Cures, Sabinum
It was also renowned as the birthplace of Ancient Rome's second king Numa Pompilius. According to Livy, Numa Pompilius resided in Cures immediately prior to his election as king.
Its importance among the Sabines at an early period is indicated by the fact that its territory is often called simply ager Sabinus. At the beginning of the imperial period, it is spoken of as an unimportant place, but seems to have risen to greater prosperity in the 2nd century. Pliny notices the Curenses as one of the municipal towns of the Sabines; and numerous inscriptions of Imperial date speak of its magistrates, its municipal senate (ordo), etc., whence we may infer that it continued to be a tolerably flourishing town as late as the 4th century. In these inscriptions it is uniformly termed Cures Sabini, an epithet probably indicating the claim set up by the people to be the metropolis of the Sabines. It appears as the seat of a bishop in the 5th century, after the establishment of Christianity. The bishops assumed the title of Curium Sabinorum, and sometimes even that of Episcopus Sabinensis. The town seems to have been destroyed by the Lombards in 589 AD. An epistle of Pope Gregory I states that in 593 the site was already desolate.
The site consists of a hill with two summits, round the base of which runs the Fosso Corese: the western summit was occupied by the necropolis, the eastern by the citadel, and the lower ground between the two by the city itself. Excavations from 1874 up until 1877 revealed a temple, forum, baths, etc.
See also
Sources
- Thomas Ashby in Papers of the British School at Rome, iii. 34–35, 1906. (T. As.)
- public domain: Ashby, Thomas (1911). "Cures". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 637. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Cures". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.
References
- ^ Ashby 1911.
- ^ ii. 48.
- ^ Livy, Ab urbe condita, 1:18
- ^ Plin. iii. 12. s. 17; Orelli, Inscr. 107; Nibby, Dintorni, vol. i. pp. 532, 533.
- ^ Nibby, Dintorni, vol. i. pp. 532, 533.