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CHAP. 10.—THE THIRD REGION OF ITALY.

At the Silarus begins the third region of Italy, consisting of the territory of Lucania and Bruttium; here too there have been no few changes of the population. These districts have been possessed by the Pelasgi, the Œnotrii, the Itali, the Morgetes, the Siculi, and more especially by people who emigrated from Greece1, and, last of all, by the Leucani, a people sprung from the Samnites, who took possession under the command of Lucius. We find here the town of Pæstum2, which received from the Greeks the name of Posidonia, the Gulf of Pæstum3, the town of Elea, now known as Velia4, and the Promontory of Palinurum5, a point at which the land falls inwards and forms a bay6, the distance across which to the pillar7 of Rhegium is 100 miles. Next after Palinurum comes the river Melpes8, then the town of Buxentum9, called in [Magna] Græcia Pyxus, and the river Laus; there was formerly a town10 also of the same name.

At this spot begins the coast of Bruttium, and we come to the town of Blanda11, the river Batum12, Parthenius, a port of the Phocians, the bay of Vibo13, the place14 where Clampetia formerly stood, the town of Temsa15, called Temese by the Greeks, and Terina founded by the people of Crotona16, with the extensive Gulf of Terina; more inland, the town of Consentia17. Situate upon a peninsula18 is the river Acheron19, from which the people of Acherontia derive the name of their town; then Hippo, now called Vibo Valentia, the Port of Hercules20, the river Metaurus21, the town of Tauroentum22, the Port of Orestes, and Medma23. Next, the town of Scyllæum24, the river Cratæis25, the mother of Scylla it is said; then the Pillar of Rhegium, the Straits of Sicily, and the two promontories which face each other, Cænys26 on the Italian, and Pelorus27 on the Sicilian side, the distance between them being twelve stadia. At a distance thence of twelve miles and a half, we come to Rhegium28, after which begins Sila29, a forest of the Apennines, and then the pro- montory of Leucopetra30, at a distance of fifteen miles; after which come the Locri31, who take their surname from the promontory of Zephyrium32, being distant from the river Silarus 303 miles.

At this spot ends the first33 great Gulf of Europe; the seas in which bear the following names:—That from which it takes its rise is called the Atlantic, by some the Great Atlantic, the entrance of which is, by the Greeks, called Porthmos, by us the Straits of Gades. After its entrance, as far as it washes the coasts of Spain, it is called the Hispanian Sea, though some give it the name of the Iberian or Balearic34 Sea. Where it faces the province of Gallia Narbonensis it has the name of the Gallic, and after that, of the Ligurian, Sea. From Liguria to the island of Sicily, it is called the Tuscan Sea, the same which is called by some of the Greeks the Notian35, by others the Tyrrhenian, while many of our people call it the Lower Sea. Beyond Sicily, as far as the country of the Salentini, it is styled by Polybius the Ausonian Sea. Eratosthenes however gives to the whole expanse that lies between the inlet of the ocean and the island of Sardinia, the name of the Sardoan Sea; thence to Sicily, the Tyrrhenian; thence to Crete, the Sicilian; and beyond that island, the Cretan Sea.

1 "Græciæ maxime populi." This may also be rendered "a people who mostly emigrated from Greece," in reference to the Siculi or Sici- lans, but the other is probably the correct translation.

2 A town of Lucania, colonized by the Sybarites about B.C. 524. In the time of Augustus it seems to have been principally famous for the exquisite beauty of its roses. Its ruins are extremely magnificent.

3 Now the Golfo di Salerno.

4 A Greek town founded by the Phocæans. It was the birth-place of the philosophers Parmenides and Zeno, who founded a school of philosophy known as the Eleatic. Castell' a Mare della Brucca stands on its site.

5 Now Capo di Palinuro; said to have received its name from Palinurus, the pilot of Æneas, who fell into the sea there and was murdered by the natives. See Virgil, Æneid, B. vi. 1. 381 et seq.

6 Now the Golfo di Policastro.

7 This tower or column was erected in the vicinity of Rhegium on the Straits of Sicily. It was 100 stadia, or about eight miles, from the town, and at it passengers usually embarked for Sicily. The spot is now called Torre di Carallo.

8 Now the Faraone.

9 A Greek colony. The present Policastro occupies very nearly its site. It seems to have received its name from the cultivation of box trees in its vicinity.

10 Or more properly Laos, originally a Greek colony. In the vicinity is the modern town of Laino, and the river is called the Lao.

11 Ptolemy mentions it as an inland town, and Livy speaks of it as a Lucanian city. It probably stood near the modern Maratea, twelve miles south-east of Policastro.

12 The modern Bato.

13 The bay of Bivona, formerly Vibo, the Italian name for the Greek city of Hippo or Hippona. On its site stands the modern Bivona.

14 "Locus Clampetiæ." Clampetia or Lampetia stood in the vicinity of the modern Amantia. From other authors we find that it was still existing at this time. If such is the fact, the meaning will be "the place where the former municipal town of Clampetia stood," it being supposed to have lost in its latter years its municipal privileges.

15 One of the ancient Ausonian towns, and afterwards colonized by the Ætolians. Like its namesake in Cyprus it was famous for its copper. Its site is now occupied by Torre di Lupi.

16 A Greek city, almost totally destroyed by Hannibal; Santa Eufemia occupies its site.

17 One of the cities of the Bruttii; now Cosenza.

18 The part which now constitutes the Farther Calabria.

19 Supposed to be the same as the Arconte, which falls into the Crathis near Consentia. Nothing is known of the town here alluded to, but it must not be confounded with Acherontia, the modern Acerenza, in Apulia, which was a different place.

20 Supposed to have been the same as the modern port of Tropea.

21 The modern Marro.

22 Its ruins are supposed to be those seen near Palmi.

23 Probably the modern Melia stands on its site.

24 A town on the promontory of the same name, now called Scilla or Sciglio, where the monster Scylla was fabled to have dwelt.

25 Homer says (Odyssey, xii. 124), that it had its name from the nymph Cratæis, the mother of Scylla. It is probably the small stream now called Fiume di Solano or dei Pesci.

26 The modern Capo di Cavallo, according to the older commentators; but more recent geographers think that the Punta del Pezzo was the point so called.

27 Now called Capo di Faro, from the lighthouse there erected.

28 Originally a Greek colony; a Roman colony was settled there by Augustus. The modern city of Reggio occupies its site.

29 It extended south of Consentia to the Sicilian Straits, a distance of 700 stadia. It produced the pitch for which Bruttium was so celebrated. Its site still has the name of Sila.

30 Or White Rock, now Capo dell' Armi. It forms the extremity of the Apennine Chain.

31 The site of the city of Locri is supposed to have been that of the present Motta di Burzano.

32 He says that they were called Epizephyrii, from the promontory of Zephyrium, now the Capo di Burzano; but according to others, they had this name only because their colony lay to the west of their native Greece. Strabo says that it was founded by the Locri Ozolæ, and not the Opuntii, as most authors have stated.

33 This expression is explained by a reference to the end of the First Chapter of the present Book.

34 Called by some the Canal de Baleares.

35 Or Southern Sea.

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

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  • Cross-references to this page (14):
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), BRU´TTII
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CAECI´NUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CASTRA HANNI´BALIS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CAULO´NIA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), COCINTHUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MAGNA GRAE´CIA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MY´STIA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), OGY´GIA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PETE´LIA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), SAGRAS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), SCYLA´CIUM
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), TARGINES
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), VOLCEIUM
    • Smith's Bio, Crataeis
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