city state · Italy

Fidenae

700 BCE – 426 BCE (approx.) · capital Fidenae

Small town on the Tiber just north of Rome, allied with Veii, which Rome fought for repeatedly and finally destroyed in 426 BCE.

Origins

Fidenae stood on a hill above the left bank of the Tiber, about 8 km north of Rome, opposite the Etruscan city of Veii. It was a Latin town, though Livy says it had Etruscan connections, and settlement there goes back to the early Iron Age. Its position on the river and the Via Salaria made it strategically vital.

Rule and society

Little is known of its government. Roman tradition tells of repeated wars from the time of Romulus, as Fidenae shifted between Rome and Veii. In 438 BCE it went over to Lars Tolumnius of Veii and killed Roman envoys; the Roman officer Aulus Cornelius Cossus killed Tolumnius in single combat and dedicated his armour as the spolia opima.

Decline and legacy

In 426 BCE the dictator Mamercus Aemilius captured and destroyed Fidenae, and its land became Roman. It survived only as a village; under Tiberius, in 27 CE, the collapse of a wooden amphitheatre there reportedly killed thousands, as Tacitus records.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Connections (2)

  • Fidenae was a vassal of Veii500 BCE – 426 BCE
  • Fidenae was conquered by Roman Republic426 BCE

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Fidenae. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/fidenae
MLA
“Fidenae.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/fidenae. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Fidenae.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/fidenae.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Fidenae’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/fidenae (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻