Verulae
- a town of Latium, now Veroli, Flor. 1, 11, 6.
- —Hence, Verŭ-lānus, a, um, adj., of Verulae, Liv. 9, 42; 9, 43.—Verŭlāni, ōrum, m., the inhabitants of Verulae, Plin. 3, 5, 9, § 64.
VERULAE (Eth. Verulanus: Veroli), a city of the Hernici, but included in Latium in the more extensive sense of that name, situated in the Apennines N. of the valley of the Sacco, between Alatrium and the valley of the Liris. It was apparently one of the chief cities of the Hernici, and was certainly a member of the Hernican League: but its name is not mentioned separately in history till the final war of that people with Rome, in B.C. 306. On that occasion the citizens of Verulae, together with those of Alatrium and Ferentinum, took part against the Anagnians, and refused to join in the hostilities against Rome. For this reason they were rewarded after the termination of the war by being left in possession of their own laws and magistrates, which they preferred to receiving the Roman civitas.( Liv. 9.42, 43.) The period at which they ultimately became Roman citizens is uncertain. Florus vaguely asserts that a triumph had been celebrated over the people of Verulae (Flor. 1.11.6), but this is probably a mere rhetorical flourish: there is no occasion known in history to which it can be referred. Under the Roman dominion Verulae became a quiet and somewhat obscure country town. According to the Liber Coloniarum it received a body of colonists in the time of the Gracchi, and again under the reign of Nerva. But it is probable that it always retained its municipal rank. It is mentioned by Pliny among the municipal towns of the Fifth Region (Plin. Nat. 3.5. s. 9), but is not again noticed in history. Its secluded position probably rendered it a place of small importance. The ancient site is still occupied by the modern town of Veroli, which retains also some portions of the ancient walls in the polygonal or Cyclopean style. (Westphal, Röm. Kamp. p. 87; Abeken, Mittel-Italien, p. 147.)
[E.H.B]Now Verdi; a town of the Hernici in Latium, southeast of Aletrium, and north of Frusino, subsequently a Roman colony.
A city in the foothills S of the Ernici Mountains in the chain of ancient centers that dominated the valleys of the Sacco and the Liri rivers, an important military and commercial access route since the pre-Roman age. When in 307-306 B.C. the Hernici declared war on Rome (Livy 9.42.11), Veroli, like Alatri and Ferentino, did not participate in the revolt. To that time dates the construction of the walls in polygonal work of the second type. A long stretch is preserved near the N side of the upper city. The wall, in which opens a beautiful architraved postern was modified at various times in the Roman period (in Lib. Colon. 239L: Verulae oppidum muro ductum). Among the finds are fragments of the Fasti (called Verulani) which refer to the months January to March. No particularly representative monument has been noted in the interior of the city. The walled center was placed on the slopes of a hill for strategic reasons and several terrace walls in polygonal work are preserved on which urban buildings must have been erected. They are found under the municipal building, in Vicolo Paolini, and in other locations. A passage more than .30 m long has been discovered under the Cathedral and the Piazza Duomo. It has a vaulted covering and walls in coarse opus incertum, and was perhaps a cistern.
BIBLIOGRAPHYC. Scaccia Scarafoni in NSc (1923) 194ff; id., Una inedita costruzione a volta . . . in Veroli (1961); G. Radke, “Verulae,” RE VIIIA,2 (1935) 1688ff; G. Lugli, “Un'antica costruzione sotto la Piazza del Duomo a Veroli,” Studi Romani 10 (1962) 1, p. 50ff.
P. SOMMELLA