Remains of a house (domus) in Forum Sempronii.
Just outside the built-up area of Fossombrone lie the remains of the town to which Fossombrone owes its name: the Roman colony of Forum Sempronii.[1] The colony was founded along the Via Flaminia, the important road that connected Rome with the Adriatic coast. At Fanum Fortunae (Fano) it swung north, passed by Pisaurum (Pesaro) and ultimately ended at the Latin colony of Ariminum (Rimini). Construction of the Via Flaminia started in 220 BCE on the orders of the censor Gaius Flaminius, but the founder of Forum Sempronii was someone else: Gaius Sempronius Gracchus. The founding was part of the land reforms that had been proposed by Gaius’ brother Tiberius Gracchus and that had been approved by the Roman popular assembly in 133 BCE. Tiberius himself, his brother Gaius and his father-in-law Claudius Pulcher were appointed members of a committee of three men – the triumviri agris iudicandis adsignandis – who were charged with supervising the eviction of landholders and the redistribution of the land among the poor.
Although Tiberius was himself murdered, his land reforms were continued after his death. The founding of Forum Sempronii by Gaius Gracchus can be dated to ca. 130 BCE. The fact that the colony was named after the gens Sempronia is a clear indication that social justice was not the only motivation behind the reforms. These also served to bolster the reputation of the family. The Via Flaminia became the decumanus maximus of the new town, the main road running west to east through Forum Sempronii. The town was not exceptionally large, but archaeological research has yielded proof for the presence of a forum, various temples, baths and even an amphitheatre. Forum Sempronii never played a significant role in Roman history and was abandoned at an unspecified moment in the fifth or sixth century. A new settlement, modern Fossombrone, was founded some two kilometres further to the west, on a hill that was more easily defensible.
Remains of a bath complex in Forum Sempronii.
Street in Forum Sempronii.
The remains of Forum Sempronii can be visited with a guide. We arrived too late to join a tour, but fortunately we were still able to see much of the former colony by peeking over the fence. It should be noted that the most interesting objects from the town have been moved to the archaeological museum of Fossombrone, which can be found in the Corte Alta complex, the former ducal palace of the town. Apart from heads of the emperors Caligula (37-41) and Hadrianus (117-138) we can admire a beautiful floor mosaic here that features a scene of the myth of Europa and the Bull. The mosaic comes from a large domus. Another domus on the archaeological terrain is known as the “house of the exotic animals”. From this house comes a mural, made in the second half of the second or beginning of the third century. Unfortunately I have not been able to identify the exotic animal in the painting, and the museum fails to provide any further information. I personally thought the best object in the museum collection was a frieze from the first century with a scene of a cavalry parade. On the far left is a horseman in full armour, wearing chainmail and carrying an oval shield, a crested helmet and a dagger (pugio) on his hip.
Archaeological museum of Fossombrone.
One item not present in the museum is a small bronze Victoria, the goddess of victory. This Victoria was crafted in the mid-second century and was possibly placed in the Augusteum of Forum Sempronii, the building connected with the cult of the emperors. It was found in the seventeenth century and then purchased in the next century by Frederick II of Hesse-Kassel (1720-1785), a German landgrave who toured Italy in 1776-1777. Those who want to admire the Victoria von Fossombrone today will have to travel to Schloss Wilhelmshöhe in Kassel, where the statuette has been put on display. In the archaeological museum of Fossombrone we have to content ourselves with a photograph on the wall.
Cavalry parade, first century CE.
Note
[1] The adjective of Fossombrone happens to be forsempronese.