e Marcomanni in A.D. 167, the town was hard
pressed; the fortifications had fallen into disrepair during the long
peace. In A.D. 238, when the town took the side of the senate against
the emperor Maximinus, they were hastily restored, and proved of
sufficient strength to resist for several months, until Maximinus
himself was assassinated. The 4th century marks, however, the greatest
importance of Aquileia; it became a naval station and, probably, the
seat of the _corrector Venetiarum et Histriae_; a mint was established
here, the coins of which are very numerous, and the bishop obtained the
rank of patriarch. An imperial palace was constructed here, in which the
emperors after the time of Diocletian frequently resided; and the city
often played a part in the struggles between the rulers of the 4th
century. At the end of the century, Ausonius enumerated it as the ninth
among the great cities of the world, placing Rome, Mediolanum and Capua
before it, and called it "moenibus et portu celeberrima." In A.D. 452,
however, it was destroyed by Attila, though it continued to exist until
the Lombard invasion of A.D. 568. After this the patriarchate was
transferred to Grado. In 606 the diocese was divided into two parts, and
the patriarchate of Aquileia, protected by the Lombards, was revived,
that of Grado being protected by the exarch of Ravenna and later by the
doges of Venice. In 1027 and 1044 Patriarch Poppo of Aquileia entered
and sacked Grado, and, though the pope reconfirmed the patriarch of the
latter in his dignities, the town never recovered, though it continued
to be the seat of the patriarchate until its formal transference to
Venice in 1450. The seat of the patriarchate of Aquileia had been
transferred to Udine in 1238, but returned in 1420 when Venice annexed
the territory of Udine. It was finally suppressed in 1751, and the sees
of Udine and Gorizia (Gorz) established in its stead. Its buildings
served as stone quarries for centuries, and no edifices of the Roman
period remain above ground. Excavations have revealed one street and the
north-west angle of the town walls, while the local museum contains over
2000 inscriptions, besides statues and other antiquities. The cathedral,
a flat-roofed basilica, was erected by Patriarch Poppo in 1031 on the
site of an earlier church, and rebuilt about 1379 in the Gothic style by
Patriarch Marquad. The narthex and baptistery belong to an earlier
period. Of the palace of the pat