Listed 6 sub titles with search on: Various locations for wider area of: "TARANTO Town PUGLIA" .
SYVARIS (Ancient city) PUGLIA
A river in Bruttium, separating the territories of Sybaris and Croton.
A river in Bruttium, now the Trionto, near which the Sybarites were defeated by the troops of Crotona in B.C. 510
TARANTO (Ancient city) PUGLIA
Tarentinus Sinus (ho Tarantinos kolpos: Golfo di Taranto) was the
name given in ancient as well as in modern times to the extensive gulf comprised
between the two great promontories or peninsulas of Southern Italy. It was bounded
by the Iapygian promontory (Capo della Leuca) on the N., and by the Lacinian promontory
(Capo delle Colonne) on the S.; and these natural limits being clearly marked,
appear to have been generally recognised by ancient geographers. (Strab. vi. pp.
261, 262; Mel. ii. 4. § 8; Plin. iii. 11. s. 16; Ptol. iii. 1. § 12.) Strabo tells
us it was 240 miles in extent, following the circuit of the shores, and 700 stadia
(87 1/2 miles) across from headland to headland. Pliny reckons it 250 miles in
circuit, and 100 miles across the opening. The latter statement considerably exceeds
the truth, while Strabo's estimate is a very fair approximation. This extensive
gulf derived its name from the celebrated city of Tarentum, situated at its N
E. extremity, and which enjoyed the advantage of a good port, almost the only
one throughout the whole extent of the gulf. (Strab. vi. p. 278.) But notwithstanding
this disadvantage, its western shores were lined by a succession of Greek colonies,
which rose into flourishing cities. Crotona, Sybaris, Metapontum, and, at a later
period, Heraclea and Thurii, all adorned this line of coast; the great fertility
of the territory compensating for the want of natural harbours. On the northern
or Iapygian shore, on the contrary, the only city was Callipolis, which never
rose above a subordinate condition.
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
TARANTO (Ancient city) PUGLIA
Lacinium (to Lakinion akron: Capo delle Colonne), a promontory on
the E. coast of the Bruttian peninsula, about 6 miles S. of Crotona. It formed
the southern limit of the gulf of Tarentum, as the Iapygian promontory did the
northern one: the distance between the two is stated by Strabo, on the authority
of Polybius, at 700 stadia, while Pliny apparently (for the passage in its present
state is obviously corrupt) reckons it at 75 Roman miles, or 600 stadia; both
of which estimates are a fair approximation to the truth, the real interval being
65 geog. miles, or 650 stadia. (Strab. vi. p. 261 ; Plin. iii. 11. s. 15; Mel.
ii. 4. § 8.) The Lacinian promontory is a bold and rocky headland, forming the
termination of one of the offshoots or branches of the great range of the Apennines
(Lucan ii.434; Plin. iii. 5. s. 6): it was crowned in ancient times by the celebrated
temple of the Lacinian Juno, the ruins of which, surviving through the middle
ages, have given to the promontory its modern appellation of Capo delle Colonne.
It is also known by that of Capo Nau, a name evidently derived from the Greek
Naos, a, temple; and which seems to date from an early period, as the promontory
is already designated in the Maritime Itinerary (p. 490) by the name of Naus.
That Itinerary reckons it 100 stadia from thence to Crotona: Strabo gives the
same distance as 150 stadia; but both are greatly overrated. Livy correctly says
that the temple (which stood at the extreme point of the promontory) was only
about 6 miles from the city. (Liv. xxiv. 3.)
Pliny tells us (iii. 10. s. 15) that opposite to the Lacinian promontory,
at a distance of 10 miles from the land, was an island called Dioscoron (the island
of the Dioscuri), and another called the island of Calypso, supposed to be the
Ogygia of Homer. Scylax also mentions the island of Calypso immediately after
the Lacinian promontory ( § 13, p. 5). But there is at the present day no island
at all that will answer to either of those mentioned by Pliny: there is, in fact,
no islet, however small, off the Lacinian cape, and hence modern writers have
been reduced to seek for the abode of Calypso in a small and barren rock, close
to the shore, near Capo Rizzuto, about 12 miles S. of Lacinium. Swinburne, who
visited it, remarks how little it corresponded with the idea of the Homeric Ogygia:
but it is difficult to believe that so trifling a rock (which is not even marked
on Zannoni's elaborate map) could have been that meant by Scylax and Pliny. The
statement of the latter concerning the island which he calls Dioscoron is still
more precise, and still more difficult to account for. On the other hand, he adds
the names of three others, Tiris, Eranusa, and Meloessa, which he introduces somewhat
vaguely, as if he were himself not clear of their position. Their names were probably
taken from some poet now lost to us.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited July 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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