A STUDY OF THE TOPOGRAPHY AND MUNICIPAL HISTORY OF PRAENESTE.




CHAPTER I.


THE TOPOGRAPHY OF PRAENESTE.

Nearly a half mile out from the rugged Sabine mountains, standing clear
from them, and directly in front of the sinuous little valley which the
northernmost headstream of the Trerus made for itself, rises a
conspicuous and commanding mountain, two thousand three hundred and
eighteen feet above the level of the sea, and something more than half
that height above the plain below. This limestone mountain, the modern
Monte Glicestro, presents on the north a precipitous and unapproachable
side to the Sabines, but turns a fairer face to the southern and western
plain. From its conical summit the mountain stretches steeply down
toward the southwest, dividing almost at once into two rounded slopes,
one of which, the Colle di S. Martino, faces nearly west, the other in a
direction a little west of south. On this latter slope is situated the
modern Palestrina, which is built on the site of the ancient Praeneste.

From the summit of the mountain, where the arx or citadel was, it
becomes clear at once why Praeneste occupied a proud and commanding