OCD(4) p.129; Barrington Atlas map 19 grid F4. (NB: the present gloss makes it clear that this is not the smaller
Aquileia↗ in Germany: ib. map 12 grid D4.) See also
alpha 938.
Aquileia↗ has a strategic location at the head of the Adriatic Sea, controlling roads over the Alps. Gauls occupied the site in 186 BC. The Romans ejected them and founded a Latin colony in 181 BC (Livy 39.22, 54; 40.34).
Aquileia↗ was a large military, commercial, and industrial city under the empire. The amber trade was especially important (
Strabo 4.207f.; 5.214). A Christian church council was held there in 381 with Ambrose presiding. Attila sacked the city in 452 but did not destroy it.
Aquileia↗'s bishop became a patriarch in the 6th century and the patriarchate continued influential through the middle ages. Information on councils held at
Aquileia↗ may be found on the Catholic Encyclopedia web site (web address 1). Excavations of the basilica have revealed remarkable 4th-century floor mosaics (see UNESCO World Heritage Site page at web address 2).
2Stephanus of Byzantium↗ s.v. gives the ethnikon as *\Akulh/ios, but the Suda's form is the norm in (e.g.) Herodian's History.