Listed 15 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "CATANZARO Town CALABRIA" .
SKYLAKION (Ancient city) CALABRIA
Scylacium or Scylletium (Skulletion, Steph. B., Strab.; Skulakion,,
Ptol.: Eth. Skulletikos: Squillace), a town on the E. coast of Bruttium, situated
on the shores of an extensive bay, to which it gave the name of Scylleticus sinus
(Strab.vi. p. 261.) It is this bay, still known as the Gulf of Squillace, which
indents the coast of Bruttium on the E. as deeply as that of Hipponium or Terina
(the Gulf of St. Eufemia) does on the W., so that they leave but a comparatively
narrow isthmus between them. (Strab. l. c.; Plin. iii. 10. s. 15.) According to
a tradition generally received in ancient times, Scylletium was founded by an
Athenian colony, a part of the followers who had accompanied Menestheus to the
Trojan War. (Strab. l. c.; Plin. l. c.; Serv. ad Aen. iii. 553.) Another tradition
was, however, extant, which ascribed its foundation to Ulysses. (Cassiod. Var.
xii. 15; Serv. l. c.) But no historical value can be attached to such statements,
and there is no trace in historical times of Scylletium having been a Greek colony,
still less an Athenian one. Its name is not mentioned either by Scylax or Scymnus
Chius in enumerating the Greek cities in this part of Italy, nor is there any
allusion to its Athenian origin in Thucydides at the time of the Athenian expedition
to Sicily. We learn from Diodorus (xiii. 3) that it certainly did not display
any friendly feeling towards the Athenians. It appears, indeed, during the historical
period of the Greek colonies to have been a place of inferior consideration, and
a mere dependency of Crotona, to which city it continued subject till it was wrested
from its power by the elder Dionysius, who assigned it with its territory to the
Loerians. (Strab. vi. p. 261.) It is evident that it was still a small and unimportant
place at the time of the Second Punic War, as no mention is found of its name
during the operations of Hannibal in Bruttium, though he appears to have for some
time had his head quarters in its immediate neighbourhood, and the place called
Castra Hannibalis must have been very near to Scylacium. In B.C. 124 the Romans,
at the instigation of C. Gracchus, sent a colony to Scylacium, which appears to
have assumed the name of Minervium or Colonia Minervia. (Vell. Pat. i. 15; Mommsen,
in Berichte der Sachsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, 1849, pp. 49-51.)
The name is written by Velleius Scolatium; and the form Scolacium is found also
in an inscription of the reign of Antoninus Pius, from which it appears that the
place must have received a fresh colony under Nerva. (Orell. Inscr. 136; Mommsen,
l. c.). Scylacium appears to have become a considerable town after it received
the Roman colony, and continued such throughout the Roman Empire. (Mel. ii. 4.
§ 8; Plin. iii. 10. s. 15; Ptol. iii. 1. § 11.) Towards the close of this period
it was distinguished as the birthplace of Cassiodorus, who has left us a detailed
but rhetorical description of the beauty of its situation, and fertility of its
territory. (Cassiod. Var. xii. 15.)
The modern city of Squillace is a poor place, with only about 4000
inhabitants, though retaining its episcopal see. It stands upon a hill about 3
miles from the sea, a position according with the description given by Cassiodorus
of the ancient city, but it is probable that this occupied a site nearer the sea,
where considerable ruins are said still to exist, though they have not been described
by any modern traveller.
The Scylleticus sinus (Skulletikos kolpos), or Gulf of Squillace,
was always regarded as dangerous to mariners; hence Virgil calls it navifragum
Scylaceum. (Aen. iii. 553.) There is no natural port throughout its whole extent,
and it still bears an evil reputation for shipwrecks. The name is found in Aristotle
as well as Antiochus of Syracuse, but would seem to have been unknown to Thucydides;
at least it is difficult to explain otherwise the peculiar manner in which he
speaks of the Terinaean gulf, while relating the voyage of Gylippus along the
E. coast of Bruttium. (Thuc. vi. 104; Arist. Pol. vii. 10; Antioch. ap. Strab.
vi. p. 254.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
TEMESA (Ancient city) CALABRIA
Temesa or Tempsa (Temeoe and *te/mya, Strab.; Temese, Steph. B.; Tempsa,
Ptol.: Eth. Temesaios, Tempsanus), an ancient city on the W. coast of Bruttium,
a little to the N. of the Gulf of Hipponium, or Golfo di Sta Eufemia, Strabo tells
us that it was originally an Ausonian city, but subsequently occupied by a colony
of Aetolians who had accompanied Thoas to the Trojan War. (Strab. vi. p. 255.)
Many writers appear to have supposed this to be the Temesa mentioned by Homer
in the Odyssey on account of its mines of copper (Odyss. i. 184); and this view
is adopted by Strabo; though it is much more probable that the place alluded to
by the poet was Temesa in Cyprus, otherwise called Tamasus. (Strab. l. c.; Steph.
B. s. v.; Schol. ad Hom. Odyss. l. c.) We have no account of Temesa having received
a Greek colony in historical times though it seems to have become to a great extent
Hellenised, like so many other cities in this part of Italy. At one period, indeed,
we learn that it was conquered by the Locrians (about 480-460 B.C.); but we know
not how long it continued subject to their rule. (Strab. l. c.) Neither Scylax
nor Scymnus Chius mention it among the Greek cities in this part of Italy; but
Livy says expressly that it was a Greek city before it fell into the hands of
the Bruttians (Liv. xxxiv. 45). That people apparently made themselves masters
of it at an early period of their career, and it remained in their hands till
the whole country became subject to the dominion of Rome. (Strab. l. c.) During
the Second Punic War it suffered severely at the hands, first of Hannibal, and
then of the Romans; but some years after the close of the war it was one of the
places selected by the Romans for the establishment of a colony, which was sent
thither at the same time with that to Crotona, B.C. 194 (Liv. xxxiv. 45.) But
this colony, the members of which had the privileges of Roman citizens, does not
appear to have been numerous, and the town never rose to be a place of importance.
Its copper mines, which are alluded to by several writers (Ovid, Met. xv. 706;
Stat. Silv. i. l. 42), had ceased to be productive in the days of Strabo (Strab.
vi. p. 256). The only mention of Tempsa which occurs in Roman history is in connection
with the great servile insurrection under Spartacus, when a remnant of the servile
force seem to have established themselves at Tempsa, and for a time maintained
possession of the town. (Cic. Verr. [p. 1124] v. 15,16.) Its name is afterwards
found in all the geographers, as well as in the Tabula, so that it must have subsisted
as a town throughout the Roman Empire. (Strab. l. c.; Plin. iii. 5. s. 10; Ptol.
iii. 1. § 9; Tab. Peut.) Pausanias expressly tells us it was still inhabited in
his day; and Pliny also notices it for the excellence of its wine. (Paus. vi.
6. § 10; Plin. xiv. 6. s. 8.) The period of its destruction is unknown; but after
the fall of the Roman Empire the name wholly disappears, and its exact site has
never been determined. The best clue is that afforded by the Tabula (which accords
well with the statements of Pliny and Strabo), that it was situated 10 miles S.
of Clampetia. If this last town be correctly placed at Amantea, the site of Tempsa
must be looked for on the coast near the Torre del Piano del Casale, about 2 miles
S. of the river.Savuto, and 3 from Nocera. Unfortunately none of the towns along
this line of coast can be fixed with anything like certainty. (Cluver. Ital. p.
1286; Romanelli, vol. i. p. 35.)
Near Temesa was a sacred grove, with a shrine or sanctuary of the
hero Polites, one of the companions of Ulysses, who was said to have been slain
on the spot, and his spectre continued to trouble the inhabitants, until at length
Euthymus, the celebrated Locrian athlete, ventured to wrestle with the spirit,
and having vanquished it, freed the city from all further molestation. (Strab.
vi. p. 255; Paus. vi. 6. § § 7-11; Suid. v. Euthumos.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
TERINA (Ancient city) CALABRIA
Terina (Terina, but Tereina Lycophr.: Eth. Terinaios, Terinaeus),
a city on the W. coast of the Bruttian peninsula, near the Gulf of St. Eufemia,
to which it gave the name of Terinaeus Sinus. All writers agree in representing
it as a Greek city and a colony of Crotona (Scymn. Ch. 307; Steph. B. s. v.; Scyl.
p. 4. § 12; Strab. vi. p. 256; Plin. iii. 5. s. 10; Solin. 2. § 10), but we have
no account of the time or circumstances of its foundation. It was regarded as
the burialplace of the Siren Ligeia, a tradition which evidently pointed to the
existence of a more ancient town on the spot than the Greek colony. (Lycophr.
Alex. 726; Steph. B. s. v.) The name of Terina is scarcely mentioned in history
during the flourishing period of Magna Graecia; but we learn from an incidental
notice that it was engaged in war with the Thurians under Cleandridas (Polyaen.
Strat. ii. 10. § 1) - a proof that it was at this time no inconsiderable city;
and the number, beauty, and variety of its coins sufficiently attest the fact
that it must. have been a place of wealth and importance. (Millingen, Numism.
de l'Italie, p. 53.) Almost the first notice of Terina is that of its conquest
by the Bruttians, an event which appears to have taken place soon after the rise
of that people in B.C. 356, as, according to Diodorus, it was the first Greek
city which fell into their hands. (Diod. xvi. 15.) It was recovered from them
by Alexander, king of Epirus, about 327 B.C. (Liv. viii. 24), but probably fell
again under their yoke after the death of that monarch. It was one of the cities
which declared in favour of Hannibal during the Second Punic War; but before the
close of the war that general found himself compelled to abandon this part of
Bruttium, and destroyed Terina, when he could no longer hold it. (Strab. vi. p.
256.) The city never recovered this blow; and though there seems to have been
still a town of the name in existence in the days of Strabo and Pliny, it never
again rose to be a place of any importance. (Strab. l. c.; Plin. iii. 5. s. 10.)
An inscription in which its name appears in the reign of Trajan (Orell. Inscr.
150) is in all probability spurious.
The site of Terina cannot be determined with any certainty; but the
circumstance that the extensive bay now known as the Gulf of Sta Eufemia was frequently
called the Sinus Terinaeus (Plin. iii. 5. s. 10; 6 ho Terinaios kolpos, Thuc.
vi. 104), sufficiently proves that Terina must have been situated in its immediate
proximity. The most probable conjecture is, that it occupied nearly, if not exactly,
the same site as the old town of Sta Eufemia (which was destroyed by a great earthquake
in 1638), about a mile below the modern village of the name, and near the N. extremity
of the gulf to which it gives its name. Cluverius and other antiquarians have
placed it considerably further to the N., near the modern Nocera, where there
are said to be the ruins of an ancient city (Cluver. Ital. p. 1287; Barrius, de
Sit. Calabr. ii. 10. p. 124); but this site is above 7 miles distant from the
gulf, to which it could hardly therefore have given name. There is also reason
to suppose that the ruins in question are those of a town which bore in ancient
times the name of Nuceria, which it still retains with little alteration.
Lycophron seems to place Terina on the banks of a river, which he
names Ocinarus (Okinaros, Lycophr. Alex. 729, 1009); and this name, which is not
found elsewhere, has been generally identified with the river now called the Savuto
(the Sabatus of the Itineraries), which flows by Nocera. But this identification
rests on the position assumed for Terina: and the name of the Ocinarus may be
equally well applied to any of the streams falling into the Gulf of Sta Eufemia.
The variety and beauty of the silver coins of Terina (which belong
for the most part to the best period of Greek art), has been already alluded to.
The winged female figure on the reverse, though commonly called a Victory, is
more probably intended for the Siren Ligeia.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
SKYLAKION (Ancient city) CALABRIA
(Skulakion), also Scylaceum (Skulakeion), or Scylletium (Skulletion).
Now Squillace. A Greek town on the east coast of Bruttium, situated on the two
adjoining hills at a short distance from the Coast, between the rivers Caecinus
and Carcines. From this town the Scylacius or Scylleticus Sinus (Skulletikos kolpos)
derived its name. It was at one time a dependency of Crotona, but was colonized
by the Romans in B.C. 124, and again under Nerva.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
TEMESA (Ancient city) CALABRIA
or Tempsa. Now Torre del Piano del Casale; a town in Bruttium on the Sinus Terinaeus, was one of the most ancient Ausonian towns in the south of Italy; famous for its copper mines
TERINA (Ancient city) CALABRIA
Now S. Eufemia; a town on the west coast of Bruttium, from which the Sinus Terinaeus derived its name.
The city was founded by Kroton at the beginning of the 5th c. B.C. Later it passed under several different rules until it was destroyed during the second Punic war. Most recent studies identify the ancient site with unexcavated remains in the abbey of S. Eufemia Vecchia; but others with Nocera Terinese. Terina is best known for its coinage (480-400 B.C.).
J. P. Small, 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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