Editing Capua (section)

===Remains===
No pre-Roman remains have been found within the town of Capua itself, but important cemeteries have been discovered on all sides of it, the earliest of which go back to the 7th or 6th century BC.{{sfn|Ashby|1911a|p=295}}

The tombs are of various forms, partly chambers with [[fresco]]es on the walls, partly cubical blocks of [[peperino]], hollowed out, with grooved lids. The objects found within them consist mainly of vases of bronze (many of them without feet, and with incised designs of Etruscan style) and of clay, some of Greek, some of local manufacture, and of paintings. On the east of the town, in the Patturelli property, a temple has been discovered with [[Oscan]] votive inscriptions originally thought to be Oscan, now recognized as [[Etruscan (language)|Etruscan]], some of them inscribed upon terracotta tablets,{{sfn|Ashby|1911a|p=295}} the most famous of which is the [[Tabula Capuana]], conserved in Berlin, still, after more than a century of searching, the second-longest Etruscan text.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}} Other brief inscriptions are on ''cippi''. A group of 150 [[tuff]] statuettes represent a matron holding one or more children in her lap: three bore [[Latin language|Latin]] inscriptions of the early [[Roman Empire|Imperial]] period.{{sfn|Ashby|1911a|p=295}}

The site of the town being in a perfectly flat plain, without natural defences, it was possible to lay it out regularly. Its length from east to west is accurately determined by the fact that the ''Via Appia'', which runs from north-west to south-east from Casilinum to Calatia, turns due east very soon after passing the so-called [[Arch of Hadrian (Capua)|Arch of Hadrian]] (a [[triumphal arch]] of brickwork, once faced with marble, with three openings, erected in honour of some emperor unknown), and continues to run in this direction for {{convert|1600|m|ft}} (6,000 ancient Oscan feet).{{sfn|Ashby|1911a|p=295}}

The west gate was the ''Porta Romana''; remains of the east gate have also been found, although its name is unknown. This fact shows that the main street of the town was perfectly oriented, and that before the ''Via Appia'' was constructed, i.e. in all probability in pre-Roman times. The width of the town from north to south cannot be so accurately determined as the line of the north and south walls is not known, though it can be approximately fixed by the absence of tombs. [[Beloch]] fixes it at 4,000 Oscan feet = {{convert|1100|m|ft}}, nor is it absolutely certain (though it is in the highest degree probable, for [[Cicero]] praises its regular arrangement and fine streets) that the plan of the town was rectangular.{{sfn|Ashby|1911a|p=295}}

Within the town are remains of [[thermae|public baths]] on the north of the Via Appia and of a theatre opposite, on the south. The former consisted of a large ''cryptoporticus'' round three sides of a court, the south side being open to the road; it now lies under the prisons. Beloch (see below) attributes this to the Oscan period; but the construction as shown in Labruzzi's drawing (v. 17) 1 is partly of brick-work and opus reticulatum, which may, of course, belong to a restoration. The stage of the theatre had its back to the road; Labruzzi (v. 18) gives an interesting view of the cavea. It appears from inscriptions that it was erected after the time of Augustus.{{sfn|Ashby|1911a|p=295}}

Other inscriptions, however, prove the existence of a theatre as early as 94 BC. The Roman colony was divided into regions and possessed a ''capitolium'', with a temple of [[Jupiter (god)|Jupiter]], within the town, and the marketplace, for unguents especially, was called Seplasia; an ''aedes alba'' is also mentioned, which is probably the original senate house, which stood in an open space known as albana. But the sites of all these are uncertain.{{sfn|Ashby|1911a|p=295}} A [[Mithraeum]] may also be seen, by appointment.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.culturacampania.rai.it/site/en-GB/Cultural_Heritage/Museums/Scheda/museo_archeologico_antica_capua_en.html?link%3Dstoria |title=Archaeological museum of ancient Capua - Mithraeum |access-date=2007-11-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090208200010/http://www.culturacampania.rai.it/site/en-GB/Cultural_Heritage/Museums/Scheda/museo_archeologico_antica_capua_en.html?link=storia |archive-date=8 February 2009 |df=dmy }}</ref>