Kamarina, Sicily
Location | Scoglitti, Ragusa, Sicily, Italy |
---|---|
Coordinates | 36°52′18″N 14°26′51″E / 36.87167°N 14.44750°E |
Type | Settlement |
History | |
Builder | Syracuse |
Founded | 599 BC |
Abandoned | 853 AD |
Cultures | Greek, Roman |
Site notes | |
Management | Soprintendenza BB.CC.AA. di Ragusa |
Website | Museo Archeologico Regionale di Camarina (in Italian) |
Kamarina or Camarina (
Geography
The city of Camarina was located 112 km west of Syracuse, between the rivers Hipparis and Oanis and on the south bank of Hipparis which also acted as a moat for the city. It had two harbours at the river mouths but not big enough to accommodate a large fleet and ships had to be beached on the shore. The land north of the river originally contained marshes, which would have caused difficulty for invaders.
History
It was founded in Magna Graecia by Syracuse in 599 BC, but after it rebelled against its mother city with the aid of the Sicels, it was sacked in 552 BC, rejoining the Syracuse domain.[1] Camarina rebelled again in 492 BC and Hippocrates of Gela (498-491 BC) intervened to wage war against Syracuse. After defeating the Syracusan army at the Heloros river, he besieged the city but was persuaded to retreat in exchange for possession of Camarina.
It was destroyed by Gela in 484 BC but the Geloans founded it anew in 461 BC, under the Olympic charioteer Psaumis of Camarina.[2] They appear to have done so with a democratic constitution (alongside a more general institution of democracies in the wake of the Common Resolution[3]). In 415 Thucydides describes a public meeting (syllogos)[4] at which the city decided for neutrality (though it later voted to reverse this decision[5]). A series of more than 140 lead plates, discovered around the Temple of Athena, and with information about citizens written on them, has suggested to some that Kamarina used allotment to select jurors and city officials (as Athens and other democratic city-states did). These may, however, have had some other use, for example, as a register of citizens for military purposes.[6]
It had allied with
Then it aided Syracuse during the Athenian Expedition in 415–413 BC.
Camarina had contributed 500
Before this event the Kamarinians were plagued with a mysterious disease.
Kamarina was restored by the Corinthian Timoleon to Syracusan control in 339 BC. A new period of prosperity followed, after the reconstruction of the city by Timoleon.
Having sided with the Carthaginians during a conflict with Syracuse in 311 BC, it was razed in 309 BC by Syracusan troops.[citation needed]
Roman era
In 259 BC in the First Punic War, the Carthaginians under Hamilcar seized Kamarina. In 258 BC it fell into the hands of the Romans[1] after a lengthy siege at the Battle of Kamarina.[12]
The battle is notable for two events: first, the consul
The city never fully recovered. It was mostly depopulated at the time of Strabo,[15] (1st c. BC) and was later only partially reoccupied.
Kamarina's complete destruction dates from the Arab conquest in AD 827.[16]
The Site
The remains are of great archaeological interest, and testify to the vastness of the ancient site. The Kamarina Regional Archaeological Museum is in the archaeological park[17] which includes many excavated remains:[18]
- Agora
- temple of Athena
- the city wall
- the Syracuse.
- the port-channel along the Ippari river is recognisable, made in the Greek age with adaptation of the mouth of the river, and lasted for a long time as the hub of important commercial traffic up to the Roman age.
- the house of the altar.
The remains of a "Hamman qbel Jamaa", public baths used before entering the mosque, are one of only two known on the island.[19]
Gallery
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The House of the Altar
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A part of the wall of the temple of Athena
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Ruins of the temple of Athena
See also
References
- ^ a b c public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Camarina". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 80. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ Pindar Odes (5.7-12)
- ^ Diod. 11.68.5
- ^ Thucydides 6.75-88
- ^ Thucydides 7.33.1, 7.58.1
- ^ See E. Robinson, Democracy Beyond Athens (Cambridge, 2011) 97-100.
- ^ Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, 4.58
- ^ Kagan, The Archidamian War, 266
- ^ Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, 4.59-64
- ^ Diodorus Siculus, XIII.87.5
- ^ Strabo
- ^ Goldsworthy, Adrian (2006). The Fall of Carthage: The Punic Wars 265–146 BC. London: Phoenix. ISBN 978-0-304-36642-2 pp82-3
- ^ Livy
- ^ Pliny the Elder tells us that he was awarded the Grass Crown, the corona graminea or corona obsidionalis
- ^ Strabo Geography, Book VI Chapter 1
- ^ Pisciotta et al., Multidisciplinary investigations at the Kamarina archaeological site (southern Sicily, Italy), IMEKO International Conference onMetrology for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Lecce, Italy, October 23–25, 2017 p 129
- ^ "PARCO ARCHEOLOGICO DI KAMARINA e CAVA d'ISPICA - Regione Siciliana". 22 May 2020.
- ^ Pisciotta et al., Multidisciplinary investigations at the Kamarina archaeological site (southern Sicily, Italy), IMEKO International Conference onMetrology for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Lecce, Italy, October 23–25, 2017
- ^ "Il bagno pubblico di Mezzagnone - Cultura Santa Croce Camerina". Archived from the original on 2017-06-09. Retrieved 2011-08-12.
External links
- Official website (in Italian)