Sulmo
- A town in the territory of the Peligni, near Corfinium, the birthplace of Ovid, now Sulmona: aquosus, Ov. Am. 3, 15, 11: gelidus, id. F. 4, 81; Sil. 9, 76; 8, 511; Ov. Tr. 4, 10, 3; Cic. Att. 8, 4, 3; 8, 12, A, 1; Flor. 3, 21, 28.—Hence,
- 1 Sulmōnensis, e, adj., of or belonging to Sulmo: ager, Plin. 17, 26, 41, § 250.—Plur.: Sulmōnenses, ĭum, m., the inhabitants of Sulmo, Caes. B. C. 1, 18, 1; Plin. 3, 12, 17, § 106.—Sing. fem., Juv. 6, 187 —*
- 2 Sul-montīnus, a, um, adj., of Sulmo: colonia, Front. Colon. p. 145 Goes.—
- II A town of the Volsci in Latium, Plin. 3, 5, 9, § 68; 34, 14, 41, § 145.—
- III The name of a hero, Verg. A. 9, 412; 10, 517.
SULMO(Sermoneta), an ancient city of Latium, mentioned only by Pliny (Plin. Nat. 3.5. s. 9) among those which were extinct in his time, and incidentally noticed by Virgil. ( Aen. 10.517.) It is in all probability the same place with the modern Sermoneta, which stands on a hill between Norba and Setia, looking over the Pontine Marshes.
[E.H.B]SULMO(Σουλμῶν: Eth. Sulmonensis: Sulmona), a city of the Peligni, situated in the valley of the Gizio, in a spacious basin formed by the junction of that river with several minor streams. There is no doubt that it was one of the principal cities of the Peligni, as an independent tribe, but no notice of it is found in history before the Roman conquest. A tradition alluded to by Ovid and Silius Italicus, which ascribed its foundation to Solymus, a Phrygian and one of the companions of Aeneas, is evidently a mere etymological fiction (Ovid, Ov. Fast. 4.79; Sil. Ital.--76.) The first mention of Sulmo occurs in the Second Punic War, when its territory was ravaged by Hannibal in B.C. 211, but without attacking the city itself. (Liv. 26.11.) Its name is not noticed during the Social War, in which the Peligni took so prominent a part; but according to Florus, it suffered severely in the subsequent civil war between Sulla and Marius, having been destroyed by the former as a punishment for its attachment to his rival. (Flor. 3.21.) The expressions of that rhetorical writer are not, however, to be construed literally, and it is more probable that Sulmo was confiscated and its lands assigned by Sulla to a body of his soldiers. (Zumpt, de Colon. p. 261.) At all events it is certain that Sulmo was a well-peopled and considerable town in B.C. 49, when it was occupied by Domitius with a garrison of seven cohorts; but the citizens, who were favourably affected to Caesar, opened their gates to his lieutenant Al. Antonius as soon as he appeared before the place. (Caes. B.C. 1.18; Cic. ad Att. 8.4, 12 a.) Nothing more is known historically of Sulmo, which, however, appears to have always continued to be a considerable provincial town. Ovid speaks of it as one of the three municipal towns whose districts composed the territory of the Peligni ( Peligni pars tertia ruris, Amor. 2.16. 1): and this is confirmed both by Pliny and the Liber Coloniarum; yet it does not seem to have ever been a large place, and Ovid himself designates it as a small provincial town. ( Amor. 3.15.) From the Liber Coloniarum we learn also that it had received a colony, probably in the time of Augustus (Plin. Nat. 3.12. s. 17; Lib. Colon.pp. 229, 260); though Pliny does not give it the title of a Colonia. Inscriptions, as well as the geographers and Itineraries, attest its continued existence as a municipal town throughout the Roman Empire. (Strab. 5. p. 241; Ptol. 3.1.64; Tab. Peut.;Orell. Inscr. 3856; Mommsen, Inscr. R. N. pp. 287--289.) The modern city of Sulmonaundoubtedly occupies the ancient site: it is a tolerably flourishing place and an episcopal see, having succeeded to that dignity after the fall of Valva, which had arisen on the ruins of Corfinium. (Romanelli, vol. iii. pp. 154--156.)
The chief celebrity of Sulmo is derived from its having been the birthplace of Ovid, who repeatedly alludes to it as such, and celebrates its salubrity, and the numerous streams of clear and perennial water in which its neighbourhood abounded. But, like the whole district of the Peligni, it was extremely cold in winter, whence Ovid himself, and Silius Italicus in imitation of him, calls it gelidus Sulmo(Ovid, Ov. Fast. 4.81, Trist. 4.10. 3, Amor. 2.16; Sil. Ital..) Its territory was fertile, both in corn and wine, and one district of it, the Pagus Fabianus, is particularly mentioned by Pliny (Plin. Nat. 17.26. s. 43) for the care bestowed on the irrigation of the vineyards.
The remains of the ancient city are of little interest as ruins, but indicate the existence of a considerable town; among them are the vestiges of an amphitheatre, a theatre, and thermae, all of them without the gates of the modern city. About 2 miles from thence, at the foot of the Monte Morrone, are some ruins of reticulated masonry, probably those of a Roman villa, which has been called, without the slightest reason or authority, that of Ovid. (Romanelli, vol. iii. pp. 159, 161; Craven's Abruzzi, vol. 2. p. 32.)
Sulmo was distant seven miles from Corfinium, as we learn both from the Tabula and from Caesar. (Caes. B.C. 1.18; Tab. Peut. ) Ovid tells us that it was 90 miles from Rome (Trist. 4.10. 4), a statement evidently meant to be precise. The actual distance by the highroad would be 94 miles; viz. 70 to Cerfennia, 17 from thence to Corfinium, and 7 from Corfinium to Sulmo. (D'Anville, Anal. Géogr. de l'Italie, pp. 175, 179.) There was, however, probably a branch road to Sulmo, after passing the Mons Imeus, avoiding the détourby Corfinium.
[E.H.B](1) Now Sulmona; a town of the Peligni in the country of the Sabines, celebrated as the birthplace of Ovid.
(2) Now Sermoneta; an ancient town of the Volsci in Latium, on the Ufens.
The city is situated near the S extremity of the territory inhabited by the Paeligni, on a plateau delimited by the rivers Gizio and the Vella, near their confluence. Together with Corfinium and Superaequum, Sulmo was one of the principal centers of the Paeligni population, maintaining its importance into the mediaeval period. No traces of the Paeligni settlement remain, but the conspicuous number of burials found in the area demonstrate that the population must have been distributed in numerous pagi of modest size. The first inhabited center at Sulmo must have been similar to these, but it must have become more important than the other settlements in the last centuries of the Republic because of its position on the road that led to Samnium. In the 1st c. B.C. after the social war, Sulmo was designated a municipium under the Roman state.
The plan of the ancient city is recognizable in the orthogonal arrangement of the network of medieaval streets at the center of the modern urban center. The urban area is almost square ca. 400 m to the side (Ovid, Am. 3.15.12: moenia quae campi iugera pauca tenent).
Outside the city on the slopes of Mt. Morrone, near the Abbey of S. Spirito, are the ruins of a large sanctuary built on terraces. Because of its massive bulk the building has always been partially visible, and the mediaeval tradition identified it with the poteche di Ovidio, linking it with the native poet. Excavations have revealed the religious character of the monument and its pertinence to the cult of Hercules Curinus. The complex is arranged on two artificial terraces oriented SW, but not precisely aligned. The upper terrace, which is earlier, is built against the rocky side of the mountain and is sustained by a mighty wall in polygonal work that is 4.25 m high. On the shelf-like area, built against the back wall, is a chapel in which votive gifts with inscribed bases have been found. In front of the entrance was a votive altar in bronze. The lower terrace, which is larger, is constructed of masonry and follows the architectural plan common in the sanctuaries of Latium in the 1st c. B.C. The front of the terrace, which is 13.7 m above ground level at its highest point, is supported by vaulted chambers; and the lower parts rest on a filled wall faced with alternating courses of opus incertum and opus reticulatum.
BIBLIOGRAPHYEAA 7 (1966) 555-57 (A. La Regina); id., Quaderni dell'Istituto di Topografia Antica dell'Università di Roma 2 (1966) 107-16; H. Blanck, AA (1970) 344-46; F. van Wonterghem, AntCl 42 (1973) 36-48; id., Documenti di Antichità Italiche e Romane, II (Soprintendenza alle Antichità degli Abruzzi, 1973); id., Forma Italiae (Paeligni).
In preparation. A. LA REGINA