Lavinium
![Gate into the interior of the settlement of the frazione of Pratica di Mare, a medieval walled village at the site of the center of ancient Lavinium. The structures in the photograph vary in date. On the left is the Castello Borghese, possibly the site of the Roman arx or citadel. The archaeological excavations are in a field off to the left of the photograph. The comune of Pomezia and the museum are directly behind the photographer.](/Images/godic/202501/23/Pratica_di_Mare_0103454.jpg")
![Ex voto statues in the museum at Lavinium](/Images/godic/202501/23/Ex_voto_Lavinium3454.jpg")
![Silver serrate denarius struck by C. Sulpicius C. f. Galba in Rome 106 BC.
Di Penates depicted on obverse were brought to Lavinium from Troy by Aeneas. Reverse depicts scene from Aeneid - according prophecy in the place where white sow casts 30 piglets under oak tree new city shall be built (Lavinium).
On the Forum of Lavinium stood a bronze statue of the sow, its body was conserved by the priests in pickle.](/Images/godic/202501/23/AR_serrate_denarius_of_C._Sulpicius_C._f._Galba3454.jpg")
Lavinium was a port city of Latium, 53 km (33 mi) to the south of Rome, at a median distance between the Tiber river at Ostia and Anzio. The coastline then, as now, was a long strip of beach. Lavinium was on a hill at the southernmost edge of the Silva Laurentina, a dense laurel forest, and the northernmost edge of the Pontine Marshes, a vast malarial tract of wetlands. The basis for the port, the only one between Ostia and Anzio, was evidently the mouth of the Numicus river.