ARIMINUM (modern Rimini), a city of Aemilia, N.E. Italy, 69m. S.E. of Bononia. Founded by Umbrians, in 268 B.C. it became a Roman colony. It was reached from Rome by the Via Flaminia, constructed 220 B.C., and became the bulwark of the Roman power in Cisalpine Gaul, to which province it even gave its name. Its harbour was of some importance, but is now silted up, the sea having receded. The construction of the Via Aemilia (187 B.c.) and the Via Popilia (132 B.C.) made it a road centre. In 82 B.C., having been held by the partisans of Marius, it was plundered by those of Sulla and a military colony settled there. Caesar occupied it in 49 B.c. after crossing the Rubicon. In 27 B.C. Augustus divided the city into seven vici, or quarters, after the model of Rome, from which the names of the vici were borrowed. He also restored the Via Flaminia from Rome to Ariminum. At the entrance to the latter the senate erected, in his honour, a tri umphal arch which is still extant—a fine simple monument with a single opening. At the other end of the main street (3,000 Roman ft. in length) is a fine five-arched bridge over the Ariminus (modern Marecclaia) built under Augustus and Tiberius. The present Piazza Giulio Cesare marks the site of the ancient forum, and the streets still follow the ancient lines. There are remains of the amphitheatre. In A.D. 69 the town was attacked by the partisans of Vespasian and was besieged for five months by the Goths in 538. It was one of the five seaports which remained Byzantine until the time of Pippin. (See RiM'N1. ) See A. Tonini, Storia della Cittd di Rimini (Rimini, 1848-62).