Venusia was a city in Italia, which according to legend was founded as Aphrodisia. It was taken by the Romans after the Third Samnite War in 291 BC and became a colony. No fewer than 20,000 men were sent there, owing to its military importance.
Throughout the Hannibalic wars it remained faithful to Rome, and had a further contingent of colonists sent in 200 BC to replace its losses in war. In 190 BC the Appian way was extended to the town. Some coins of Venusia of this period exist. It took part in the Social War, and was recaptured by Quintus Metellus Pius; it then became a municipium, but in 43 BC its territory was assigned to the veterans of the triumvirs, and it became a colony once more.
It remained an important place under the Empire as a station on the Via Appia, though Theodor Mommsen's description of it as having branch roads to Aequum Tuticum and Potentia, and Kiepert's maps annexed to the volume, do not agree with one another. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Venusia was sacked by the Heruls, and in 493 AD it was turned into the administrative centre of the area in the Ostrogothic kingdom of Italy.
Throughout the Hannibalic wars it remained faithful to Rome, and had a further contingent of colonists sent in 200 BC to replace its losses in war. In 190 BC the Appian way was extended to the town. Some coins of Venusia of this period exist. It took part in the Social War, and was recaptured by Quintus Metellus Pius; it then became a municipium, but in 43 BC its territory was assigned to the veterans of the triumvirs, and it became a colony once more.
It remained an important place under the Empire as a station on the Via Appia, though Theodor Mommsen's description of it as having branch roads to Aequum Tuticum and Potentia, and Kiepert's maps annexed to the volume, do not agree with one another. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Venusia was sacked by the Heruls, and in 493 AD it was turned into the administrative centre of the area in the Ostrogothic kingdom of Italy.
Modern location: Venosa, Italy
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