LONGANE
Sicily.
A city in the province
of Messina 5 km from the coast in the Peloritan mountains between Mylai and Tyndaris. It is on the plateau
above the villages of Rodi and Milici between the valleys of the rivers Termini and Mazzarra. The site seems
to have been unknown to the ancient authors, who mention only the river Longanos (river of Termini) on the
banks of which the Mamertines were defeated by Hieron
II in 268 B.C.; but the name and the existence of Longane are attested by the ethnic on a silver coin (Poole,
Sicily p. 96) and a bronze caduceus (Roehl
IGA no.
522) now in the British Museum.
The excavations have identified a settlement and a
necropolis of the Middle Bronze Age (18th-15th century
B.C.), a necropolis of the Iron Age (9th-8th century
B.C.), and considerable remains of a native settlement
hellenized by Zankle-Messene, which was destroyed and
definitely abandoned in the 5th c. B.C. A complex rectangular structure in stone (sanctuary?) is visible near
the d'Alcontres dwelling; remains of pre-Hellenic fortifications in megalithic technique are found on the S hill
(Cocuzza or Pirgo), and the acropolis has been identified to the N on Mt. Ciappa; it is surrounded by a long
fortification wall with projecting square towers. The
finds are in the Aeolian Museum in Lipari.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
L. Bernabò Brea, “La necropoli di
Longane,”
BPI 76 (1967)
MPI; D. Ryolo & L. Bernabò Brea,
Longane (1967)
I.
G. SCIBONA
