Septempeda
SEPTE´MPEDA (Σεπτέμπεδα, Strab., Ptol: Eth. Septempedanus: San Severino), a town of Picenum, in the upper valley of the Potentia, 9 miles above Treia. It is mentioned by all the geographers, and the ager Septempedanusi s noticed in the Liber Coloniarum. (Plin. Nat. 3.13. s. 18; Strab. 5. p. 241; Ptol. 3.1.52; Lib. Col. p. 258.) Pliny assigns it the rank of a municipal town, and this is confirmed by inscriptions, one of which is of the age of Aurelian. (Orell. Inscr. 1026; Gruter, Inscr. p. 308, 3.) It is placed by the Itinerary of Antoninus on that branch of the Flaminian Way which, quitting the main high road at Nuceria, crossed the Apennines to Prolaqueum and thence descended the valley of the Potentia by Septempeda and Treia to Auximum and Ancona. (Itin. Ant. p. 312.) It early became an episcopal see, and derives its modern name of San Severino from one of its bishops who flourished in the middle ages. It still retains its rank as an episcopal city, and is the capital of the surrounding city, though it has not more than 3000 inhabitants. (Rampoldi, Dizion. Corogr. vol. 3. p. 837.)
[E.H.B]Now San Severino; a municipium in the interior of Picenum, on the road from Auximum to Urbs Salvia (Pliny H. N. iii. 111).
A municipium of Picenum on the left bank of the Flosis (modern Potenza) 2 km E of S. Severino Marche at Pieve di S. Martino. Little is known of its history.
Excavations have explored the imposing fortifications in large tufa blocks with towers of several forms, assigned to the 3d c. B.C., and the city plan, but buildings have not been cleared. Marbles and inscriptions from the site decorate several of the buildings of S. Severino, notably the stair of the Palazzo Comunale.
At nearby Pitino a large necropolis has yielded a particularly rich and informative sequence of Picene burials.
BIBLIOGRAPHYAA (1959) 196 (B. Andreae); EAA 7 (1966) 202-3 (G. Annibaldi)
L. RICHARDSON, JR.