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Albanus Mons

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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ALBANUS MONS (mod. Monte Cavo, from an early city of the name of Cabum? 1), the highest point of the volcanic Alban hills, about 13 m. S.E. of Rome, 3115 ft. above sea-level. It is upon the line of the rim of the inner crater of the great volcano, while Tusculum and Algidus Mons mark the edge of the earlier outer crater, which was about 7 m. wide. The lakes of Albano and Nemi were probably formed by volcanic explosions at the margin of the great crater; though a view has also been expressed that the basins are the result of subsidence. The name Albanus Mons is also used generally of the Alban group of hills in which there seem to have been some remains of volcanic activity in early Roman times, which covered the early necropolis of Alba Longa, and occasionally produced showers of stones, e.g. in the time of Tullus Hostilius (Liv. i. 31), and perhaps much later. In 193 B.C. it is recorded ( ib. xxxv. 9) that such a shower occurred at Aricia, Lanuvium and on the Aventine. Upon the Mons Albanus stood the temple of Jupiter Latiaris, where the annual festival of the Latin League was held. The foundations and some of the architectural fragments of the temple were still in existence until 1777, when they were used to build the Passionist monastery by Cardinal York. The road which ascended to the temple from the rim of the lake is still well preserved.