Nola
Nola is a historic city located in Campania, southwestern Italy, approximately 20 miles east of Naples. Its origins date back to prehistoric times, with evidence of settlement from around 4000 years ago during the Bronze Age. The city was known to ancient historians, having been associated with the Italic tribe of the Aurunci and later considered an Etruscan foundation. Nola served as a significant hub along trade routes connecting Etruria to southern Campania and had interactions with nearby Neapolis, reflected in its Greek-inscribed coinage.
Under Roman rule, Nola initially remained loyal during significant conflicts, including the Second Punic War. However, it played a pivotal role during the Social War, becoming a stronghold for rebel forces before falling to Sulla. The city was further colonized by Augustus, who had personal ties to the area. Notably, Nola became an important religious center in the early Christian era, particularly under St. Paulinus, who is credited with the invention of church bells. Despite suffering destruction from invasions in the early 5th century, remnants of its ancient past, such as gates and theaters, still reflect its rich historical significance.
Subject Terms
Nola
A city in Campania (southwestern Italy), situated at the southeastern extremity of its plain, twenty miles east of Neapolis (Naples) and seventeen miles southeast of Capua (Santa Maria Capua Vetere)
Hecataeus (c 500 BC) knew Nola as a settlement of the Italic (Oscan-speaking) tribe of the Aurunci (`Ausonians’), and there was a dubious tradition of settlement from Chalcis in Euboea, but Cato the Elder (234–149) regarded the town as an Etruscan foundation (c 471), and it was probably colonized or occupied by Etruscans coming from Capua. Local cemeteries have yielded a remarkable wealth of pottery going back to the early centuries of the first millennium but especially rich in Athenian black- and red-figure vases of the sixth and fifth centuries. Nola was an important station on the inland road from Etruria to the southern regions of Campania.
At the end of the fifth century BC it was also on friendly terms with Neapolis, to judge from its fourth-century coinage, which was inscribed in Greek and imitated Neapolitan types. Nola fell to the Romans c 313 and remained loyal to them during the Second Punic War (218–201), during which Hannibal experienced his first rebuff before its walls. It served as a station on the Via Annia c 131, an extension of the Via Appia from Capua onward to Rhegium (Reggio di Calabria). However, during the Social War between Rome and its allies the city became a stronghold of the rebels, and succumbed after two sieges (88–80) to Sulla, who established a colony of ex-soldiers there, with the surname of Felix. It employed Pompeii as its harbor.
In 73 Nola was plundered by the slave leader Spartacus, but subsequently received a further draft of colonists from Augustus, who died there in AD 14 on a family property which, according to Dio Cassius, Tiberius subsequently converted into a temple. Vespasian (69–79) and Nerva (96–98) reportedly sent further retired soldiers as colonists. In the later empire it was often the residence of the governor of the province or district of Campania. St. Paulinus became bishop of Nola for the last twenty-two years of his life, making it a leading monastic center (409–31) and reportedly inventing church bells, which were known as campanae or nolae. However, the city was plundered by Alaric's Visigoths in 410, and largely destroyed by the Vandals of Gaiseric in 455. It partially recovered, but never regained its former importance. The ancient town possessed twelve gates, and traces can be seen of an amphitheater and theater, faced with brick and marble respectively.