Ateste

Ateste, an ancient town of northern Italy, and the predecessor of the modern-day town of Este. In antiquity Ateste occupied a commanding position beside the Adige River (which later changed course) and was for a time the capital of the Veneti people. After a period of complete abandonment, it was reoccupied in the Middle Ages, but it never regained its early importance.

Ateste was founded by Early Iron Age invaders, and its outstanding geographic position made it the chief centre of civilization in eastern Italy north of the Po River. The archaeological remains at Ateste can be divided into four periods. Those of the first period are scanty and somewhat equivocal. The richest and most characteristic remains are those of the second and third periods, covering together the period from the early 7th to the middle of the 4th century bc. During the fourth period, after the Celtic invasion of northern Italy, the Veneti remained politically independent, but they had lost much of their individuality and local character.

The distinguishing feature of the material remains of pre-Roman Ateste is the burial of the cremated dead in flat urnfields, a characteristic that it shared with other contemporary cultures of central Italy (see Urnfield culture). The majority of the cemetery finds consist of pottery and decorative bronzework. Of the pottery, the most striking products are the cinerary urns, among which are vessels decorated with elaborate geometric designs of bronze studs (Period 2) and a very handsome group of wares painted with red ochre and graphite. The outstanding metalwork products are buckets (situlae) formed of sheet bronze that was riveted into shape and sometimes richly decorated with geometric and figured designs, engraved or in relief. By the late 7th century bc, Ateste’s products were found in northern Italy and beyond the Alps in the Tyrol.

The Gallic invasion of northern Italy marked the beginning of the decline of the Veneti, and in 184 bc they were peacefully absorbed by Rome. Already in the 3rd century bc Ateste had begun to be eclipsed by the rising prosperity of Patavium (Padua), and despite the establishment by the Roman emperor Augustus of a colony of veteran soldiers at Ateste, the Roman city was never important. The site was abandoned in ad 589.