STABIAE
(Castellammare di Stabia) Campania, Italy.
An early Oscan settlement that became part
of the confederation of Nuceria. With a natural port in
the SE corner of the Gulf of Naples, it had from its
origin defensive and commercial purposes in connection
with the Sannio river route. An important road led from
Stabiae to Nuceria by the 8th-7th c. B.C.; and after the
descent of the Samnites into Campania and the formation of the federation of Nuceria, Stabiae became the
port of Nuceria, whose political and administrative
structures it imitated. During the Samnite wars, Stabiae
was the military port of the fleet until the fall of Nuceria
and the alliance with Rome. Stabiae, together with Nola
and Salerno, was occupied by Papius Mutilus during the
social war in 90 B.C., and was destroyed by Sulla on
April 30, 89 B.C. It was quickly transformed into a health
resort. The town felt the effects of the earthquake of 62
only slightly.
The site of pre-Roman Stabiae, built as oppidum of
the federation of Nuceria, is not known. The destruction
by Sulla, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions have
wiped out every trace. The remains of walls in opus
reticulatum and of buildings similar to the hot baths of
Pompeii in the area known as Fontana Grande, near the
ancient coastline, suggest that the site may be sought
there.
In any case, the town was transferred from the coast
to the hill of Varano. It became an extravagant residential
area, a town of country resorts. A complex of government buildings encompassed more than a kilometer. The
builders of the villas tended to subordinate the architectural to the natural environment in an attempt to
realize new forms. The villas are characterized by a long
ambulatio set in the design of a porticus triplex and by
the separation of residents' and servants' quarters in different levels of terraces. A series of winding ramps beneath arches gave access to the beach. The remains of the decorations provide noteworthy samples of painting
of the Flavian period.
In the environs of Stabiae a spacious pre-Roman
necropolis (8th-2d c. B.C.), beneath the road to Nuceria,
contains rectangular graves (inhumations?) encased in
limestone blocks or tufa slabs with abundant funerary
furnishings. Other Roman and pre-Roman tombs have
been discovered at Gragnano. Rectangular inhumation
graves encased in tufa slabs from the Hellenistic period
were placed along the road to Sorrento. Chamber tombs
with sarcophagi of the Republican period have been
discovered in the area known as Sant'Antonio Abate
along the main route from Stabiae to Nuceria.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
L. Cosenza,
Stabia. Studi archeologici,
topografici et storici (1907); L. D'Orsi,
Gli scavi di
Stabia (1954); id.,
Gli scavi archeologici di Stabia
(1961); O. Elia,
Le pitture di Stabia (1957); A. Maiuri,
Pompei, Ercolano e Stabia (1961).
F. PARISE BADONI
