SAME
(Sami) On the island of Kephallenia, Greece.
The Homeric name (
Il. 2.634;
Od. 1.246; 4.67 1;
9.24; 15.29) has been handed down, designating either
the entire island or only its E part (cf.
Hdt. 9.28; Plin.,
HN 5.54). The present name refers to a small port not
far from the ruins of the ancient city. Same, the capital
of the island, was taken and destroyed in 189 B.C. by
M. Fulvius Nobilior because of its resistance to the
Romans. Situated at the center of a fertile, well-watered
zone near the sea, the city developed considerably and
was defended by a vast wall of ca. 3500 km. In ancient
times Same had two acropoleis, of which the one farthest
S has been identified in the locality of Kyathis.
Several Hellenistic tombs, a grotto sacred to the cult
of Pan, and a notable thermal complex datable to the
late 2d-early 3d c. B.C. have been excavated near the
urban center. A fine male portrait in bronze from the
late period of the Emperor Gallienus has recently been
found.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
J. Partsch,
Kephallenia und Ithaka
(1890); B. V. Head,
Historia Numorum (1911); A. K.
Orlandos,
To Ergon tis archaiologhikis Etaireias 1959
(1960),
1960 (1961); V. Kallipolitis,
MonPiot 54
(1965); G. Daux,
BCH (1961, 1967).
N. BONACASA
