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'''Ateste''' ({{langx|grc|Ἀτεστἐ}})<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0064%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DA%3Aentry+group%3D20%3Aentry%3Dateste-geo Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), Ateste]</ref> (modern [[Este, Veneto|Este]], [[Italy]]) was an ancient town of [[Venetia (region)|Venetia]], at the southern foot of the [[Euganean]] hills, 43 feet above sea-level and 22 miles southwest of [[Patavium]] (modern [[Padua]]). The site was occupied in very early times, as archaeology begun in the late 19th century showed.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Ateste|volume=2|page=824|first=Thomas|last=Ashby|authorlink=Thomas Ashby (archaeologist)}}</ref>

==Overview==
Large [[Cemetery|cemeteries]] have been excavated, which show three different periods from the 8th century BCE down to the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] domination:
* '''I.''' [[Ancient Italic peoples|Italic]] [[cremation]] burials closely approximating to the [[Villanovan culture|Villanova]] type;
* '''II.'''  [[Adriatic Veneti|Venetic]] period, when tombs are constructed of blocks of stone, and [[Situla (vessel)|situlae]] (bronze buckets), sometimes elaborately decorated, are often used to contain the funerary urns;
* '''III.''' [[Gauls|Gallic]] period (beginning in the 4th century BCE), when tombs are much poorer, [[ossuary|ossuaries]] being of badly baked rough clay, with traces of Gallic influence characteristic of [[La Tène culture]]; cremation also continues.<ref name="EB1911"/>

The many important objects found in these excavations are preserved in the local museum.<ref>G. Ghirardini in Notizie degli Scavi; Monumenti del Lincei, ii. (1893) 161 seq., vii. (1897) 5 seq., x. (1901) 5 seq.; Atti del Congresso Internazionale di Scienze Storiche (Rome, 1904), v. 279 seq.</ref><ref name="EB1911"/>

Inscriptions show that the [[Venetic language]] asserted its existence even after Ateste came into the hands of the Romans. When this occurred is not known. Boundary stones of 135 BCE exist, which divide the territory of Ateste from that of Patavium and of [[Vicenza|Vicetia]], showing that the former extended from the middle of the Euganean hills to the ''Atesis'' (modern [[Adige]], from which Ateste no doubt took its name, and on which it once stood).<ref name="EB1911"/>

After the [[battle of Actium]], [[Augustus]] settled veterans from several of his legions in this territory, Ateste being thenceforth spoken of as a colony ''([[Colonia (Roman)|colonia]])''. It appears to have furnished many recruits, especially for the ''[[cohortes urbanae]]'', an urban police force created by Augustus. Ateste appears but little in history, though its importance is vouched for by numerous inscriptions, the majority of which belong to the early [[Roman Empire|Empire]].<ref name="EB1911"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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[[Category:Roman sites of Veneto]]
[[Category:Villanovan culture]]
[[Category:Este culture]]
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