LANUVIUM (Lanuvio) Latium, Italy.
A city on a S extremity of the Alban Hills ca. 30 km SE of Rome. It was an independent member of the Latin League and a participant in the foedus Cassium, 493 B.C. Loyal to Rome until the Latin war of 340 B.C., it then received Roman citizenship and Rome received a share in the city's cult of Juno Sospita (Livy 8.14). It flourished as a municipium during the Empire until sacked by barbarians, and was revived in the 11th c. as Civita Lavinia, through confusion with ancient Lavinium.The modern city is built over the ancient one except for the arx (the hill of S. Lorenzo) to the N, where lie the most important remains. This was surrounded by a tufa circuit wall, sections of which still stand. Elaborate ramparts guarded the N and S entrances, though no trace of the N rampart remains. Later, arched Doric porticos were built along the W and S sides of the wall. A fine equestrian group in marble, from the 2d c. A.D., probably adorned the S entrance. Portions of these armored riders are now in the British Museum and at the City Museum in Leeds.
The arx also holds remains of a temple in antis, perhaps associated with the famous Temple of Juno. Of the earliest structure (ca. 500 B.C.) little remains. More is extant of the two later phases built ca. 330 B.C. and in the 3d c. B.C.
Near the arx, amid modern vineyards, are remains of several Roman villas, one of which is ascribed to Antoninus Pius.
In the modern city the ancient cardo can be traced. The Palazzo Comunale contains objects from the Temple of Juno. The wall facing the Palazzo is built over temains of a Roman theater. In the modern Largo del Tempio d'Ercole far S of town can be seen temple ruins of the 2d c. B.C.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. M. Woodward,BSR 7.2 (1914); G. B. Bendinelli, MonAnt 27 (1921); A. Galieti BullComm 61 (1928) and 66 (1938); A. E. Gordon, The Cults of Lanuvium (1938).D. C. SCAVONE