Listed 6 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "RIGION Ancient city CALABRIA".
The city was refounded in 358 BC under the name of Phoebia after its destruction by the Syracuseans in 387 BC.
According to ancient sources, founded toward the middle of the 8th
c. B.C. by Chalkidian colonists, near the Calopinace river (ancient Apsias) (Diod.
8.23.2) in an area called Pallontion (Dion. Hal. 19.2). The city expanded N between
the right bank of the Calopinace and the Santa Lucia. The ancient urban plan is
long and narrow on a sloping plateau between the ridges of the Aspromonte hills
along the straits of Messina. Its limits have been ascertained by the remains
of the circuit wall and by the presence of the necropolis.
Although the area of the settlement expanded in the course of time,
what is known of the circuit wall dates from the period of expansion between the
end of the 5th c. and the beginning of the 4th c. B.C. Nothing remains of the
wall in the S sector and on that side the determining date, for the area outside
the city, is given by the presence of the necropolis. In the E sector a section
of crude-brick wall must be attributed to a building outside the wall rather than
to a preceding phase of the walls. Some parts of the N sector are known, where
the extent of the urban area has been ascertained. The W sector is almost entirely
known as it is limited by the coastline. The wall construction shows a double
ring, joined by transverse elements and a filling of the intervening area with
earth and rubble. The lower sections were large sandstone blocks, with brick above.
The exact location of the gates is unknown, but there must have been one at either
end of the major urban axis, at least one toward the Aspromonte hills, and two
on the seaside.
Probably the acropolis was in the high area of today's city in the
district of Reggio Campi-Cimitero. The site of the Greek agora, and later the
forum of the Roman era, corresponds to the present-day Piazza Italia and there
the principal public buildings were constructed. No evidence remains of the street
system, and the continual rebuilding of the city on the same site and occasional
earthquakes have made archaeological evidence scarce. Yet, in the NE sector, a
large sacred area from the archaic and Classical periods has been identified.
Interesting architectural terracotta elements have come from the area as well
as votive materials) from the districts of Griso-Laboccetta, Sandicchi, and Taraschi-Barilla).
Recent excavations have brought to light traces of a small temple and of other
structures that point to the existence of a sanctuary. In the vicinity, the remains
of an odeon have also been discovered. The stereobate of another temple has been
partially unearthed beneath the modern prefecture. An inscription from the Roman
period (CIL X, 1) attests the existence of a temple of Isis and Serapis, and another
(CIL X, 6) mentions the templum Apollinis maioris. The latter inscription also
mentions a prytaneum, while inscriptions provide a record of various other buildings.
The most interesting of the inscriptions, dating to 374, mentions a porticoed
basilica and a bath building. The excavations have brought to light ruins of bath
buildings, private homes, and perhaps also public buildings. These ruins, interesting
primarily because of their Late Empire mosaics, also include honorary column bases
and other materials, particularly in the vicinity of Piazza Italia. Among other
finds of special interest are those pertaining to the water supply of the city,
particularly the cisterns.
Outside the city, necropoleis have been identified in the districts
of Santa Lucia, Santa Caterina, and Pentimeli to the N, and Modena and Ravagnese
to the S. Outside the walls toward the sea, a sanctuary of Artemis has also been
discovered. Near it, the Athenian forces encamped at the time of the Sicilian
expedition of 415 B.C. (Thuc. 6.44.3). The worship of that divinity at Rhegion
has been attested by other sources. From the Classical sources it is known that
the city was endowed with a fine harbor, which would therefore have had to be
situated at the mouth of the Apsias river.
The city's territory was not large by comparison with the sphere of
influence of other cities of Magna Graecia. Naturally limited by the mass of the
Aspromonte hills and by the sea, it reached on the Tyrrhenian side as far as the
Metauros river (in the archaic period perhaps even a little beyond) and on the
Ionian side it ended at the territory of the Lokrians. At that point, in consequence
of historic changes, the line of demarcation was formed at times by the Caecinos
river and at times by the Halex river.
The Museo Nazionale di Reggio Calabria contains enormous documentation
for the civilization of Magna Graecia, particularly material which concerns the
territory of ancient Bruttium.
A. De Franciscis, 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 3 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
(Rhegion). Now Reggio; a celebrated Greek town on the coast
of Bruttium, in the south of Italy, was situated on the Fretum Siculum, or the
strait which separates Italy and Sicily. Rhegium was founded about the beginning
of the first Messenian War, B.C. 743, by Aeolian Chalcidians from Euboea and by
Doric Messenians, who had quitted their native country on the commencement of
hostilities between Sparta and Messenia. Even before the Persian Wars Rhegium
was sufficiently powerful to send 3000 of its citizens to the assistance of the
Tarentines, and in the time of the elder Dionysius it possessed a fleet of eighty
ships of war. This monarch, having been offended by the inhabitants, took the
city and treated it with the greatest severity. Rhegium never recovered its former
greatness, though it still continued to be a place of considerable importance.
The Rhegians having applied to Rome for assistance when Pyrrhus was in the south
of Italy, the Romans placed in the town a garrison of 4000 soldiers, who had been
levied among the Latin colonies in Campania.
These troops seized the town in B.C. 279, killed or expelled
the male inhabitants, and took possession of their wives and children. The Romans
were too much engaged at the time with their war against Pyrrhus to take notice
of this outrage; but when Pyrrhus was driven out of Italy they took signal vengeance
upon these Campanians, and restored the surviving Rhegians to their city. Rhegium
was the place from which persons usually crossed over to Sicily, but the spot
at which they embarked was called Columna Rhegina (Torre di Cavallo), and was
100 stadia north of the town.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Pegion: Eth. Rheginos, Rheginus: Reggio. An important city of Magna
Graecia, situated near the southern end of the Bruttian peninsula, on the E. side
of the Sicilian straits, and almost directly opposite to Messana in Sicily. The
distance between the two cities, in a direct line, is only about 6 geog. miles,
and the distance from Rhegium to the nearest point of the island is somewhat less.
There is no doubt that it was a Greek colony, and we have no account of any settlement
previously existing on the site; but the spot is said to have been marked by the
tomb of Jocastus, one of the sons of Aeolus. (Heraclid. Polit. 25.) The foundation
of Rhegium is universally ascribed to the Chalcidians, who had, in a year of famine,
consecrated a tenth part of their citizens to Apollo; and these, under the direction
of the oracle at Delphi, proceeded to Rhegium, whither they were also invited
by their Chalcidic brethren, who were already established at Zancle on the opposite
side of the strait. (Strab. vi. p. 257; Heraclid. l. c.; Diod. xiv. 40; Thuc.
vi. 4; Scymn. Ch. 311.) With these Chalcidians were also united a body of Messenian
exiles, who had been driven from their country at the beginning of the First Messenian
War, and had established themselves for a time at Macistus. They were apparently
not numerous, as Rhegium always continued to be considered a Chalcidic city; but
they comprised many of the chief families in the new colony; so that, according
to Strabo, the presiding magistrates of the city were always taken from among
these Messenian citizens, down to the time of Anaxilas, who himself belonged to
this dominant caste. (Strab. vi. p. 257; Paus. iv. 23. § 6; Thuc. vi. 4; Heraclid.
l. c. 1.) The date of the foundation of Rhegium is uncertain; the statements just
mentioned, which connect it with the First Messenian War would carry it back as
far as the 8th century B.C.; but they leave the precise period uncertain. Pausanias
considers it as founded after the end of the war, while Antiochus, who is cited
by Strabo, seems to refer it to the beginning; but his expressions are not decisive,
as we do not know how long the exiles may have remained at Macistus; and it is
probable, on the whole, that we may consider it as taking place shortly after
the close of the war, and therefore before 720 B.C. (Paus. l. c.; Antioch. ap.
Strab. l. c.). In this case it was probably the most ancient of all the Greek
colonies in this part of Italy. Various etymologies of the name of Rhegium are
given by ancient authors; the one generally received, and adopted by Aeschylus
(ap. Strab. l. c.), was that which derived it from the bursting asunder of the
coasts of Sicily and Italy, which was generally ascribed to an earthquake. (Diod.
iv. 85; Justin. iv. 1, &c.) Others absurdly connected it with the Latin regium.
(Strab. l. c.), while Heraclides gives a totally different story, which derived
the name from that of an indigenous hero. (Heraclid. Polit. 25.) There
seems no doubt that Rhegium rose rapidly to be a flourishing and prosperous city;
but we know almost nothing of its history previous to the time of Anaxilas. The
constitution, as we learn from Heraclides, was aristocratic, the management of
affairs resting wholly with a council or body of 1000 of the principal and wealthiest
citizens. After the legislation of Charondas at Catana, his laws were adopted
by the Rhegians as well as by the other Chalcidic cities of Sicily, (Heraclid.
l. c.; Arist. Pol. ii. 12, v. 12.) The Rhegians are mentioned as affording shelter
to the fugitive Phocaeans, who had been driven from Corsica, previous to the foundation
of Velia. (Herod. i. 166, 167.) According to Strabo they extended their dominion
over many of the adjoining towns, but these could only have been small places,
as we do not hear of any colonies of importance founded by the Rhegians; and their
territory extended only as far as the Halex on the E., where they adjoined the
Locrian territory, while the Locrian colonies of Medma and Hipponinm prevented
their extension on the N. Indeed, from the position of Rhegium it seems to have
always maintained closer relations with Sicily, and taken more part in the politics
of that island than in those of the other Greek cities in Italy. Between the Rhegians
and Locrians, however, there appears to have been a constant spirit of enmity,
which might be readily expected between two rival cities, such near neighbours,
and belonging to different races. (Thuc. iv. 1, 24.)
Rhegium appears to have participated largely in the political changes
introduced by the Pythagoreans, and even became, for a short time after the death
of Pythagoras, the head-quarters of his sect (Iambl. Vit. Pyth. 33, 130, 251);
but the changes then introduced do not seem to have been permanent.
It was under the reign of Anaxilas that Rhegium first rose to a degree
of power far greater than it had previously attained. We have no account of the
circumstances attending the elevation of that despot to power, an event which
took place, according to Diodorus, in B.C. 494 (Diod. xi. 48); but we know that
he belonged to one of the ancient Messenian families, and to the oligarchy which
had previously ruled the state. (Strab. vi. p. 257; Paus. iv. 23. § 6; Arist.
Pol. v. 12; Thuc. vi. 4.) Hence, when he made himself master of Zancle on the
opposite side of the straits, he gave to that city the name of Messana, by which
it was ever afterwards known.
Anaxilas continued for some years ruler of both these cities, and
thus was undisputed master of the Sicilian straits: still further to strengthen
himself in this sovereignty, he fortified the rocky promontory of Scyllaeum, and
established a naval station there to guard the straits against the Tyrrhenian
pirates. (Strab. vi. p. 257.) He meditated also the destruction of the neighbouring
city of Locri, the perpetual rival and enemy of Rhegium, but was prevented from
carrying out his purpose by the intervention of Hieron of Syracuse, who espoused
the cause of the Locrians, and whose enmity Anaxilas did not choose to provoke.
(Schol. ad Pind. Pyth. ii. 34.) One of his daughters was, indeed, married to the
Syracusan despot, whose friendship he seems to have sought assiduously to cultivate.
Anaxilas enjoyed the reputation of one of the mildest and most equitable of the
Sicilian rulers (Justin. iv. 2), and it is probable that Rhegium enjoyed great
prosperity under his government. At his death, in B.C. 476, it passed without
opposition under the rule of his two sons; but the government was administered
during their minority by their guardian Micythus, who reigned over both Rhegium
and Messana for nine years with exemplary justice and moderation, and at the end
of that time gave up the sovereignty into the hands of the two sons of Anaxilas.
(Diod. xi. 48, 66; Herod. vii. 170; Justin. iv. 2; Macrob. Sat. i. 11.) These,
however, did not hold it long: they were expelled in B.C. 461, the revolutions
which at that time agitated the cities of Sicily having apparently extended to
Rhegium also. (Diod. xi. 76.)
The government of Micythus was marked by one great disaster: in B.C.
473, the Rhegians, having sent an auxiliary force of 3000 men to assist the Tarentines
against the Iapygians, shared in the great defeat which they sustained on that
occasion; but the statement of Diodorus that the barbarians not only pursued the
fugitives to the gates of Rhegium, but actually made themselves masters of the
city, may be safely rejected as incredible. (Diod. xi. 52; Herod. vii. 170; Grote's
Hist. of Greece, vol. v. p. 319.) A story told by Justin, that the Rhegians being
agitated by domestic dissensions, a body of mercenaries, who were called in by
one of the parties, drove out their opponents, and then made themselves masters
of the city by a general massacre of the remaining citizens (Justin, iv. 3), must
be placed (if at all) shortly after the expulsion of the sons of Anaxilas; but
the whole story has a very apocryphal air; it is not noticed by any other writer,
and it is certain that the old Chalcidic citizens continued in possession of Rhegium
down to a much later period.
We have very little information as to the history of Rhegium during
the period which followed the expulsion of the despots; but it seems to have retained
its liberty, in common with the neighbouring cities of Sicily, till it fell under
the yoke of Dionysius. In B.C. 427, when the Athenians sent a fleet under Laches
and Charoeades to support the Leontines against Syracuse, the Rhegians espoused
the cause of the Chalcidic cities of Sicily, and not only allowed their city to
be made the head-quarters of the Athenian fleet, but themselves furnished a considerable
auxiliary force. They were in consequence engaged in continual hostilities with
the Locrians. (Diod. xii. 54; Thuc. iii. 86, iv. 1, 24, 25.) But they pursued
a different course on occasion of the great Athenian expedition to Sicily in B.C.
415, when they refused to take any part in the contest; and they appear to have
persevered in this neutrality to the end. (Diod. xiii. 3: Thuc. vi. 44, vii. 1,
58.)
It was not long after this that the increasing power of Dionysius
of Syracuse, who had destroyed in succession the chief Chalcidic cities of Sicily,
became a subject of alarm to the Rhegians; and in B.C. 399 they fitted out a fleet
of 50 triremes, and an army of 6000 foot and 600 horse, to make war upon the despot.
But the Messenians, who at first made common cause with them, having quickly abandoned
the alliance, they were compelled to desist from the enterprise, and made peace
with Dionysius. (Diod. xiv. 40.) The latter, who was meditating a great war with
Carthage, was desirous to secure the friendship of the Rhegians; but his proposals
of a matrimonial alliance were rejected with scorn; he in consequence concluded
such an alliance with the Locrians, and became from this time the implacable enemy
of the Rhegians. (lb. 44, 107.) It was from hostility to the latter that he a
few years later (B.C. 394), after the destruction of Messana by the Carthagilians,
restored and fortified that city, as a post to command the straits, and from which
to carry on his enterprises in Southern Italy. The Rhegians in vain sought to
forestal him; they made an unsuccessful attack upon Messana, and were foiled in
their attempt to establish a colony of Naxians at Mylae, as a post of offence
against the Messenians. (Ib. 87.) The next year Dionysius, in his turn, made a
sudden attack on Rhegium itself, but did not succeed in surprising the city; and
after ravaging its territory, was compelled to draw off his forces. (Ib. 90.)
But in B.C. 390 he resumed the design on a larger scale, and laid regular siege
to the city with a force of 20,000 foot, 1000 horse, and a fleet of 120 triremes.
The Rhegians, however, opposed a vigorous resistance: the fleet of Dionysius suffered
severely from a storm, and the approach of winter at length compelled him to abandon
the siege. (Ib. 100.) The next year (B.C. 389) his great victory over the confederate
forces of the Italiot Greeks at the river Helorus left him at liberty to prosecute
his designs against Rhegium without opposition: the Rhegians in vain endeavoured
to avert the danger by submitting to a tribute of 300 talents, and by surrendering
all their ships, 70 in number. By these concessions they obtained only a precarious
truce, which Dionysius found a pretext for breaking the very next year, and laid
siege to the city with all his forces. The Rhegians, under the command of a general
named Phyton, made a desperate resistance, and were enabled to prolong their defence
for eleven months, but were at length compelled to surrender, after having suffered
the utmost extremities of famine (B.C. 387). The surviving inhabitants were sold
as slaves, their general Phyton put to an ignominious death, and the city itself
totally destroyed. (Diod.xiv. 106-108, 111, 112; Strab. vi. p. 258; Pseud.-Arist.
Oecon. ii. 21.)
There is no doubt that Rhegium never fully recovered this great calamity;
but so important a site could not long remain unoccupied. The younger Dionysius
partially restored the city, to which he gave the name of Phoebias, but the old
name soon again prevailed. (Strab. l. c.) It was occupied with a garrison by the
despot, but in B.C. 351 it was besieged and taken by the Syracusan commanders
Leptines and Callippus, the garrison driven out, and the citizens restored to
independence. (Diod. xvi. 45.) Hence they were, a few years later (B.C. 345),
among the foremost to promise their assistance to Timoleon, who halted at Rhegium
on his way to Sicily, and from thence, eluding the vigilance of the Carthaginians
by a stratagem, crossed over to Tauromenium. (Diod. xvi. 66, 68; Plut. Timol.
9,10.) From this time we hear no more of Rhegium, till the arrival of Pyrrhus
in Italy (B.C. 280), when it again became the scene of a memorable catastrophe.
The Rhegians on that occasion, viewing with apprehension the progress of the king
of Epirus, and distrusting the Carthaginians, had recourse to the Roman alliance,
and received into their city as a garrison, a body of Campanian troops, 4000 in
number, under the command of an officer named Decius. But these troops had not
been long in possession of the city when they were tempted to follow the example
of their countrymen, the Mamertines, on the other side of the strait; and they
took advantage of an alleged attempt at defection on the part of the Rhegians,
to make a promiscuous massacre of the male citizens, while they reduced the women
and children to slavery, and established themselves in the sole occupation of
the town. (Pol. i. 7; Oros. iv. 3; Appian, Samnit. iii. 9; Diod. xxii. Exc. H.
p. 494, Exc. Vales, p. 562; Dion Cass. Fr. 40. 7; Strab. v. p. 258.) The Romans
were unable to punish them for this act of treachery so long as they were occupied
with the war against Pyrrhus; and the Campanians for some years continued to reap
the benefit of their crime. But as soon as Pyrrhus had finally withdrawn from
Italy, the Romans turned their arms against their rebellious soldiers; and in
B.C. 270, being actively supported by Hieron of Syracuse, the consul Genucius
succeeded in reducing Rhegium by force, though not till after a long siege. Great
part of the Campanians perished in the defence ; the rest were executed by order
of the Roman people. (Poi. i. 6, 7; Oros. iv. 3; Dionys. Fr. Mai. xix. 1, xx.
7.)
Rhegium was now restored to the survivors of its former inhabitants
(Pol. i. 7; Liv. xxxi. 31; Appian, l. c.); but it must have suffered severely,
and does not seem to have again recovered its former prosperity. Its name is hardly
mentioned during the First Punic War, but in the second, the citizens distinguished
themselves by their fidelity to the Roman cause, and repeated attempts of Hannibal
to make himself master of the city were uniformly repulsed. (Liv. xxiii. 30, xxiv.
1, xxvi. 12, xxix. 6.) From this time the name of Rhegium is rarely mentioned
in history under the Roman Republic ; but we learn from several incidental notices
that it continued to enjoy its own laws and nominal liberty as a foederata civitas,
though bound, in common with other cities in the same condition, to furnish an
auxiliary naval contingent as often as required. (Liv. xxxi. 31, xxxv. 16, xxxvi.
42.) It was not till after the Social War that the Rhegians, like the other Greek
cities of Italy, passed into the condition of Roman citizens, and Rhegium itself
became a Roman Municipium. (Cic. Verr. iv. 6. 0, Phil. i. 3, pro Arch. 3.) Shortly
before this (B.C. 91) the city had suffered severely from an earthquake, which
had destroyed a large part of it (Strab. vi. p. 258; Jul. Obseq. 114); but it
seems to have, in great measure, recovered from this calamity, and is mentioned
by Appian towards the close of the Republic as one of the eighteen flourishing
cities of Italy, which were promised by the Triumvirs to their veterans as a reward
for their services. (Appian, B.C. iv. 3.) Rhegium, however, had the good fortune
to escape on this occasion by the personal favour of Octavian (Ib. 86); and during
the war which followed between him and Sextus Pompeius, B.C. 38-36, it became
one of the most important posts, which was often made by Octavian the headquarters
both of his fleet and army. (Strab. vi. p. 258; Appian, B.C. v. 81, 84; Dion Cass.
xlviii. 18, 47.) To reward the Rhegians for their services on this occasion, Augustus
increased the population, which was in a declining state, by the addition of a
body of new colonists; but the old inhabitants were not expelled, nor did the
city assume the title of a Colonia, though it adopted, in gratitude to Augustus,
the name of Rhegium Julium. (Strab. l. c.; Ptol. iii. 1. § 9; Orell. Inser. 3838.)
In the time of Strabo it was a populous and flourishing place, and was one of
the few cities which, like Neapolis and Tarentum, still preserved some remains
of its Greek civilisation. (Strab. vi. pp. 253, 259.) Traces of this may be observed
also in inscriptions, some of which, of the period of the Roman Empire, present
a curious mixture of Greek and Latin, while others have the names of Roman magistrates,
though the inscriptions themselves are in Greek. (Morisani, Inscr. Reginae, 4to.
Neap. 1770, pp. 83, 126, &c.; Boeckh, C. L 5760-5768.)
Its favourable situation and its importance, as commanding the passage
of the Sicilian straits, preserved Rhegium from falling into the same state of
decay as many other cities in the south of Italy. It continued to exist as a considerable
city throughout the period of the Roman Empire (Plin. iii. 5. s. 10; Ptol. l.
c.; Itin. Ant. pp. 112, 115, 490), and was the termination of the great highway
which led through the southern peninsula of Italy, and formed the customary mode
of communication with Sicily. In A.D. 410 Rhegium became the limit of the progress
of Alaric, who after the capture of Rome advanced through Campania, Lucania, and
Bruttium, laying waste those provinces on his march, and made himself master of
Rhegium, from whence he tried to cross over into Sicily, but, being frustrated
in this attempt, retraced his steps as far as Consentia, where he died. (Hist.
Miscell. xiii. p. 535.) Somewhat later it is described by Cassiodorus as still
a flourishing place (Var. xii. 14), and was still one of the chief cities of Bruttium
in the days of Paulus Diaconus. (Hist. Lang. ii. 17.) During the Gothic wars after
the fall of the Western Empire, Rhegium bears a considerable part, and was a strong
fortress, but it was taken by Totila in A.D. 549, previous to his expedition to
Sicily. (Procop. B. G. i. 8, iii. 18, 37, 38.) It subsequently fell again into
the hands of the Greek emperors, and continued subject to them, with the exception
of a short period when it was occupied by the Saracens, until it passed under
the dominion of Robert Guiscard in A.D. 1060. The modern city of Reggio is still
a considerable place, with a population of about 10,000 souls, and is the capital
of the province of Calabria Ultra; but it has suffered severely in modern times
from earthquakes, having been almost entirely destroyed in 1783, and again in
great part overthrown in 1841. It has no remains of antiquity, except a few inscriptions,
but numerous coins, urns, mosaics, and other ancient relics have been brought
to light by excavations.
Rhegium was celebrated in antiquity as the birthplace of the lyric
poet Ibycus, as well as that of Lycus the historian, the father of Lycophron.
It gave birth also to the celebrated sculptor Pythagoras (Diog. Laert. viii. 1.
§ 47; Paus. vi. 4. § 4); and to several of the minor Pythagorean philosophers,
whose names are enumerated by lamblichus (Vit. Pyth. 267), but none of these are
of much note. Its territory was fertile, and noted for the excellence of its wines,
which were especially esteemed for their salubrity. (Athen. i. p. 26.) Cassiodorus
describes it as well adapted for vines and olives, but not suited to corn. (Var.
xii. 14.) Another production in which it excelled was its breed of mules, so that
Anaxilas the despot was repeatedly victor at the Olympic games with the chariot
drawn by mules (apene), and his son Leophron obtained the same distinction. One
of these victories was celebrated by Simonides. (Heraclid. Polit. 25; Athen. i.
p. 3 ; Pollux, Onomast. v. 75.)
Rhegium itself was, as already mentioned, the termination of the line
of high-road which traversed the whole length of Southern Italy from Capua to
the Sicilian strait, and was first constructed by the praetor Popilius in B.C.
134. (Orell. Inscr. 3308; Mommsen, Inscr. R. N. 6276; Ritschel, Mon. Epigr. pp.
11, 12.) But the most frequented place of passage for crossing the, strait to
Messana was, in ancient as well as in modern times, not at Rhegium itself, but
at a spot about 9 miles further N., which was marked by a column, and thence known
by the name of COLUMNA RHEGINA. (Itin. Ant. pp. 98, 106, 111; Plin. iii. 5. s.
10; he Hpeginon stulis, Strab. v. p. 257.) The distance of this from Rhegium is
given both by Pliny and Strabo at 12 1/2 miles or 100 stadia, and the latter places
it only 6 stadia from the promontory of Caenys or Punta del Pezzo. It must therefore
have been situated in the neighbourhood of the modern village of Villa San Giovanni,
which is still the most usual place of passage. But the distance from Rhegium
is overstated by both geographers, the Punta del Pezzo itself being less than
10 miles from Reggio. On the other hand the inscription of La Polla (Forum Popilii)
gives the distance from the place of passage, which it designates as Ad Statuam,
at only 6 miles. (Mommsen, Inscr. R. N. 6276.) Yet it is probable that the spot
meant is really the same in both cases, as from the strong current in the straits
the place of embarkation must always have been nearly the same.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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