Alba Longa

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Alba Longa (in Italian sources occasionally written Albalonga) was an ancient city of Latium, in the Alban Hills founder and head of the Latin Confederation; it was destroyed by Rome around the middle of the 7th century BC.

1 Legendary history
2 Kings of Alba Longa
3 Archaeological data and historical interpretation
4 The shrine of Jupiter Latiaris
5 External links
6 References

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Legendary history

According to legend Alba Longa was founded by Ascanius or Iulus, son of Aeneas, thirty years after the foundation of Lavinium. Chronologically this would have been around the middle of the 12th century BC, some time after the destruction of Troy (which according to ancient scholars occurred in 1184 BC).

From Ascanius there is said to have sprung a dynasty of Alban kings, among whom the better known are Procas and his sons Numitor and Amulius. The legitimate heir of Procas was Numitor; As Rome's power increased, the two cities fell into conflict, and finally under King Tullus Hostilius (around the middle of the 7th century BC), a war between them was settled by the famous combat of the Horatii and the Curiatii; Alba was destroyed, never to be rebuilt, and her inhabitants were transferred to Rome, where the Caelian hill was given to them.

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Kings of Alba Longa

According to the accounts of Dionysius of Halicarnassus, the Kings of Alba Longa were the following:

Ascanius. A son of Aeneas and Creusa. Reigned for 38 years.
Silvius. A son of Aeneas and Lavinia, younger half-brother of Ascanius. Reigned for 29 years.
Aeneas. A son of Silvius. Reigned for 31 years.
Latinus. Possibly a son of Aeneas. Reigned for 51 years.
Alba. Possibly a son of Latinus. Reigned for 39 years.
Capetus. Possibly a son of Alba. Reigned for 26 years.
Capys. Possibly a son of Capetus. Reigned for 28 years.
Capetus II. Possibly a son of Capys. Reigned for 13 years.
Tiberinus. Possibly a son of Capetus II. Reigned for 8 years. Reportedly slain in battle near an unnamed river and his body was carried away by it. The river was renamed Tiber.
Agrippa. Possibly a son of Tiberinus. Reigned for 41 years.
Allodius. Possibly a son of Agrippa. Reigned for 19 years. Reportedly a tyrant and contemptuous of the Gods. He frightened the people by throwing thunderbolts at them, until he himself was murdered by one and his house was submerged in the Alban Lake.
Aventinus. Possibly a son of Allocius. Reigned for 37 years. The Aventine Hill was reportedly named after him.
Procas. Possibly a son of Aventinus. Reigned for 23 years.
Amulius. A younger son of Procas who reportedly usurped the throne. Reigned for 42 years. Slain by his grand-nephews Romulus and Remus.
Numitor. The older brother of Amulius. Reportedly succeeded him a year before the foundation of Rome. His successor is not named.

According to Livy we know of two more kings of Alba Longa. Both reigned during to reign of the Roman king Tullus Hostilius. The first of these kings was Gaius Cluilius who died during a war against the Romans. He was succeded by Mettius Fufetius who was in turn executed by Tullus Hostilius for treachery.

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Archaeological data and historical interpretation

The location of the ancient Latin city has been much debated since the 16th century. The point of departure is the foundation story in Dionysius of Halicarnassus (I.66 ff.) which speaks of a site between Monte Cavo and the Alban Lake. The site has been at various times identified with the convent of S. Paolo at Palazzola, near Albano, or with Coste Caselle, near Marino, or finally with Castel Gandolfo. The last of these places in fact occupies the site of Domitian's villa, which ancient sources state in turn occupied the arx of Alba.

Archaeological data available for the Iron Age show the existence of a string of villages, each one with its own necropolis, along the south-western shore of the Alban Lake. When Rome destroyed these villages they must have still been in a pre-urban phase, starting to group around a centre that may well have been Castel Gandolfo, since the necropolis there is significantly larger, suggesting a larger town.

In the later republican period the territory of Alba (the Ager Albanus) was settled once again with many residential villas, which are mentioned in ancient literature and of which remains are extant.

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The shrine of Jupiter Latiaris

On the top of the Alban Mount was a very ancient shrine consecrated to Jupiter Latiaris. Florus (2nd century) states that the site was selected by Ascanius, who, having founded Alba, invited all the Latins to celebrate sacrifices there to Jupiter, a custom which eventually led to the annual celebration there of the Feriae Latinae, at which all the cities that belonged to the Latin Confederation would gather under the aegis of Alba, sacrificing a white bull, the flesh of which was distributed among all the participants.

After Alba Longa was destroyed and her leadership role was assumed by Rome, tradition records the building of a full-scale temple to Jupiter Latiaris on the Alban Mount in the reign of Tarquinius Superbus; of which only a few courses of perimeter wall remain today, now removed off site; and substantial remains of the paved road that connected it to the Via Appia near Aricia.

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