Mediolanum
- A city in Gallia Cisalpina, the capital of the Insubres, the mod. Milan. Form Mediolanum, Plin. 3, 17, 21, § 124; Just. 29, 5, 8; Tac. H. 1, 70; Aus. de Clar. Urb. 4, 1. Form Mediolanium, Liv. 5, 34, 9; 34, 46, 1; Suet. Aug. 20.—Hence,
- B Mĕdĭōlā-nensis, e, adj., of or belonging to Milan, Milanese: (ager), Varr. R. R. 1, 8: praeco, Cic. Pis. 26, 62.—In plur.: Mĕdĭōlānen-ses, ĭum, m., the Milanese, Varr. R. R. 1, 8, 2. —
- II The chief city of the Santoni in Gaul, on the river Carantonus, now Saintes, Amm.15, 11, 12; Itin. Anton. p. 459, 3.
MEDIOLA´NUMa Gallic name of towns which occurs in Gallia, North Italy, and Britain.
1.Mediolanum is placed in the Table between Forum Segustavarum ( Feurs) and Rodumna ( Rouanne). As to D'Anville's remarks on the position of Mediolanum, see FORUM SEGUSIANORUMThis Mediolanum is supposed to have been a town of the Transalpine INSUBRESand so it is generally marked in our maps; but the existence of these Transalpine Insubres is hardly established. [GALLIA CISALPINAVol. 1. p. 936.]
2.The Table places Mediolanum between Argentomagus ( Argenton) and Aquae Nerae ( Néris). The figures which have been generally considered to belong to this road, belong to another, and so we have no distances in the Table for this place. Mediolanum seems to be Château Meillan, south of Avaricum ( Bourges). A milestone found at Alichampbetween Bourgesand Château Meillan, makes the distance from Avaricum to Mediolanum to be 39 M. P., which is not far from the truth. (Walckenaer, Géog. &c. vol. 1. p. 67.)
3.The Antonine Itin. places a Mediolanum on a road from Colonia Trajana ( Kelln) to Colonia Agrippina ( Cologne), and 12 M. P. from Colonia Trajana. If Colonia Trajana is rightly placed, it is difficult to see where Mediolanum should be. The next position to Mediolanum on the road to Cologneis Sablones; which is also uncertain.
4.Mediolanum was the chief town of the Aulerci Eburovices (Ptol. 2.8.11), or Mediolanium, as it is in Ptolemy's text. The name occurs in the Antonine Itin. and in the Table. In the Notitia of the Gallic provinces it is named Civitas Ebroicorum; and in the middle ages it was called Ebroas, whence the modern name Evreux, a town in the French department of Eure.
Ammianus Marcellinus (Ammian. 15.11) mentions Mediolanum as one of the chief cities of Secunda Lugdunensis. There was a Roman town a few miles south-east of Evreux, at a place called Vieil Evreux. There are the remains of a large theatre here, the foundations of a building which is supposed to have been a temple, and remains of baths. A great number of amphorae, household utensils, articles of luxury, and imperial medals have been dug up here, and deposited in the Museum of Evreux. This Vieil Evreuxmay be the site of Mediolanum.
5.Mediolanum was the chief town of the Santones or Santoni, now Saintes, in the French department of Charente Inférieure. Strabo (4. p. 190) writes the name Mediolanium, and also Ptolemy (Ptol. 2.7.7). Marcellinus (15.11) speaks of this place under the name of Santones, from which it appears that in his time the name of the people had, as in many instances, been transferred to the town. There is no doubt about the site of this Mediolanum, which is Sainteson the Charente. It was once a considerable Roman town. There is an arch in honour of Germanicus Caesar, which appears to be built on the middle of the bridge over the Charente, which joins the town to the faubourg, but the arch rests on the bed of the river, and the bridge has been built to it from each bank. The most probable explanation of this singular circumstance is that the arch stood originally on one bank of the river, and that the river changed its course. The bridge, of course, must have been built after this supposed change. The amphitheatre is outside of the town, at the bottom of a valley. It is an ellipse, about 436 feet long and about 354 feet wide. Water was brought to the town from a source several miles to the north by an aqueduct, of which there are still some remains. In one of the valleys which it crossed there are traces of 25 arches, of which three are standing. One of them is nearly 50 feet high. [G.L]
MEDIOLA´NUM(Μεδιόλανον, Pol.; Μεδιολάνιον, Strab., Ptol.: Eth. Mediolanensis: Milano, Milan), the chief city of the Insubres in Cisalpine Gaul, and for a long period the capital of Cisalpine Gaul itself. It was situated about midway between the rivers Ticinus and Addua, in a broad and fertile plain, about 28 miles from the foot of the Alps at Comum, and the same distance from the Padus near Ticinum ( Pavia). All ancient writers concur in ascribing its foundation to the Gauls, at the time when that people first established themselves in the plains of Northern Italy. Livy, who has given the most detailed account of the settlement of the Cisalpine Gauls, tells us it was founded by the Insubres, who called it after a village of the same name in their native settlements in Transalpine Gaul (Liv. 5.34; Strab. 5. p. 213; Plin. Nat. 3.17. s. 21; Justin. 20.5.) There can be little doubt that Strabo is correct in saying that, previous to the Roman conquest, it was rather a village than a town, as were indeed all the other Gaulish settlements. It was nevertheless the chief place of the Insubres, and is mentioned as such several times in the history of the wars of that people with the Romans. Thus, in the campaign of B.C. 222, after the battle of Clastidium, it was attacked and taken by the Roman consuls Claudius Marcellus and Cn. Scipio. (Plb. 2.34; Eutrop. 3.6; Oros. 4.13.) On this occasion it was taken by assault with apparently but little difficulty, and this confirms the statement of Strabo that it was an open town. Again, in B.C. 194, a battle was fought near it, between the Roman proconsul L. Valerius Flaccus and the combined forces of the Insubrians and Boians, under a chief named Dorylacus, in which the Gauls are said to have lost 10,000 men. (Liv. 34.46.)
No other mention of Mediolanum occurs previous to the Roman conquest, nor have we any precise account of the time at which it passed under the Roman yoke, or that at which it was admitted to the Roman civitas.We can only infer that it must have submitted, together with the rest of the Insubres, about 190 B.C.: its citizens doubtless received the Latin franchise, together with the other Transpadane Gauls, in B.C. 89, and the full Roman franchise in B.C. 49. [GALLIA CISALPINAVol. 1. p. 945.] Mediolanum thus passed into the condition of a Roman municipium, but it did not as yet enjoy that degree of importance which it subsequently attained. Strabo calls it in his time a considerable city (Πόλις ἀξιόλογος, 5. p. 213), and Tacitus reckons it among the firmissima Transpadanae regionis municipia;but neither he nor Pliny give any indication of its possessing any marked superiority over the other municipal towns with which they associate its name. (Plin. iii, 17. s. 21; Ptol. 3.1.33; Tac. Hist. 1.70.) It is evident, however, that under the Roman Empire it increased rapidly in prosperity, and became not only the chief town of the Insubres, but the most important city in Northern Italy. We learn from the younger Pliny that it was a place where literature flourished, and young men from the neighbouring towns were sent for their education. (Plin Ep. 4.13.) It was the native place of the emperor Didius Julianus, as well as of Septimius Geta. (Dio Cass.; Spartian. Did. Jul. 1, Get. 3.) At a later period, A.D. 268, it was there that the usurper Aureolus took refuge after his defeat by Gallienus on the Addua, and was for some time besieged by the emperor, till a sedition in his own camp ended in the death of Gallienus, and his brother Valerianus. (Eutrop. 9.11; Treb. Poll. Gall. 14 ; Vict. Caes. 33, Epit. 33.) Shortly after Aureolus was compelled to surrender the city to Claudius, who had been elected to succeed Gallienus, and was put to death by order of the new emperor. (Treb. Poll. Claud. 5.)
But it was the establishment of the imperial residence at Mediolanum that raised that city to the highest pitch of prosperity. Its central position, which rendered it a peculiarly suitable head-quarters from which to watch the movements of the barbarians, and the progress of the wars with them, whether in Gaul, Germany, or Pannonia, was undoubtedly the cause of its selection for this purpose. Augustus himself is said to have sometimes repaired to Mediolanum with the same view (Suet. Aug. 20); and the constantly increasing dangers from these quarters led subsequent emperors from time to time to follow his example; but Maximian appears to have been the first of the Roman emperors who permanently fixed his residence there (about A.D. 303) and thus at once raised it to the dignity of the capital of Northern Italy. From this period the emperors of the West made it their habitual abode (Eutrop. 9.27; Zosim. 2.10, 17, &c.), until the increasing fear of the barbarians induced Honorius, in A.D. 404, to take refuge in the inaccessible marshes of Ravenna. Maximian is said to have adorned the city with many splendid public buildings (Vict. Caes. 39); and it was doubtless at this period that it rose to the splendour and magnificence which, about the middle of the fourth century, excited the admiration of the poet Ausonius, who assigns it the sixth place among the cities of the empire. The houses are described by him as numerous and elegantly built, corresponding to the cultivated manners and cheerful character of the inhabitants. It was surrounded with a double range of walls, enclosing an ample space for the buildings of the city. Among these were conspicuous a circus, a theatre, many temples, the palace or residence of the emperor, a mint; and baths, which bore the name of Herculean, in honour of their founder Maximianus, and were so important as to give name to a whole quarter of the city. The numerous porticoes which were attached to these and other public buildings were adorned with marble statues ; and the whole aspect of the city, if we may believe the poet, did not suffer by comparison with Rome. (Auson. Clar. Urb. 5.)
The transference of the imperial court and residence to Ravenna must have given a considerable shock to the prosperity of Mediolanum, though it continued to be still regarded as the capital of Liguria (as Gallia Transpadana was now called), and was the residence of the Consularis or Vicarius Italiae, to whose jurisdiction the whole of Northern Italy was subject. ( Libell. Provinc. p. 62; Böcking, ad Not. Dign. 2. p. 442.) But a much more severe blow was inflicted on the city in A.D. 452, when it was taken and plundered by Attila, who after the fall of Aquileia carried his arms, almost without opposition, through the whole region N. of the Po. (Jornand. Get. 42; Hist. Miscell. 15. p. 549.) Notwithstanding this disaster, Mediolanum seems to have retained much of its former importance. It was still regarded as the metropolis of Northern Italy, and after the fall of the Western Empire, in A.D. 476, became the royal residence of the Gothic kings Odoacer and Theodoric. Procopius indeed speaks of it in the sixth century as surpassing all the other cities of the West in size and population, and inferior to Rome alone. (Procop. B. G. 2.8.) It was recovered with little difficulty by Belisarius, but immediately besieged by the Goths under Uraia, the brother of Vitiges, who, after a long siege, made himself again master of the city (A.D. 539), which he is said to have utterly destroyed, putting all the male inhabitants, to the number of 300,000, to the sword, and reducing the women to slavery. (Id. ib. 21.) It is evident, however, that the expressions of Procopius on this occasion must be greatly exaggerated, for, at the time of the invasion of the Lombards under Alboin (A.D. 568), Mediolanum already reappears in little less than its former importance. It was still the acknowledged capital of Liguria (P. Diac. Hist. Lang. 2.15, 25); and, as the metropolitan see, appears to have retained this dignity under the Lombard kings, though those monarchs transferred their royal residence to Ticinum or Pavia. In the middle ages it rapidly rose again to prosperity; and, though a second time destroyed by the emperor Frederic Barbarossa in 1162, quickly recovered, and has continued down to the present day to be one of the most important and flourishing cities of Italy.
The position of Milan, almost in the centre of the great plain of Northern Italy, just about midway between the Alps and the Padus, appears to have marked it in all ages as the natural capital of that extensive and fertile region. Its ready communications with the Ticinus on the one side, and the Addua on the other, in great measure supply the want which would otherwise have arisen from its not being situated on a navigable river; and the fertile plain between these two rivers is watered by the minor but still considerable streams of the Lambroand Olona. The latter, which is not noticed by any ancient writer, flows under the walls of Milan. The modern city contains few vestiges of its ancient splendour. Of all the public buildings which excited the admiration of Ausonius (see above), the only remains are the columns of a portico, 16 in number, and of the Corinthian order, now attached to the church of S. Lorenzo, and supposed, with some probability, to have been originally connected with the Thermae or baths erected by the emperor Maximian. A single antique column, now standing in front of the ancient basilica of Sant‘ Ambrogio, has been removed from some other site, and does not indicate the existence of an ancient building on the spot, Numerous inscriptions have, however, been discovered, and are still preserved in the museum at Milan. These fully confirm the municipal importance of Mediolanum under the early Roman Empire; while from one of them we learn the fact that the city, notwithstanding its flourishing condition, received a colony under Hadrian, and assumed, in honour of that emperor, the titles of Colonia Aelia Augusta. (Orell. Inscr. 1702, 1909, 3942, 4000, 4060, &c.; Zumpt, de Colon. p. 409.)
Mediolanum was the central point from which all the highroads of Italy N. of the Padus may be considered as radiating. The first and principal of these was that which led by Laus Pompeia to Placentia, where it joined the Via Aemilia, and thus became the direct line of route from Milan to Ravenna and Rome. Another main line was that by Novaria and Vercellae to Eporedia and Augusta Praetoria, which must have been the principal line of communication between Milan and Transalpine Gaul. A third road led in a southerly direction to Ticinum ( Pavia), from which there were two lines; the one proceeding by Laumellum to Augusta Taurinorum, and thence over the Cottian Alps into the southern provinces of Gaul; the other crossing the Padus to Dertona, and thence across the Apennines to Genoa. A fourth line was that to Comum, from whence there was a much frequented pass by the Lacus Larius, and across the Rhaetian Alps into the valley of the Inn, thus opening a direct and speedy communication with the Danube. Lastly, a great line of highway led from Milan to Aquileia, passing through Bergomum, Brixia, Verona, Vicentia, Patavium, Altinum, and Concordia. The details of all these routes are given in the Antonine Itinerary and the Tabula Peutingeriana.
[E.H.B]MEDIOLA´NUM(Itin. Ant.; Μεδιολάνιον, Ptol. 2.3.18), a town of the Ordovices in Britain. It occurs in the Itin. Ant., between Deva ( Chester), and Uriconium ( Wroxeter), two towns, the sites of which are well authenticated; and in the tenth Itin. it forms the terminus of a route from Glanoventa.
[C.R.S]MEDIOLA´NUM(Μεδιολάνιον, Ptol. 2.11.28), a town in the north-west of Germany, mentioned only by Ptolemy; its site must in all probability be identified with the modern Meteln, on the river Vecht. As the name Mediolanum is found only in countries inhabited by Celts, it has been supposed that Ptolemy is wrong, and that he by mistake placed this town on the right bank of the Rhine; but there is no good reason for doubting that the country about the Vechtwas at one time occupied by a Celtic people.
[L.S](Μεδιολάνιον). (1) The modern Milan; the capital of the Insubres in Gallia Transpadana. It was taken by the Romans B.C. 222, and afterwards became both a municipium and a colony. From the time of Diocletian till its capture by Attila it was the usual residence of the emperors of the West. It is celebrated in ecclesiastical history as the see of St. Ambrose. When the Western Empire fell it became the residence of Theodoric the Great and the capital of the Ostrogothic kingdom. At one time it surpassed Rome in population. It was taken and partly destroyed by the Goth Vitiges in A.D. 539.
(2) The modern Saintes; a town of the Santones in Aquitania, northeast of the mouth of the Garumna; subsequently called Santones after the people, whence its modern name.
(3) The modern Evreux, a town of the Aulerci Eburovices in the northern part of Gallia Lugdunensis. It was subsequently called Civitas Ebroicorum, whence came its present name.
Situated 20 km W of Dijon, in the civitas of the Lingones. On the boundary of the present-day villages of Ancey and Malain, near the River Ouche, were found some carved blocks from the city. One of them bears a dedication to Litavis and Cicoluis. Recent excavations have uncovered a fanum consisting of a square temple with a gallery surrounding it and an adjacent courtyard, outside the settlement. We now have evidence of the latter in a large block of houses, regular in plan, arranged on two levels on a slope. The lower level comprises some stone cellars, which are remarkably well preserved. On the upper level is a large room opening on a portico, which had a religious purpose, at least at a certain point in its history. The buildings, of Roman type, are superimposed on thick strata corresponding to structures with wooden posts, built in the Celtic style, which the Roman ones succeeded in the Claudian period. Occupation of the site in the valley may not have taken place until the Roman Conquest; future excavations may show whether, as it appears, a hill settlement on the nearby Butte de Mesmont was moved to a more favorable site, then occupied once more in the early Middle Ages.
BIBLIOGRAPHYRoussel, “Fanum des ‘Froidefonds’ sur le site de Mediolanum (Malain),” Rev. Arch. de l'Est 20 (1969) 179-91; id., “Fouilles de Malain, lieu-dit ‘La Boussière,’ parcelle 22,” ibid. 22 (1972) 127-54.
C. ROLLEYA Ligurian and then a Celtic center at the junction of important prehistoric roads from the plains and from the Alps. In the age of Caesar the center had a strong circuit wall in stone and brick, which was enlarged by Maximianus at the end of the 3d c. when the city became the Western Roman capital. The city had a circus, a mint, a horreum, and an imperial mausoleum, octagonal and fortified. The older city covered an area of ca. 9 ha which later increased to 15 ha. In addition to the monuments already mentioned there are remains of a theater, from the Augustan age; an amphitheater, the only one in Lombardy; from the age of Maximianus a 24-sided tower and the Baths of Hercules; and 16 large columns of a temple of the 2d c. A.D. There are also remains of a number of basilicas from the age of St. Ambrosius, who lived at the end of the 4th c. A.D. They include San Simpliciano, San Nazaro, the octagonal baptistery, the memorial chapel of San Vittore and, from the first half of the 5th c., the basilica of San Lorenzo with a symmetrical plan.
The imperial presence favored the development of the applied arts. Outstanding examples of craftsmanship include ivories such as the casket of Brescia and the diptych of Monza, works in silver such as the patera of Parabiago and the reliquary of San Nazaro, and sarcophagi such as that in Sant'Ambrogio and that of Cervia Abundantia. A few sculptures in marble have survived, such as a torso of Hercules of the Farnese type and a draped statue. Only a few Early Christian mosaics have survived, including those in San Vittore in ciel d'oro and in San Lorenzo. Many mosaic pavements are in the Civic Archaeological Museum.
BIBLIOGRAPHYA. Calderini in Storia di Milano, I (1953); M. Mirabella Roberti, Milano romana e paleocristiana (1972).
M. MIRABELLA ROBERTISite of a Roman town known from both the Antonine Itinerary and the Ravenna Cosmography although confirmation of its location at Whitchurch awaited excavations in 1965-66. These demonstrated that the line of the present High Street marked the line of the Roman road from Wroxeter to Chester and formed the axis of the Roman settlement. The various phases may be summarized.
1) Initial occupation in the form of timber buildings probably predating A.D. 75 and associated with the period of legionary occupation at Wroxeter, which ended in deliberate dismantling. 2) Flavian auxiliary fort from ca. A.D. 75 on, identified by discovery of the W defenses. Demolished shortly after A.D. 100. 3) Gradual development of the site as a civilian settlement. By the mid-2d c. much of the excavated area was covered by timber buildings, many of an industrial character. 4) The town's prosperity reached its height in the 3d c. when substantial stone structures testify to the expansion of the town area. 5) By the later 4th c. the site was in decline. Settlement appears to have contracted along the line of the present High Street and recognizable urban life does not appear to have survived the end of the century. The area of Sedgeford S of the town marks the site of a 1st and 2d c. cemetery. A skeleton of a young man with a trepanned skull was found inserted beneath a floor of a building in the town; it dates to the first quarter of the 4th c. Finds from the excavation and earlier discoveries are housed in the Manchester University and Whitchurch museums.
BIBLIOGRAPHYG.D.B. Jones & P. V. Webster, “Excavations at Whitchurch,” ArchJ 125 (1968) 193ffMPI.
O. D. B. JONES