CANUSIUM
(Canosa di Puglia) Apulia, Italy.
One of the most important cities of ancient Apulia,
located on the right bank of the Ofanto (Aufidus) river
ca. 24 km from its mouth, at the boundary between
Peucezia and Daunia. Its port on the Ofanto, perhaps
navigable at that time in its lower reaches, is recorded by
Strabo (
6.3.9). According to legend the city was founded
by Diomedes and named for his hunting dogs (Strab.
loc.cit.; Hor.
Sat. 1.5.92;
Schol. Dan. Aen. 11.246). Its
Greek origin seems to be confirmed by recent archaeological finds, as well as by the minting of coins with the
legend in Greek, which was still spoken in the Augustan
age. Horace (
Sat. 1.10.30) says “Canusini more bilinguis.” The economic prosperity of the city, principally
based on the production and sale of wool, is mentioned
by Pliny (
HN 8.190) and other ancient authors. In 318
B.C. Canusium was occupied by the Roman Consul L.
Plautius, thus falling under the domination of Rome
but conserving its right to coin money (
Livy 9.26).
During the second Punic war the city, remaining faithful to the Romans, took in the survivors of the rout of
Cannae (
Livy 22.52-54; ValMax. 4.8.2; Polyb. 3.107).
Canusium fought against Rome in the social war, together with Venosa. It took within its walls the Samnite
general Trebazio, defeated in 89 B.C. on the Ofanto by
the Roman praetor C. Cosconius (App.
BCiv. 1.42, 54,
84). Canusium became a Roman municipium (
CIL IX,
342, 343), and was ascribed to the tribus Oufentina
(
CIL IX, 336, 339, 340, 415). Under Antoninus Pius a
colony was established there which was called Colonia
Aurelia Augusta Pia Canusia (
CIL IX, 344). In this period the city was enlarged by Herodes Atticus, who
provided it with an aqueduct (Philostr.
VS 2.1.5).
Recently, in the course of agricultural work, a settlement of the Neolithic Age was discovered and a necropolis with cremation burials from the Bronze Age in the zone to the NW of the modern town in the sections
called Pozzillo and Toppicelli. In these areas there
have also been found the remains of an indigenous habitation site from the 7th-6th c. B.C., as well as archaic vases
of Greek provenience. There are indications of the city
of the Hellenistic and Roman times in a number of places
in the modern city, from which come marble columns,
capitals, entablatures, and inscriptions that are recognizable in many churches in the city. Some have been
collected and placed in the municipal building. Recent
excavations have brought to light the ruins of fortifications and of a Roman road near the Early Christian
baptistery. Also recently noted are the remains of a late
Hellenistic temple under the basilica of S. Leucio and
of a Roman temple in Via Imbriani. A statue of Jove,
which came from the latter, is in the museum at Taranto.
The remains of a Roman bath building are preserved in
a courtyard in Via Lamarmora, while the ruins of the
mediaeval castle incorporate part of the city wall and
several towers of the ancient acropolis. At the edge of
the city in the direction of Cerignola, along the course
of the Via Traiana, is a Roman arch of brick, called
Porta Romana or Porta Varrone. It is perhaps one of
the many funerary monuments in the area. Among
them is the so-called Torre Casieri, quadrangular in
plan and built of stone blocks and brick, with a barrel-vaulted cella containing two niches for cinerary urns.
There is also a mausoleum of the Augustan age with a
square base, which had perhaps a circular superstructure
like that of the famous tomb of Cecilia Metella on the
Via Appia at Rome. There is also the so-called Monumento Bagnoli, an interesting mausoleum of the 2d c. A.D.
A Roman bridge spans the Ofanto; its arches were
rebuilt in the mediaeval period. From the hypogea at
Canosa, especially those from the 4th-3d c. B.C., came
rich fittings including red-figure Apulian vases, characteristic plastic polychromed vases, and precious goldwork
that may now be seen in the museums of Naples, Taranto, and Bad.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
W. Smith,
Dictionary of Greek and
Roman Geography, I (1856) 503 (E. H. Bunbury);
RE
III.2 (1899) 1501-2 (Hülsen); E. De Ruggiero,
Dizionario
epigrafico di antichità romane, (1895) 83; K. Miller,
Itineraria Romana (1916) 375;
EAA 2 (1959) 315-17
(O. Elia).
F. G. LO PORTO
