ALBA LONGA, the most ancient town in Latium, was situated 15 miles S.E. from Rome, on a ridge between the mountain and the lake that were both called from it Albanus. It derived its name probably from its elevated or Alpine situation, the story of the white sow discovered by Aeneas on landing (Virgil, Aeneid, iii. 390- 392) being of course mythical. Little beyond the bare fact of its existence for a considerable period as the foremost town in Latium can be accepted as strictly historical. According to the legendary accounts, it was founded by Ascanius, the son of Aeneas, 300, or, as a later version has it, 360 years before the foundation of Rome. Fourteen kings, whose names are all preserved, are said to have reigned over it in succession. The names, however, are evidently an invention, having probably this substratum of historic truth, that the ruling family belonged to the Silvian gens. The city was destroyed by the Romans under Tullus Hostilius, and its inhabitants removed to Rome. Several of the patrician families, such as the Julii, Curiatii, Servilii, Tullii, Quintii, ascribed their origin to these immigrants from Alba.