ARDEA, a Latian city, probably of Pelasgian origin, famous chiefly for its accidental connection with the semi-mythical rape of Lucretia and the expulsion of the Tarquins from Rome. It lies 24 miles almost due S. from Rome, and 4 miles from the coast, on a small stream. It seems at one time to have been a place of great wealth and power; but the little hamlet which still preserves its name hardly numbers 200 inhabitants. A few fragments of tufa-built fortifications are the only remains of its ancient architecture.