Remembering and Forgetting in the Ager Faliscus : The Case of the Lost Aequumfaliscum

Abstract: This article focuses on Aequumfaliscum, an unknown location in the ager Faliscus . I propose here that Aequumfaliscum was not, as ancient sources suggest, the name of a thriving town. Rather, it was the name of a ruin, a negative space where the town of Falerii had once been before it was destroyed by the Romans in 241 b.c.e. This article traces how the name became attached to the site. Ultimately, Aequumfaliscum provides insight into the experience of Roman conquest and the ways in which the memory of that conquest was continually negotiated and understood by the many diverse communities living in Central Italy.