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An article from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica, now in the public domain.
Any color photos are mine, © William P. Thayer.

Vol. XIX
 p845  Nuceria Alfaterna

Nuceria​a Alfaterna (mod. Nocera Inferiore, q.v.), an ancient town of Campania, Italy, in the valley of the Sarnus (Sarno), •about 10 m. E of the modern coast line at Torre Annunziata, and •8 m. E of Pompeii. In the period before the Roman supremacy it appears to have been the chief town in the valley of the Sarnus, Herculaneum, Pompeii, Stabiae and Surrentum all being dependent upon it. The coins of the town bear the head of the river god. It maintained its allegiance to Rome till 309 B.C. when it joined the revolted Samnites [Diod. LXV.7]. In 308 it repulsed a Roman attempt to land at the mouth of the Sarnus, but in 307 it was besieged and surrendered. It obtained favourable terms, and remained faithful to Rome even after Cannae. Hannibal reduced it in 216 by starvation, and destroyed and plundered the town. The inhabitants returned when peace was restored. Even during the Social War Nuceria remained true to Rome, though the dependent towns joined the revolt; after it they were formed into independent communities, and Nuceria received the territory of Stabiae, which had been destroyed by Sulla in 89 B.C., as a compensation. In 73 B.C. it was plundered by Spartacus. Of the buildings of the ancient city nothing at all is to be seen; but on the hillsides on the S are remains of villas of the Roman period, and here tombs have been found.

[T. As.]

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Thayer's Note:

a At least four Roman towns in Italy shared the name Nuceria: Nuceria Alfaterna, Nuceria Camellaria (q.v.), a Nuceria Apulorum (in Apulia of course, in S Italy), and a Nuceria near Rhegium (the modern Reggio nell' Emilia) in N Italy. All four appear on Ptolemy's map of Italy.

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