Ежелгі Hispellum қаласының тарихы мен дамуы

Hispellum (modern Spello) was an ancient town of Umbria, Italy, north of Fulginiae on the road to Perusia.

The site of Hispellum was significant as the valley had two major rivers, the Clitumnus and Tinia mentioned by Silius Italicus, giving fertility to the land. From 220 BC the Via Flaminia gave the city a direct link to Rome.

The area of Hispellum has been occupied from the Iron Age (7th c. BC), as shown by archaeology particularly in the necropolis at Portonaccio, although most of the tombs date to the 3rd or 2nd century BC. Traces of the early settlement from 7th 4th centuries BC have been found near the church of Sant’ Andrea. Umbria had been conquered by the Romans by approximately 260 BC. Incorporation into the Roman state occurred soon afterwards; some Umbri were given full citizenship or citizenship without the right to vote and about 40,000 Romans settled in the region. Hispellum was one of the Umbrian towns that resisted Hannibal and possibly sent aid to Rome during the Second Punic War. It began to be urbanised from the late 3rd century when a long artificial terrace with a retaining wall of opera quadrata using local limestone laid without mortar was built near Sant’ Andrea in the area of the later forum. Hispellum is mentioned in Pliny, Strabo and Ptolemy's Geography. The ancient sanctuary to Venus (or her Umbrian equivalent) was an important sacred place for Umbrian tribes from the 3rd c. BC and the site was monumentalised, at least in the south eastern part towards the city, in the Republican age (2nd 1st century BC). Some of the land of the Valle Umbra was brutally confiscated by Augustus to found colonies there as a reward for tens of thousands of Caesar's veterans who had fought for the Triumvirate and additionally, tens of thousands of them who had fought for the Republican cause in the war at Philippi. This led to the Umbrian revolt culminating in the Perusine War (41 40 BC). Hispellum supported Augustus in the Perusine War and became Colonia Julia Hispellum in ca. 41 40 BC. Augustus also favoured Hispellum by extending its territory to the springs and sanctuary of the Clitunno, 20 km distant, which had originally belonged to the territory of Mevania, and the city provided a public bath and accommodation there. Under Augustus the town was also developed and monumentalisation of the hill slope was increased by the extension of the sanctuary with inclusion of the theatre etc. on a Hellenistic model, as at Tibur, Praenesta and other sites in Lazio. It must have received more colonists under Vespasian as it is also referred to in inscriptions as "Colonia Urbana Flavia". It received another influx of veteran colonists under Hadrian. Hispellum received the name of Flavia Constans by a rescript of the emperor Constantine recorded on a marble tablet found in 1733 at the centre of the sanctuary and now at the Communal Palace of Spello. It showed that the city was important, as it was thereby appointed the seat of the annual meetings of the Umbrian peoples, which had previously taken place only in the Etruscan city of Volsinii.

A sanctuary of the Augustan period which included a grandiose theatre temple amphitheatre complex is located partially in the grounds of the Renaissance style villa Fidelia to the northwest of the city. Geophysical surveys have allowed reconstruction of the sanctuary and its relationship to the theatre. The sanctuary occupied the area near the bottom of the Spello hill facing west as part of a scenographic layout. Three terraces were created to support the villa, two of which with mighty walls in Roman concrete (opus caementicium) covered with opus vittatum which supported the lower terraces are still visible. The second terrace contains the present "Italian" garden and Villa Fidelia itself which overlaps the lower terrace. The lower wall has remains of a large central nymphaeum and a quadrangular niche. Of the upper wall only the internal part in opus caementicium remains. On the other side of the road are the scanty remains of the theatre, as well as the amphitheatre. During construction of the villa Fidelia, around 1600, an inscription was found on a mosaic floor (CIL, XΙ, 5264), with a dedication of a statue and a base to Venus by the quinquennial duumvirs M. Granius and S. Lollius. The Church of S. Fedele in opus mixtum is probably to be connected with the late phase of the sanctuary mentioned by a Constantinian rescript (CIL,XI, 5265) of 333 337 AD, in which the emperor at the request of the inhabitants of the city allows the Umbrian population to be able to meet, no longer in Volsinii, and celebrate the theatrical and gladiatorial games with the Etruscan population. The precious epigraphic text, found downstream from the sanctuary, testifies that the sacred theatre temple structure existed prior to the rescript and must have already served for the annual meetings of the league of the Umbrians. The special geographical position of the sanctuary appears particularly strategic within the Umbrian valley, at the branch of the Via Flaminia towards Perusia and in visual and ideological connection with the sanctuaries at Mevania, Vettona, Urvinum Hortense and Trebiae.

The Roman Aqueduct from Collepino to Spello is almost 5 km long. It was used until the 19th century and has been recently restored. It was mainly underground but has been exposed in several places where it runs to the side of the Chiona river, its specus forming an artificial terrace. On the lower wall of the aqueduct are many rectangular openings for inspection and maintenance.

Also known as the Porta San Ventura from the nearby church of the same name, this gate has a monumental character with a sober façade, and is a decorative arch inserted in the western walls. Built in the Augustan age, the gate has a single round arch and is built of ashlars of local limestone, is supported by smooth Tuscan pillars with no base, and has an architrave above crowned by a pediment. The gate was reopened in 1960 after being walled up for many years.