LAVINIUM

modern Pratica di Mare Italy, an ancient town of Latium, 19 miles (30 kilometres) south of Rome, regarded as the religious centre of the early Latin peoples. Roman tradition maintained that it had been founded by Aeneas and his followers from Troy and named after his wife, Lavinia. Here he is supposed to have built a temple establishing the worship of the household gods, the Penates. Certain classes of Roman officials sacrificed regularly at Lavinium to the Penates and Vesta. Lavinium remained loyal to Rome in the wars of the 5th and 4th centuries BC. Thereafter it fell into decay, although archaeological evidence reveals that settlements on the site, beginning in early Villanovan times, lasted as late as c. AD 400. The later town was known as Laurolavinium.