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Atella, *Campanian city, in the Clanis valley. The site was inhabited from the 7th cent. bce and urbanized in the 4th. Atella was a Roman ally (see socii) by 338 but defected in 211. It was flourishing in the empire, but abandoned in the 11th cent. There are remains of walls, street plan, republican and imperial baths and houses, and a Hellenistic/Roman cemetery.

*Hadrian's famous institution for the study of Greek *rhetoric and letters in the centre of Rome. In the 4th cent. ce it was the setting for public *declamation in Latin as well. Its location is uncertain.

At Rome colourful *circus spectacles (especially chariot-racing) and *ball games were the most popular sporting activities. But Augustus promoted traditional athletics, staging athletics competitions in the Campus Martius and exhibition-running in the Circus (Suet. Aug. 43. 1–2); he himself was keen on watching boxing (45. 2). Ultra-distance running was also practised: ‘Some men can do 160 [Roman] miles in the Circus’ (Plin. HN 7. 84). Interest in athletics was maintained by the establishing of Greek-style games at Rome and elsewhere. In (?)4 bce*Tiberius won the chariot-race at the Olympian Games; from then on, Romans (mostly either eastern provincials with Roman citizenship, or those with sufficient authority to bend the rules, as Nero did in ce 67) won at Olympia with increasing regularity. See agones.

Augusta Raurica (modern Augst, near Basle), a colony founded by L. *Munatius Plancus in 44 bce in the territory of the Raurici. Strengthened by Augustus, with *Augusta Praetoria and *Augusta Vindelicorum it helped protect the upper Rhine and Danube valleys, and the Alpine route from Italy. It flourished in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, as is demonstrated by the impressive remains: forum, temples, theatre, amphitheatre, basilica, baths, curia, dwellings. In the 3rd century it proved vulnerable to *Alamannic attack. The city wall, begun then, remained uncompleted, and in the 4th century the settlement was moved a little north, to the fortified site of Castrum Rauracense (Kaiseraugst).

Augusta Traiana or Beroe (mod. Stara Zagora, Bulgaria) was a Roman city of *Thrace founded by Trajan to replace the Thracian-Hellenistic Beroe in the north of the Thracian plain, controlling a huge territory extending from the Haemus range (Stara planina) in the north to the Rhodope mountains in the south. The 2nd-cent. walls enclose an area of 48.5 ha. (120 acres), within which several streets and public buildings have been excavated. In the late empire the city was again known as Beroe and is described by Ammianus (27. 4. 12) as one of the ‘spacious cities’ (amplae civitates) of Thrace. After being sacked by the *Huns, by the 6th cent. (according to Procop. Aed. 4. 11. 19) it was in need of repair and was fortified with a massive new double wall. It was again sacked, by the *Slavs or Avars, around 600.

Augusta Treverorum (mod. Trier), *civitas-capital of the *Treveri, developed from a settlement around a fort established under Augustus to guard a crossing of the Moselle. In the early empire Trier became the seat of the imperial procurator of Belgica and the Germanies (see belgae; germania), and eventually also that of the governor of Belgica. It soon (probably under Claudius) gained colonial status. Later, the advantages of its position brought it even more success. *Postumus chose it as his capital; the *tetrarchs based the Gallic prefecture there; and throughout the 4th cent. ce it accommodated various emperors and usurpers. Its bishop enjoyed great influence with the resident rulers. From 395, however, emperors ceased to visit the German frontier and the Gallic prefect was transferred to Arles (*Arelate). Early in the 5th cent. Trier was frequently sacked by the *Franks, and went into decline.