Interamna Lirenas was founded in 312 BC as a
colonia of
Latins in the
ager casinas, on the route of the
Via Latina. It was situated at the confluence of the
Liri and Rio Spalla Bassa rivers, whence the name "Interamna" (meaning "between the rivers"). Interamna Lirenas served as a military base during the
Samnite Wars, leading to its destruction by the Samnites in 294 BC. It was again ravaged by
Hannibal in 212 BC; since it later sided with Carthage, after the Carthaginian defeat at Zama in 202 BC it was forced by Rome to pay heavy tribute. It became a
municipium in about 88 BC following the
Social Wars when its population became Roman citizens. In 46 BC
Julius Caesar became
patronus of the city as its strategic location between a river and a major road made it a busy node in the regional network, valuable to Caesar during the civil wars and one of only four towns known to share this privilege. The town received further settled veterans ca. 40 BC. The town was thought to have been a relative backwater based on the relative lack of imported pottery, but recent archaeology has raised its importance, with evidence showing that it resisted the generally accepted decline of Italy in this period until the later part of the 3rd century AD, and around 300 years later than previously assumed. ==Archaeology==