UXENTUM
UXENTUM (
Οὔξεεντον, Ptol.: Eth.
Uxentinus:
Ugento), a town of Calabria, in the territory of the Sallentines, situated about 5 miles from the seacoast, and 16 from the Iapygian Promontory (
Capo di Leuca).
It is mentioned by both Pliny and Ptolemy among the inland towns which they assign to the Sallentines, and is placed by the Tabula on the road from Tarentum to the extremity of the peninsula. (
Plin. Nat. 3.11. s. 16;
Ptol. 3.1.76;
Tab. Peut.) The name is corruptly written in the Tabula Uhintum, and in Pliny the MSS. give Ulentini, for which the older editors had substituted Valentini. Hence Ptolemy is the only authority for the form of the name (though there is no doubt that the place meant is in all cases the same); and as coins have the Greek legend OZAN, it is doubtful whether Uxentum or Uzentum is the more correct form.
The site is clearly marked by the modern town of
Ugento, and the ruins of the ancient city were still visible in the days of Galateo at the foot of the hill on which it stands. (Galateo,
de Sit. Iapyg. p. 100; Romanelli, vol. ii. p. 43.) Many tombs also have been found there, in which coins, vases, and inscriptions in the Messapian dialect have been discovered.
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| COIN OF UXENTUM. |
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