• Leave the Roma - Firenze motorway at the exit for "Magliano Sabina".

Museum of the Tiber Sabines

Archeological studies have given us an idea of how the ancient settlement at Magliano (its name is unknown) was laid out. Like other settlements of this period (7th century BC) in Etruria and Lazio, spreading over an easily defensible hillside, and separated by a valley from the eastern hills, used as a necropolis.The success of this settlement was mainly due to its position overlooking the River Tiber, of fundamental importance in ancient times for both cultural and commercial exchanges. The settlement also controlled the routes used for the seasonal movements of flocks.

Who were the Sabines?
The Sabines were part of the group of south and central italic peoples speaking the osco-umbra language, who settled in the area of the Abruzzo Apennines.
Cato in his "Origines", which describes the history of Rome (in which the Sabines played a fundamental role), traces their origins from Sabo, an indigenous god. From Testruna, near Amiternum, they reached the plains of Rieti, occupied by peoples of Greek origin, whose culture they supplanted. According to Strabo the Sabines originated from the Piceni, who occupied the Adriatic side of the Italian peninsula. Having reached the Rieti plains they sent colonists to the Tiber valley to found new cities, including Cures, ancient capital of the Tiberine Sabina. Thus the Tiber Sabines occupied the whole of the left bank of the River Tiber bordered by the Sabine Mountains, the Tiber and the Rivers Nera and Aniene. The names of some of these cities are recorded: Cures, Eretum, Trebula Mutuesca and Forum Novum.
Archeological research has identified several remains: the ruins of ancient Cures, the necropolis at Colle del Forno, belonging to the city of Eretum, the large necropolis at Poggio Sommavilla, the sepulchres at Magliano and the necropolis at Otricoli. The routes followed in the descent towards the Tiber valley are those traced by the Rivers Velino and Nera, along the valley bottoms and along what would later become the Salaria road, which supplied the Romans with salt.
The Tiber Sabines, for a long time the only Sabines known to the Romans, achieved a notable prosperity. Dionigi of Alicarnasso, writing of Tarpea, records that in the time of Titus Tazio the Sabines wore gold and were no less fond of luxuries and refinements than the Etruscans. Strabo, citing older sources, says that the Romans became rich only after conquering the Sabines.
The Tiber Sabines developed a system of writing based on Etruscan with some of their own innovations. This writing system is documented from the second half of the 7th century BC by a vase from Poggio Sommavilla and by fragments from the Giglio necropolis at Magliano Sabina. Experts agree on defining the language used on these two inscriptions as Italic, with a possible connection to South Piceno which shares a common alphabetic base.

The picture which emerges of the Tiber Sabines is one of of a people participating in the processes of cultural and economic change going on in the Tiber basin during the 7th and 8th century BC. Incorporating influences from the Etruscans, the Sabines developed their own culture which spread over the Adriatic side of the peninsula.

COMPOSITION OF THE MUSEUM

Prehistoric Section
THE PALAEOLITHIC
Ground floor

Protohistoric Section
BRONZE AGE TO IRON AGE
First floor

Archaic Age Section
MAGLIANO SETTLEMENT AND THE NECROPOLIS
First floor
POGGIO SOMMAVILLA SETTLEMENT AND THE NECROPOLIS
Second floor

Roman Section
VILLAS OF THE REPUBLICAN AND IMPERIAL AGES
Second floor

MUSEO CIVICO ARCHEOLOGICO
Palazzo Gori - Via Sabina - 02046 Magliano Sabina (RI)
Tel. 0744 910001 (Museo) 0744 910141 (Comune) - Fax 0744 919903