Terracina

Terracina is a town and comune of the province of Latina - (until 1934 of the province of Rome), Italy, 76 kilometres (47 miles) southeast of Rome by rail and 56 kilometres (35 mi) by the Via Appia by car.

History

Ancient times

Terracina appears in ancient sources with two names: the Latin Tarracina and the Volscian Anxur. The latter is the name of Jupiter himself as a youth (Iuppiter Anxur or Anxurus), and was the tutelary god of the city, venerated on the Mons Neptunius (current Monte S. Angelo), where a temple dedicated to him still exists (see below). The name Tarracina has been instead pointed out variously as pre-Indo-European origin (Ταρρακινή in ancient Greek), or as Etruscan (Tarchna or Tarchuna, the name of the Tarquinii family): in this view, it would precede the Volscian conquest.

Terracina occupied a position of notable strategic importance: it is located in fact at the point where the Volscian Hills (an extension of the Lepini Mountains) reach the coast, leaving no space for passage between them and the sea, in a site commanding the Pontine Marshes (urbs prona in paludes, "a city flat in the marshes", as Livy called it) and also possessing a small harbour. During the 600's BC, it joined the Etruscan League of twelve cities. In 509 BCE Terracina was already under Roman supremacy, but was not included in the list of the Latin league of 499 BCE. In 406 it was stormed by the Romans, then lost in 402, recovered in 400, unsuccessfully attacked by the Volsci in 397, and finally secured by the establishment of a colony of Roman citizens in 329 BCE.

Terracina (Coatesville, Pennsylvania)

Terracina, also known as The Huston House, is a historic home located at Coatesville, Chester County, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1848, and is a 2 1/2-story, stuccoed stone dwelling with a steeply pitched roof in the Gothic Revival style. It has a two-story, flat roofed rear wing. It features a full-width, hipped roof front porch. The house was built as a wedding present by Rebecca Lukens for her daughter Isabella upon her marriage to Dr. Charles Huston.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

References