NUCERIA ALFATERNA (mod. Nocera Inferiore, q.v.)  , an

ancient town of Campania, Italy, in the valley of the Sarnus (Sarno), about to 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 . 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 favour-able 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 .