Saxa Rubra was a village and station on the Roman
Flaminian Way, from
Rome, Italy.
It is now the name of a neighborhood north of Rome and of the city's Roma Nord railway station. Situated on the modern Via Flaminia it is also the site of a major RAI public service broadcaster center.
The area derived its name from the redness of the tuff rocks, which are still conspicuous around Prima Porta and Grottarossa,
History
The name is written
Ad Rubras in the Peutingeriana Tabula, while
Martial calls the place simply
Rubrae.
This form of the name is also found in the Jerusalem Itinerary
[Martial, iv. 64. 15; Itin. Hier. p. 612.] although the proper reference appears to have been Saxa Rubra, which is used both by
Livy and
Cicero. The former mentions it during the wars between Rome and Veii, in connection with the operations from the
Cremera in 478 BC (Liv. ii. 49); and Cicero notes it as a place in the immediate vicinity of Rome, where
Marcus Antonius halted before entering the city. (Cic.
Phil. ii. 3. 1) It was also here that Antonius,
Vespasian general, arrived on his march upon Rome, when he learned of the successes of the Vitellians and the death of
Julius Sabinus. (
Tacitus Hist. iii. 79.) At a much later period (312) it was also the point to which
Maxentius advanced to meet
Constantine I previous to the battle at the Milvian bridge. (Vict.
Caes. 40. ยง 23.) Martial (
l. c.) states that a village had grown up on the spot, as would naturally be the case with a station so immediately in the neighborhood of the city.
On a hill on the right of the Via Flaminia, a little beyond Prima Porta, are considerable ruins, which are believed to be those of the villa of Livia, known by the name of Ad Gallinas,
