Ancient city in Calabria, Italy
Scylletium
[1]
or
Skylletion
or
Scolacium
was an ancient seaside city in
Calabria
,
southern Italy
. Its ruins can be found at the
frazione
of Roccelletta, near
Catanzaro
, facing the
Gulf of Squillace
.
History
[
edit
]
Greek era
[
edit
]
Skylletion may originally have been founded in the 7th c. BC on the Punta di Staletti promontory.
[2]
In any case Scylletium was situated from the 6th c. BC on the east coast of
Calabria
(ancient Bruttium), on the shores of an extensive bay, to which it gave the name of Scylleticus Sinus.
[3]
According to a tradition generally received in ancient times, Scylletium (
Ancient Greek
:
Σκυλλ?τιον
)
[4]
was founded by an
Athenian
colony of
Magna Graecia
, a part of the followers who had accompanied
Menestheus
to the
Trojan War
.
[5]
Solinus
also mention that the Scylaceum was established by Athenians.
[6]
Another tradition was, however, extant, which ascribed its foundation to
Ulysses
.
[7]
Howvwer, it did not display any friendship towards the Athenians.
[8]
It appears during this period to have been a minor place and a mere dependency of
Crotona
until it was wrested from its power by the
elder Dionysius
, who assigned it with its territory to the
Locrians
.
[9]
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 had his headquarters for some time at
Castra Hannibalis
very near Scylletium.
Roman era
[
edit
]
Scolacium Theatre
In 124 BC the
Romans
, at the instigation of
C. Gracchus
, sent a
colony
to Scylletium, which appears to have assumed the name of
Minervium
or
Colonia Minervia
.
[10]
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
.
[11]
Scylletium appears to have become a considerable town after it received the Roman colony, and continued such throughout the
Roman Empire
.
[12]
Towards the close of this period it was distinguished as the birthplace of the Roman statesman
Cassiodorus
, founder of the
Vivarium
, a monastery dedicated to the coexistence of coenobitic monks and hermits, who has left us a detailed but rhetorical description of the beauty of its situation dated to around 530 AD, and fertility of its territory.
[13]
Cassiodorus also mentioned production of highly priced
terra cotta
. His villa was located at Punta di Staletti.
[14]
Sculpture
[
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]
In 2006 a sculpture with the title
Time Horizon
was set up in the park by the English sculptor
Antony Gormley
.
Literature
[
edit
]
- Antony Gormley: Time Horizon Intersecione
, Intersecione 2 al Parco Archeologico di Scolacium, 2006
ISBN
88-370-4583-2
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Also spelled
Scolacium
,
Scylacium
,
Scolatium
,
Scyllaceum
,
Scalacium
, or
Scylaeium
in
Latin
? (
Greek
:
Σκυλλ?τιον
, per
Stephanus of Byzantium
and
Strabo
, or
Σκυλ?κιον
, per
Ptolemy
), and later,
Minervium
and
Colonia Minervia
. See
Richard Talbert
,
Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World
, (
ISBN
0-691-03169-X
), Map 46, notes..
- ^
P. Courcelle, MEFR, 55(1938), 259-307, as modified by his article in Actes du Ve congres international d'archeologie chretienne (1957), 511-528
- ^
Strabo
vi. p. 261.
- ^
Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica, § S579.7
- ^
Strabo
l. c.
; Pliny
l. c.
;
Servius
ad Aeneidos
iii. 553.)
- ^
Solinus, Polyhistor, 2.10
- ^
Cassiod. Var. xii. 15; Servius
l. c.
.
- ^
Diodorusxiii
. 3.
- ^
Strabo vi. p. 261.
- ^
Velleius Paterculus
i. 15;
Mommsen
, in
Berichte der Sachsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften
, 1849, pp. 49?51.
- ^
Orell.
Inscr.
136; Mommsen,
l. c.
- ^
Pomponius Mela
ii. 4. § 8; Pliny iii. 10. s. 15; Ptolemy iii. 1. § 11.
- ^
Cassiod.
Var.
xii. 15.
- ^
Cassiodorus
Chapter 6: Vivarium
https://faculty.georgetown.edu/jod/texts/cassbook/chap6.html
References
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Scolacium
.
- Roberto Spadea (a cura di), Scolacium una citta romana in Calabria. Il museo e il parco archeologico, Milano, ET, 2005, pp. 506-542 e pp. 51-65
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain
:
Smith, William
, ed. (1854?1857).
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography
. London: John Murray.
- Richard Talbert
,
Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World
, (
ISBN
0-691-03169-X
), Map 46.