Listed 3 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "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
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
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