Septempeda

Septempeda

Remains of thermal building at Septempeda
Shown within Italy
Location	San Severino Marche, Province of Macerata, Marche, Italy
Coordinates	43°13′43.88″N 13°10′37.57″E / 43.2288556°N 13.1771028°E / 43.2288556; 13.1771028Coordinates: 43°13′43.88″N 13°10′37.57″E / 43.2288556°N 13.1771028°E / 43.2288556; 13.1771028
Type	Settlement

Septempeda was a Roman town, in Picenum, now in the Italian region Marche. It became today's San Severino Marche, after the fall of Roman Empire.

The original Roman town Septempeda is located in the province of Macerata. The town was situated on the left bank of the river Flosis (modern River Potenza), at some 40 km inland from the Adriatic coast and at the foot of the Apennines. During the early Middle Ages the name changed into San Severino Marche and the inhabitants moved to a more westerly location. The original urban site is now abandoned and mostly used as farmland.

Its ancient origins, going back to the 3rd century B.C with the Roman conquest of the Picenum area in 268 B.C., are proven by early soldiers family names on many Roman tombstones, such as the gentes Baebia, Calpurnia and Flavia, but it is probable that also the social organization of the Picenes hamlets and trade center from the neighbourhood converged in the Roman centre of Septempeda.

Between the 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C. the conciliabulum and the possible praefectura were built. Around the mid-first century BC the settlement must have received municipal status and turned into a real Roman town. Inscriptions prove that Septempeda had a basilica and temples consecrated to Jupiter and Feronia (this latter outside of the wall)

After Goth's raids in 545 a.C. Septempeda was abandoned by its inhabitants who found a refuge in the safer top of Monte Nero, a few kilometers western and on the opposite (right) side of the River Potenza.

After the barbarian incursions, the remains of Severino, last bishop of Septempeda since 540 a.C. to his death in 545 a.C., were recovered and transported (23 April 590 a.C) to Monte Nero. A legend of the Longobard age, associated to the transfer of Severino, is believed to demonstrate the existence of a veneration for the Saint, which received a written confirmation only from a document of 944 by Eudo Bishop, about the building of a church in Castello qui dicitur ad Sancto Severinum. This testifies the existence of a new toponym in the place of Septempeda, that was soon named Castellum Sancti Severini and then simply Sanseverino, as nowadays: San Severino Marche.