1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Mevania

MEVANIA (mod. Bevagna), an ancient town of Umbria, on the river Clitumnus and on the Via Flaminia, 8 m. W.S.W. of Forum Flaminii, and 5 m. W. of Fulginium (Foligno), 738 ft. above sea-level. There are remains of a temple near the north gate, and of an amphitheatre built into the modern houses. The walls, which have disappeared, were, according to Pliny (Hist. Nat. xxxv. 173), built of unbaked bricks. In 310 B.C. the consul Fabius broke the Umbrian forces here; but otherwise it is not mentioned until the 1st century A.D. In 69 the army of Vitellius awaited here the advance of Vespasian. Its pastures near the river and its white oxen are mentioned by Propertius, whose family belonged to Asisium (mod. Assisi) and after him by Silius Italicus, Lucan and Statius. The town was a municipium. The churches of S. Michele Arcangelo and S. Nicolo are Romanesque buildings of the 12th century.