Listed 2 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "KANISION Ancient city PUGLIA" .
One of the most important cities of ancient Apulia, located on the
right bank of the Ofanto (Aufidus) river ca. 24 km from its mouth, at the boundary
between Peucezia and Daunia. Its port on the Ofanto, perhaps navigable at that
time in its lower reaches, is recorded by Strabo (6.3.9). According to legend
the city was founded by Diomedes and named for his hunting dogs (Strab. loc.cit.;
Hor. Sat. 1.5.92; Schol. Dan. Aen. 11.246). Its Greek origin seems to be confirmed
by recent archaeological finds, as well as by the minting of coins with the legend
in Greek, which was still spoken in the Augustan age. Horace (Sat. 1.10.30) says
"Canusini more bilinguis." The economic prosperity of the city, principally
based on the production and sale of wool, is mentioned by Pliny (HN 8.190) and
other ancient authors. In 318 B.C. Canusium was occupied by the Roman Consul L.
Plautius, thus falling under the domination of Rome but conserving its right to
coin money (Livy 9.26). During the second Punic war the city, remaining faithful
to the Romans, took in the survivors of the rout of Cannae (Livy 22.52-54; ValMax.
4.8.2; Polyb. 3.107). Canusium fought against Rome in the social war, together
with Venosa. It took within its walls the Samnite general Trebazio, defeated in
89 B.C. on the Ofanto by the Roman praetor C. Cosconius (App. BCiv. 1.42, 54,
84). Canusium became a Roman municipium (CIL IX, 342, 343), and was ascribed to
the tribus Oufentina (CIL IX, 336, 339, 340, 415). Under Antoninus Pius a colony
was established there which was called Colonia Aurelia Augusta Pia Canusia (CIL
IX, 344). In this period the city was enlarged by Herodes Atticus, who provided
it with an aqueduct (Philostr. VS 2.1.5).
Recently, in the course of agricultural work, a settlement of the
Neolithic Age was discovered and a necropolis with cremation burials from the
Bronze Age in the zone to the NW of the modern town in the sections called Pozzillo
and Toppicelli. In these areas there have also been found the remains of an indigenous
habitation site from the 7th-6th c. B.C., as well as archaic vases of Greek provenience.
There are indications of the city of the Hellenistic and Roman times in a number
of places in the modern city, from which come marble columns, capitals, entablatures,
and inscriptions that are recognizable in many churches in the city. Some have
been collected and placed in the municipal building. Recent excavations have brought
to light the ruins of fortifications and of a Roman road near the Early Christian
baptistery. Also recently noted are the remains of a late Hellenistic temple under
the basilica of S. Leucio and of a Roman temple in Via Imbriani. A statue of Jove,
which came from the latter, is in the museum at Taranto. The remains of a Roman
bath building are preserved in a courtyard in Via Lamarmora, while the ruins of
the mediaeval castle incorporate part of the city wall and several towers of the
ancient acropolis. At the edge of the city in the direction of Cerignola, along
the course of the Via Traiana, is a Roman arch of brick, called Porta Romana or
Porta Varrone. It is perhaps one of the many funerary monuments in the area. Among
them is the so-called Torre Casieri, quadrangular in plan and built of stone blocks
and brick, with a barrel-vaulted cella containing two niches for cinerary urns.
There is also a mausoleum of the Augustan age with a square base, which had perhaps
a circular superstructure like that of the famous tomb of Cecilia Metella on the
Via Appia at Rome. There is also the so-called Monumento Bagnoli, an interesting
mausoleum of the 2d c. A.D.
A Roman bridge spans the Ofanto; its arches were rebuilt in the mediaeval
period. From the hypogea at Canosa, especially those from the 4th-3d c. B.C.,
came rich fittings including red-figure Apulian vases, characteristic plastic
polychromed vases, and precious goldwork that may now be seen in the museums of
Naples, Taranto, and Bad.
F. G. Lo Porto, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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