Caesena
- a town in Gallia Cispadana, now Cesena, Cic. Fam. 16, 27, 2, Plin. 3, 15, 20, § 116.
- —Hence, Caesēnas, ātis, adj., of Caesena: vina, Plin. 14, 6, 8, § 67.
CAESE´NA (Καίσηνα, Strab.; Καίσαινα, Ptol.: Eth. Caesenas, atis: Cesena), a considerable town of Gallia Cispadana, situated on the Via Aemilia, 20 miles from Ariminum, and on the right bank of the small river Sapis (Savio). (Strab. 5. p. 216; Plin. Nat. 3.1. 5. s. 20; Ptol. 3.1.46; Itin. Ant. pp. 100, 126.) An incidental mention of its name in Cicero (ad Fam. 16.27) is the only notice of it that occurs in history until a very late period; but after the fall of the Western Empire it is frequently mentioned as a strong fortress, and plays no unimportant part in the wars of the Goths with the generals of Justinian. (Procop. B. G. i. l, 2.11, 19, 29, 3.6.) It appears, however, to have been a flourishing municipal town under the Roman empire, and was noted for the excellence of its wines, which were among the most highly esteemed that were produced in Northern Italy; a reputation which they still retain at the present day. (Plin. Nat. 14.6.) It is distinguished in the Itin. Ant. (p. 286) by the epithet Curva,b ut the origin of this is unknown. The modern city of Cesena is a considerable place, with a population of 15,000 inhabitants.
[E.H.B]A Roman municipium ca. 19 km from Forlì and on the Via Aemilia not far from its intersection with the road that leads through the Valley of the Savio to Ravenna. The centuriation of the territory has the same orientation as that of the colony of Ariminum. The origin of the place name is pre-Roman. There is no important mention of the site in the sources during Republican or Imperial times. The city did play a part in the Gothic war at the time of Justinian. It was the seat of a bishopric, but probably not until the middle of the 6th c. A.D.
The epithet of a curve that accompanies the name of the city in the Antonine Itinerary is explained by the spur of the Garampo hill and by the route of that section of the Via Aemilia that follows the slopes of the hill to reach the ancient bridge over the Savio. The rest of the topography of the city is unknown; and it is only a hypothesis that its location was on the hill. The few remains that have been found were discovered in the level zone at the foot of the Garampo. They include strata containing ceramics of Republican age and two mosaic pavements belonging to a building of the 3d c. A.D. Inscriptions mention measures taken in favor of Caesena by Hadrian and Aurelian, baths, and cult centers.
BIBLIOGRAPHYG. A. Mansuelli, Caesena, Forum Popili, Forum Livi (1949) MPI; Solari, “Curva Caesena,” Boll.Comm.Arch.Com. Roma (1928) 138; G. C. Susini, “La liberalitas di Adriano a Cesena,” Atti e Mem. Deputazione di Storia patria per le Romagne 10 (1958-59) 281; Cesena, il Museo storico dell'antichità (1969).
G. A. MANSUELLI