Aeclanum

Aeclanum was an ancient town of Samnium, Southern Italy, about 25 km east-southeast of Beneventum, on the Via Appia [1]. Today there are ruins of the city walls, of an aqueduct, baths and a macellum; nearly 400 inscriptions have also been discovered [1]. Excavation has revealed a long history of pre-Roman settlement [1]. Aeclanum was a town of the Hirpini, although it was never mentioned during the Samnite Wars [1]. Sulla captured it in 89 BC by setting on fire the wooden breastwork by which it was defended, and sacked it [1]. It quickly recovered, new fortifications were erected, and it became a municipium [1]. Hadrian made it a colonia [1]. With the Lombard invasion of Italy, in the 6th century AD, it was annexed to the Duchy of Benevento, but was captured and destroyed by Eastern Roman forces under Constans II in 663 and never recovered, being reduced to a small hamlet known as Quintodecimo, a name that referred to its distance of 15 Roman miles from Benevento [1].