roman settlement of the region in the Late Republican period. The city was involved in the events of the civil war at the time of Sulla. It had a certain economic importance as the center of an agricultural area that produced linen and wine; and also as a crossroads. Faventia was a rather early diocesan center.
The city had an orthogonal plan, still largely conserved; and an earlier circuit wall of limited extent in opera quadrata. The city developed outside the wall in the Imperial period, including also several irregular traces of a suburb. The orientation is the same as that of the centuriation axial on the Via Aemilia. Even though no buildings of any importance remain, Faventia is one of the best documented cities of the region. BIBLIOGRAPHY. Medri, Faenza romana (1947); Monti, “Archeologia faentina,” Studi faentini in memoria di G. Rossini (Soc. di Studi romagnoli, 1966) 67-174MPI.
G. A. MANSUELLI