Metapontum
Μεταπόντιον | |
Location | Metaponto, Province of Matera, Basilicata, Italy |
---|---|
Region | Magna Graecia |
Coordinates | 40°23′00″N 16°49′28″E / 40.38333°N 16.82444°E |
Type | Settlement |
Area | 150 ha (370 acres)[citation needed] |
History | |
Founded | Between 700 and 690 BCE |
Periods | Archaic Greece to Roman Empire |
Associated with | Pythagoras |
Site notes | |
Management | Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Basilicata |
Website | Area archeologica di Metaponto (in Italian) |
Metapontum or Metapontium (
History
Foundation
Though Metapontum was an ancient
Early history
Whether there may have really been a settlement on the spot more ancient than the Achaean colony, is impossible to be determined. It is known that at the time of the foundation of this city the site was unoccupied; the Achaean settlers at
There are very few mentions of Metapontum during the first ages of its existence; however, it seems certain that it rose rapidly to a considerable amount of prosperity, for which it was indebted to the extreme fertility of its territory. The same policy which had led to its foundation would naturally unite it in the bonds of a close alliance with the other Achaean cities, Sybaris and Crotona; and the first occasion on which we meet with its name in history is as joining with these two cities in a league against
Peloponnesian War
At the time of the
Pyrrhic War and Roman domination
It seems certain that the Metapontines, as well as the Tarentines, lent an active support to Pyrrhus, when that monarch came over to Italy; however, they are not mentioned during his wars there, nor it is known the precise period at which they passed under the yoke of Rome. Their name is, however, again mentioned repeatedly in the Second Punic War. They were among the first to declare in favor of Hannibal after the battle of Cannae;[17] but notwithstanding this, their city was occupied by a Roman garrison some years later, and it was not until after the capture of Tarentum, in 212 BCE, that they were able to rid themselves of this force and openly espouse the Carthaginian cause.[18] Hannibal now occupied Metapontum with a Carthaginian garrison, and seems to have made it one of his principal places of deposit, until the fatal battle of the Metaurus having compelled him to give up the possession of this part of Italy, 207 BCE, he withdrew his forces from Metapontum, and, at the same time, removed from thence all the inhabitants in order to save them from the vengeance of Rome.[19]
Decline
From this time the name of Metapontum does not again appear prominently in classical history; and it seems certain that it never recovered from the blow thus inflicted on it. But it did not altogether cease to exist; for its name is found in
Though Metapontum is mentioned less than of Sybaris, Crotona, and Tarentum, yet all accounts agree in representing it as, in the days of its prosperity, one of the most opulent and flourishing of the cities of Magna Graecia. The fertility of its territory, especially in the growth of corn, vied with the neighbouring district of the
The site and remains of Metapontum have been carefully examined by the Duc de Luynes, who has illustrated them in a special work.[29] No trace exists of the ancient walls or the theatre of which Pausanias speaks. The most important of the still existing buildings is a temple, the remains of which occupy a slight elevation near the right bank of the Bradanus, about 3 km from its mouth. They are now known as the Tavole Palatine. Fifteen columns are still standing, ten on one side and five on the other; but the two ends, as well as the whole of the entablature above the architrave and the walls of the cella, have wholly disappeared. The architecture is of the Doric order, but its proportions are lighter and more slender than those of the celebrated temples of Paestum: and it is in all probability of later date. Some remains of another temple, but prostrate, and a mere heap of ruins, are visible nearly 3 km to the south of the preceding, and a short distance from the mouth of the Bradanus. This spot, called the Chiesa di Sansone, appears to mark the site of the city itself, numerous foundations of buildings having been discovered all around it. It may be doubted whether the more distant temple was ever included within the walls; but it is impossible now to trace the extent of the ancient city. The Torre di Mare, now the only inhabited spot on the plain, derives its name from a castellated edifice of the Middle Ages; it is situated 2.5 km from the sea, and the same distance from the river Basiento, the ancient Casuentus. Immediately opposite to it, on the sea-shore, is a small salt-water basin or lagoon, now called the Lago di Santa Pelagina, which, though neither deep nor spacious, in all probability formed the ancient port of Metapontum.
Metapontum was thus situated between the two rivers Bradanus and Casuentus (Basento), and occupied (with its port and appurtenances) a considerable part of the intermediate space. Appian speaks of a river between Metapontum and Tarentum of the same name, by which he probably means the Bradanus, which may have been commonly known as the river of Metapontum. This is certainly the only river large enough to answer to the description which he gives of the meeting of
Coinage
O: Six grained ear of wheat. META | R: Incuse six grained ear of wheat. |
Silver Drachm, Metapontum 465-440 BCE. Rutter 1485 |
The coins of Metapontum, as already observed, are very numerous; and many of the later ones of very beautiful workmanship. Those of more ancient date, like the early coins of Crotona and Sybaris, have an incuse fabric; that is to say that the relief design of the obverse is repeated
O: Bearded hd Leucippus w Corinthian helmet, sitting dog (Molossian hound?) behind. | R: Head of wheat with leaf, bird, AMI rt. META lt. |
Silver Drachm, Metapontum. 340-330 BCE. Rutter 1576 |
The more common type on later obverses is the head of Ceres but in the mid-late 4th century BCE, the head of the hero Leucippus, the reputed founder of the city appears for the first time. This is thought to be related to the expedition of Alexander I of Epirus to Southern Italy.[32]
Notes
- ^ OCD s.v. Metapontum
- ^ Strabo v. p. 222, vi. p. 264.
- ^ Solinus, Polyhistor, 2.10
- ^ Justin, xx. 2.
- ^ ap. Strab. p. 264.
- ^ Antioch. ap. Strabo l. c.; Gaius Julius Hyginus Fabulae 186; Eustath. ad Dionys. Per. 368; Diod. iv. 67.
- ^ Strab. vi. pp. 264, 265.
- ^ Eusebius Arm. Chron. p. 99.)
- ^ Justin, xx. 2.
- ^ Iambl. Vit. Pyth. 170, 249, 266; Porphyr. Vit. Pyth. 56, 57; Plut. de Gen. Socr. 13; Diog. Laërt. viii. 1, 1, § 40; Livy i. 18; Cicero de Fin. v. 2.
- ^ Iambl. 262.
- Diodorus xiii. 4; Thucydidesvi. 44, vii. 33, 57.
- ^ Diod. xvi. 66.
- ^ Justin, xii. 2; Livy viii. 24.
- ^ Diod. xx. 104.
- ^ Plut. Apophth. Lac. p. 233.
- ^ Livy xxii. 61.
- ^ Id. xxv. 11, 15; Pol. viii. 36; Appian, Annib. 33, 35.
- ^ Id. xxvii. 1, 16, 42, 51.
- ^ ii. 4. § 8.
- ^ Cicero de Fin. v. 2; see also Appian, B.C. v. 93.
- ^ Cicero de Amic. 4; Strabo vi. p. 262; Pausanias vi. 19. § 11.
- ^ θέρος χρυσοῦν, Strabo vi. p. 264.
- ^ James Millingen, Numismatique de l'Italie, p. 22.
- ^ Pausanias vi. 19. § 11; Athen. xi. p. 479.
- ^ Herod. iv. 15 ; Athen. xiii. p. 605, c.
- ^ Millingen, l. c. p. 24.
- ^ Strabo vi. p. 264.
- ^ Métaponte, fol. Paris, 1833.
- ^ Appian, B.C. v. 93, 94.
- ^ Kraay 1976:170-171
- ^ Kraay 1976:194-5
References
- Kraay, Colin M. (1976) Archaic and Classical Greek Coins Sanford J. Durst, NY, ISBN 0-915262-75-4
- Rutter, N.K. (2001). ed Historia Numorum: Italy, The Trustees of the British Museum. ISBN 0-7141-1801-X
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.
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Further reading
- Carter, Joseph Coleman, ed. (2003). Living off the Chora: Diet and Nutrition at Metaponto (PDF). Austin, Texas: Institute of Classical Archaeology. ]
- Carter, Joseph Coleman (2006). Discovering the Greek Countryside at Metaponto. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-11477-1.
- Greco, Emanuele (2002). "Sanctuaries of Magna Graecia and Sicily". In Bennett, Michael J.; Paul, Aaron J.; Iozzo, Mario; et al. (eds.). Magna Graecia: Greek Art from South Italy and Sicily. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art. pp. 98–119. ISBN 978-0-940-71771-8.
The Chora of Metaponto series:
- Carter, Joseph Coleman, ed. (1998). The Chora of Metaponto: The Necropoleis. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-71211-9.
- Bökönyi, Sándor; Gál, Erika (2010). Bartosiewicz, László (ed.). The Chora of Metaponto 2: Archaeozoology at Pantanello and Five Other Sites. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-72134-0.
- Carter, Joseph Coleman; Prieto, Alberto, eds. (2011). The Chora of Metaponto 3: Archaeological Survey—Bradano to Basento. Vol. 1. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-72678-9.
- Lapadula, Erminia (2012). Carter, Joseph Coleman (ed.). The Chora of Metaponto 4: The Late Roman Farmhouse at San Biagio. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-72877-6.