HISTORY OF THE ROMAN CITY OF MODENA

The joint foundation of Modena and Parma by the triumvirate Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, Titus Ebutius Carus and Lucius Quintius Crispinus in 183 BC marks a further stage in the process of the Roman penetration and occupation of Cispadana after the final defeat of the Gauls and in the construction of the Via Emilia consular road, begun a few years earlier in 187 BC.

In fact, before that, the city existed as an independent centre before the Second Punic War, when it was besieged by the Boii Gauls and then occupied by the Romans. It is thought that it was fortified shortly before the second war with Hannibal, so that during the battles involving Piacenza and Cremona it provided shelter for the escaping colonies.

The strong connection between the Gauls and the area of Modena has led to a theory being put forward that a Celtic sanctuary had stood in the Mutina area where the head of the consul Spurius Albinus was brought after his defeat at Selva Litana. The crucial importance of Modena became clear when in 193 BC the consul Lucius Cornelius Merulus, after a battle of uncertain outcome, succeeded in overcoming the Boii.

Its excellent position, at the junction of extremely important communication routes  - the east-west Via Emilia and the south-north route from the Apennine crossings towards Mantua, Verona and the Alps – gave it a strategic military importance and it became the theatre for many battles, particularly during the Republican period.  Among these were the sacking after its foundation (177 BC) by the Ligurians, the siege by Pompey against his rival Junius Brutus (78 BC), the defeat of Cassius Longinus by the rebel slave Spartacus (72 BC), the War of Modena between Antony and Decimus Brutus and the siege of the city (43 BC). Once again, during the Imperial period, it was involved in the conflict between Otho and Vitellius (69 AD).

There is not much archaeological evidence of the urban layout from the Republican period. It is presumed that Mutina had a rectangular form which projected out further to the east than the present centre and was enclosed within a wall, which is referred to in historical sources. The ancient Tiepido torrent flowed along the eastern side, or just beyond it. The Via Emilia formed the decumanus maximus, while the line of the Rua Pioppa has been identified as the cardo maximus. The forum area was probably situated in the area between the main roads and Viale dei Martiri.

Well into the 1^st Century BC it developed the appearance of a luxurious place to live when the university was provided with its domus, a complex with various living spaces set out around a courtyard or central peristyle. The furnishings of a dining room (triclinium) – two beds, a table, an oil lamp carrier, fountain decorations – indicate the comfort and refinement that the local patricians had acquired in their homes.

With its advent as a principality under Augustus, the city, like many other centi (or hundreds) in Regio VIII, underwent a phase of redevelopment and expansion, that became even more marked in the period of Claudius and Nero. The fabric of the city was expanded and the spaces earlier used for burial purposes were acquired for private building purposes. The inhabitants of Modena, where the emerging middle classes were dominant, enjoyed a flourishing economic situation. This was the result of agricultural resources and manufacturing activities in the building and textile sectors, carried out on an almost “industrial” scale in the villas, on farms and in workshops in the suburbs and around the countryside.

There is not a great deal of information about public building work. In the forum there was a building for worshiping the deified emperors. This is indicated by various architectural remains, including an inscription mentioning a Caesareum and various inscribed plinths that must have held large bronze statues.  Various inscriptions from the urban layout provide evidence of the existence of other religious complexes dedicated to various divinities, also of oriental extraction, such as Isis and Mithrus.

A public baths was situated in the area of the present Palazzo della Provincia, while several indications from historical sources and from archaeological finds suggest the presence of an amphitheatre in the south-eastern section of the urban area.

Necropoli were spread radially along the roads leading out of the city, especially at the two extremes of the Via Emilia, on the roads in the north-west area leading towards Venetia and in the southern sector leading towards the Apennine crossings.  The construction of monuments in the cemetery areas began in the Augustan period, with funerary enclosures, stele, cube-shaped monuments, monuments with aedicolae or tambours, and finally with large Ravenna-style sarcophagi.

Even when the Empire was hit by a deep political and economic crisis in the 3^rd Century AD, affecting in particular the middle classes, Mutina maintained a state of relative well-being, thanks to a considerable remodelling of rural and productive  organisation. At the beginning of the 4^th Century AD it was involved in the conflict between Maxentius and Constantine and was handed over to the latter. This marked a period of revival for the city, which enjoyed imperial favour and included among its citizens members of the court aristocracy.

At the end of the 4^th Century AD, Modena was described by Ambrose as being in the same state of abandon as other important Emilian cities. But in reality it had reached that phase of inevitable transformation that always marks the passing from one age to another. Bishop Geminiano died at this same moment. Over his tomb, which soon became a place of worship, was built the basilica, where the cathedral was later to be erected. This was to become the centre of city life over the forthcoming centuries.

a cura dell' IBC Emilia Romgna