Iulium Carnicum
A Roman settlement, probably part of the defense of Cisalpine Gaul following the attack of the Giapidi in 52 B.C. It was built on an indigenous center as a vicus dependent on Aquileia. Under Augustus it was granted autonomy; as a municipium it controlled a large amount of territory on the road that led from Aquileia to Aguntum in Noricum. It was designated a colonia, perhaps in the second half of the 1st c. A.D., at the same time Aquileia received that designation.
Nothing is known of the site during the barbaric invasions nor of its destruction. The first documented destruction, of a building to the N of the bath building, is datable to the end of the 4th c. or perhaps in connection with the descent of Alaric in 401-408. A little later the center in the valley was abandoned and the inhabitants took refuge on the hill of San Pietro. The Bishopric of Juliensis, founded at the end of the 4th c., was absorbed in the 8th c. by the diocese of Aquileia.
Numerous inscriptions document the life of the center. We know the names of magistri vici, duoviri jure dicundo, decuriones, a quaestor, and a curator reipublicae. Inscriptions of divinities also occur, including Jove, Mithra, Fortuna, Silvanus, Hercules, and Beleno.
As the result of excavations, the remains of a number of monuments have come to light. The forum (40 x 85 m) was constructed on an existing pre-Roman quarter. It had a portico around the entire interior. In the center there was the temple, probably faced with marble, of which only the podium remains. It was tetrastyle with three columns on the sides, built according to Vitruvian rules and proportions. The temple, of the 1st c. A.D., was probably a Capitolium, and not a temple dedicated to the Carnican God Beleno, as might be inferred from a Republican inscription of unknown provenance that records the rebuilding of a temple at the instigation of several magistri vici. There is a rectangular hall at the S end of the forum, opposite of the temple. It is divided into two naves by a series of eight columns, and it probably had a second story. This building may have been a law court; it has parallels at Cividale, Aquileia, and Rome. Numerous architectural fragments, inscriptions, and particularly a portrait considered to be a work from the age of Trajan, date this building to the 1st c. A.D.
The bath complex is notable for its large swimming pool. There are remains of a Temple to Hercules, an aqueduct, sewers, and private houses with mosaics and provision for heating. The cemetery basilica, typically Early Christian in plan, had a fine mosaic pavement. On the E side were two service rooms. Similarities are evident between this Early Christian basilica and the buildings constructed under Theodoric and slightly later at Aquileia, as well as with Christian architecture in Noncum. Recently the apse possibly of another basilica has come to light. Both would probably date to the 4th or 5th c.
BIBLIOGRAPHYC. G. Mor, “Recenti scavi nei due Fori Giuli Friulani,” Atti V Congr. naz. Studi Romani II (1940) 23ff; S. Stucchi, “Il ritratto romano di Costantino del Museo di Cividale,” Studi goriziani 13 (1950) 45ff; G. Daltrop, Die stadtrömischen männlichen Privatbildnisse, traianischer und hadrianischer Zeit (1958); L. Bertacchi, “Il Foro romano di Zuglio,” Aquileia nosta 30 (1959) 50-58; EAA 7 (1966) coll. 1290-91 (L. Beschi); CIL V, 172-78.
L. BERTACCHI