Tindari
Lu Tìnnaru ( Byzantine period | |
Cultures | Ancient Greece |
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Tindari (Italian: .
The monumental ruins of ancient Tyndaris are a main attraction for visitors and excavations are continuing to reveal more parts of the city.
Tindari has a famous
History
Ancient Tyndaris was strategically situated on its prominent hill overlooking the wide bay of the Tyrrhenian Sea bounded by the Capo di Milazzo on the east, and the Capo Calavà on the west.[citation needed] It was connected by a comparatively narrow isthmus with the lower ground inland. It thus commanded views of the summit of Mount Etna and northwards to the Lipari Islands.[1]
It was one of the latest of all the cities in Sicily that could claim a purely Greek origin, having been founded by the
It is next mentioned in 344 BC, when it was one of the first cities that declared in favor of
We hear little of Tyndaris under Roman government, but it appears to have been a flourishing and considerable city.
Tyndaris again bore a considerable part in the
Ecclesiastical History
- Established in 498 as Diocese of Tindari (Italian) / Tyndaris (Latin) / Tyndaritan(us) (Latin adjective). In the early 7th century Sicily had no Archdiocese of Syracusewas given all Sicilian bishoprics as suffragans, including Tindari, where no bishops were recorded since 649.
- Although the Notitia Episcopatuum under emperor Leo VI(early 10th century) still lists Tindari among the suffragans of Syracuse, that probably was just canonical theory, as in 836 Tindari was conquered for Islam by Arabs and nothing is heard from the diocese.
- Formally suppressed in 880 without direct successor, but lost (some) territory in 1082 to establish the short-lived Diocese of Patti.
Titular see
The diocese was nominally restored in 1968 as Latin
Remains
By the 19th century, the site of Tyndaris was wholly deserted, but the name was retained by a church, which crowned the most elevated point of the hill on which the city formerly stood, and was still called the Madonna di Tindaro. It is c. 180 m above the sea-level, and forms a conspicuous landmark to sailors. Considerable ruins of the ancient city, are also visible. It occupied the whole plateau or summit of the hill, and the remains of the ancient walls may be traced, at intervals, all round the brow of the cliffs, except in one part, facing the sea, where the cliff is now quite precipitous. It is not improbable that it is here that a part of the cliff fell in, in the manner recorded by Pliny[17] Two gates of the city are also still distinctly to be traced.
The chief monuments, of which the ruins are still extant within the circuit of the walls, are:
- the theatre, of which the remains are in imperfect condition, but sufficient to show that it was not of large size, and apparently of Roman construction, or at least, like that of Tauromenium, rebuilt in Roman times upon the Greek foundations
- a propylaeumwith two handsome stone arches (previously called a Gymnasium)
- several other edifices of Roman times, but of wholly uncertain character, a mosaic pavement and some Roman tombs.[18]
Numerous inscriptions, fragments of sculpture, and architectural decorations, as well as coins, vases etc. have also been discovered on the site.
Legend
Local legend tells that the lagoon was created after a pilgrim who came to see the Madonna refused to pray to the Madonna because she was black. The woman accidentally dropped her baby into the ocean and the Madonna made the land rise to save the baby. The sands of Marinello have taken shape of the profile of the Madonna.
Cultural references
An episode of Inspector Montalbano was called "Excursion to Tindari". It ends with four of the main characters overlooking the bay.[19] Salvatore Quasimodo, who would later win the Nobel prize for literature, in 1930 published a poem entitled "Vento a Tindari" (Wind at Tindari).
Accessibility
By car, if you come from Falcone , of Autostrada Messina-Palermo take Palermo direction along SS 113.
But Tindari and its Church are reachable by trains run by Trenitalia, including services from Messina with the Oliveri railway station situated on the Palermo–Messina railway. Outside of the station is available a Uber service by App.
Tindari is also served by bus provided from Azienda Siciliana Trasporti.
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f Ashby 1911.
- Diodorusxiv. 78.
- ^ Diod. xvi. 69.
- ^ Diod. xxii. Exc. H. p. 499.
- ^ Diod. xxiii. p. 502.
- ^ Polybius i. 25; Zonar. viii. 12.
- ^ Diod. xxiii. p. 505.
- ^ In Verrem iii. 43.
- ^ Cicero, In Verrem iv. 3. 9-42, v. 47.
- ^ Cicero In Verrem v. 47; Zumpt, ad loc.; Diod. iv. 83.
- ^ Cicero In Verrem ll. cc..
- ^ Cicero In Verrem ii. 66.
- ^ Appian, B.C. v. 105, 109, 116.
- ^ Strabo vi. p. 272; Plin. iii. 8. s. 14; Ptol. iii. 4. § 2; Orell. Inscr. 955.
- ^ Pliny ii. 92. s. 94.
- ^ Itin. Ant. pp. 90, 93; Tab. Peut.
- ^ ii. 92. s. 94.
- ^ Serra di Falco, Antichità della Sicilia, vol. v. part vi.; William Henry Smyth Sicily, p. 101; Richard Hoare, Classical Tour, vol. ii. p. 217, etc.
- ^ "Excursion to Tindari". Retrieved 16 March 2015.
Sources and external links
- 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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(help) - public domain: Ashby, Thomas (1911). "Tyndaris". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 500. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- GCatholic - former and titular bishopric
- Fasolo Michele (December 10, 2013). Tyndaris e il suo territorio I: Introduzione alla carta archeologica del territorio di Tindari. MediaGEO. ISBN 978-88-908755-1-9.
- Diocese of Patti on BeWeB - Beni ecclesiastici in web
- Bibliography
- Fasolo, Michele (2013). Tyndaris e il suo territorio I.Introduzione alla carta archeologica del territorio di Tindari (in Italian). Rome: mediaGEO. ISBN 978-88-908755-1-9.
- Fasolo, Michele (2014). Tyndaris e il suo territorio II. Carta archeologica del territorio di Tindari e materiali (in Italian). Rome: mediaGEO. ISBN 978-88-908755-2-6.
- Rocco Pirri, Sicilia sacra, vol. I, Palermo 1733, p. 493
- Giuseppe Cappelletti, Le Chiese d'Italia dalla loro origine sino ai nostri giorni, Venice 1870, vol. XXI, pp. 587–588
- Francesco Lanzoni, Le diocesi d'Italia dalle origini al principio del secolo VII (an. 604), vol. II, Faenza 1927, p. 650