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Aquileia was founded as a colony by the Romans in 180/181 BC along the Natiso River, on land south of the Julian Alps about 13 kilometres north of the lagoons. The colony was established with Latin rights by the triumvirate of Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica, Caius Flaminius, and Lucius Manlius Acidinus. Roads soon connected Aquileia with the Roman colony of Bologna probably in 173 BC. In 148 BC, it was connected with Genua by the Via Postumia, which stretched across the Padanian plain from Aquileia through or near to Opitergium, Tarvisium, Vicetia, Verona, Bedriacum, and the three Roman colonies of Cremona, Placentia, and Dertona. The construction of the Via Popilia from the Roman colony of Ariminium to Ad Portum near Altinum in 132 BC improved communications still further. In the 1st century AD, the Via Gemina would link Aquileia with Emona to the east of the Julian Alps, and by 78 or 79 AD the Via Flavia would link Aquileia to Pula. In 90 BC, the original Latin colony became a municipium and its citizens were ascribed to the Roman tribe Velina. The customs boundary of Italy was close by in Cicero's day. Caesar visited the city on a number of occasions and pitched winter camp nearby in 59-58 BC. Augustus was the first of a number of emperors to visit Aquileia, notably during the Pannonian wars in 12‑10 BC. It was the birthplace of Tiberius' son by Julia, in the latter year. The Roman poet Martial praised Aquileia as his hoped-for haven and resting place in his old age. In the war against the Marcomanni in 167, the town was hard pressed; its fortifications had fallen into disrepair during the long peace. Nevertheless, when in 168 Marcus Aurelius made Aquileia the principal fortress of the empire against the barbarians of the North and East, it rose to the pinnacle of its greatness and soon had a population of 100,000. Septimius Severus visited in 193. In 238, when the town took the side of the Senate against the Emperor Maximinus Thrax, the fortifications were hastily restored, and proved of sufficient strength to resist for several months, until Maximinus himself was assassinated. An imperial palace was constructed in Aquileia, in which the emperors after the time of Diocletian frequently resided. During the 4th century, Aquileia maintained its importance. Constantine I sojourned there on numerous occasions. It became a naval station and the seat of the Corrector Venetiarum et Histriae; a mint was established, of which the coins were very numerous, and the Catholic bishop obtained the rank of metropolitan archbishop. A council held in the city in 381 was only the first of a series of Councils of Aquileia that have been convened over the centuries. However, the city played a part in the struggles between the rulers of the 4th century. In 340, Emperor Constantine II was killed nearby while invading the territory of his younger brother Constans. At the end of the 4th century, Ausonius enumerated Aquileia as the ninth among the great cities of the world. However, such prominence made it a target and Alaric and the Visigoths besieged it in 401, during which time some of its residents fled to the nearby lagoons. Alaric again attacked it in 408. Attila attacked the city in 452. During this invasion, on July 18, Attila and his Huns so utterly destroyed the city that it was afterwards hard to recognize its original site. The fall of Aquileia was the first of Attila's incursions into Roman territory; followed by cities like Mediolanum and Ticinum. Aquileia would rise again and continue to exist until the Lombards invaded in 568; the Lombards destroyed it a second time in 590. (Wikipedia)
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