Listed 4 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "TAVROMENION Ancient city SICILY" .
Now Taormina; a city on the eastern coast of Sicily, situated on Mount Taurus, from which it derived its name, and founded B.C. 358 by Andromachus with the remains of the inhabitants of Naxos. For the remains of the great stone theatre at this place, see Theatrum.
A city on the slopes of Mt. Tauro, 250 m above the sea, on the road
from Messina to Katane. Of the early Sikel habitation little is known; only the
necropolis, on the hillside above the city, has been excavated. The Greek city
was founded in 358 B.C. by descendants of the Naxians, whose city on the shore
below had been destroyed by Dionysios of Syracuse in 403.
The Greek agora corresponds roughly to the modern Piazza Vittorio
Emanuele; its W edge may have been delimited by a Doric peristyle temple, one
corner of which can be seen behind the church of S. Caterina. The foundations
of a large building have lately been excavated behind the Caserma of the Carabinieri;
this structure probably defined the N side of the agora. Outside the adjacent
Messina gate are traces of the city wall, which appears to have followed the lines
of the extant mediaeval walls. The nearby church of S. Pancrazio is founded on
the ruins of a temple in antis, probably dedicated to Zeus Serapis. The scanty
remains possibly of a third temple can be seen above and to the E of the theater;
they underlie the upper portico of the theater structure. An important building
of the Greek period has recently come to light in Via Bagnoli Croce below the
theater: situated on a sloping terrace, it has a central peristyle, behind which
are rooms on at least three sides. On the N is a larger room at a higher level;
fragments of inscribed wall plaster suggest that this room was a library. The
entire complex may then be identified as the gymnasium, the existence of which
had been known from inscriptions.
Tauromenion flourished during the Roman domination, especially after
the founding of a colony by Augustus in 30 B.C. The agora was retained as a forum.
Behind the Greek building that delimited the N side of the agora were the municipal
baths, a part of which has recently been excavated. Three large rooms of brick-faced
concrete formed the S exposure of the building; these were heated, two with hypocausts.
Other rooms to the N are incorporated in modern houses; parts of these can be
seen in the extant walls known as the Zecca. Abutting on the temple at the W side
of the forum is a small odeion, dated like the baths to the Imperial period. The
scaena, directly in front of the peristyle temple, was decorated with niches;
the entire structure had a wooden roof. About 100 m E of the forum is the theater,
cut into the slopes of one of the city's acropoleis. It was constructed of brick
and concrete in the 2d c. A.D. An earlier Greek theater was probably on the same
site; to it may belong some inscribed seats and masonry walls, used as foundations
for the Roman stage building. The scaenae frons, inaccurately restored, was articulated
by two superimposed colonnades and pierced by three arches; the latter are open,
representing a concession to the splendid site with its superb view of Aetna and
the sea. The upper cavea was crowned with a vaulted colonnade. At a later period
the theater was transformed into an arena. Below the forum of the city is the
handsome brick wall known as the Naumachia. Decorated with alternating niches
and false windows, this structure had a purely functional role; it formed the
outer wall of a large two-aisled cistern, now mostly destroyed; and it served
to terrace the steep hillside. Other large vaulted cisterns have survived in Vicolo
Floresta and in Contrada Giafari above the town, indicating the existence of a
complex system for the collection and distribution of water. Important local inscriptions,
works of sculpture, mosaics, and other antiquities are kept in the small antiquarium
above the theater, in anticipation of the completion of the Museo della Badia.
M. Bell, 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 95 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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