Abellinum (
Part of The Encyclopedia of Southern Italy.
Abellinum (sometimes Abellinum Protropum): Ancient name for Avellino [AV]. The original Abellinum lay near the present city of Avellino in the upper valley of the river Sabatus (mod. Sabbato). Founded by the Hirpini, a Samnite tribe, it lay on the road connecting Beneventum and Salernum. Abellinum appears in history only in the Roman era. By then it had become a prosperous town and had probably achieved the status of a colonia under the Second Triumvirate (mid- 1st century BC).The city survived the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, finally succumbing in the early Middle Ages during the wars between the Byzantines and Lombards. The survivors abandoned the original site and refounded their city on the present site of Avellino. The site of ancient Abellinum includes the remains of the city walls and the ruins of an amphitheatre. A great number of inscriptions, bas-reliefs, statuary, etc have been unearthed.