THE SOLE OF ITALY; ANCIENT COSMOGRAPHERS; SEISMIC MOVEMENT AND COASTAL CHANGES 1000-500BCE.

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INTRODUCTION

The choice of Polybius as the “backbone” of this carto-geographical paper is made by comparing “The Histories” geographical content to the other cosmological authors, where he is shown to be both observant, but, at times wildly awry in his descriptions, even though he was the most travelled of all. Born an Achaean Greek, Magna Graecia and Roman Italy is the main focus with snippets of information from as far afield as the Danube and Pontus Euxine. Of the 34 books of “The Histories” only five survive in full and the rest are fragmental, including unfortunately, the 34th book where he discusses geography and its importance.
Most of the 14 authors chosen also suffer the same ravages of time on their manuscripts, and even more problematic are the wildly varying translations.

Note; I have omitted the work of Herodotus as the geographical extracts are fully described in my text CgHs/1; Herodotus the Histories.
Following the 14 chosen authors are five texts which portray “The Sole of Italy”, dating from 1134AD to the 14th century from a mariners viewpoint, being basically “Portolani”, texts listing sailing directions and port information.

COSMOGRAPHICAL HISTORIANS WITH GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES APPERTAINING TO THE TEXT OF POLYBIUS AND THE SOLE OF ITALY.
1) THUCYDIDES, c460-400BCE; 7;25, 1-3, History of the Peloponnesian War.
2) POLYBIUS c200-118BCE, Books 1-34, The Histories
3) DIODORUS SICULUS 1st Century BCE, 16-10 & 16-11
4) PUBLIUS VERGILIUS MARO (VIRGIL) 70-19BCE, The Aeneid III
5) STRABO 64/63BCE-24CE, Book 5 chapters 1-3.
6) TITUS LIVIUS (LIVY) 59BCE-17CE, 27.12 ; 27.15 & 27.16.
7) PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO (OVID) 43 BCE-17/18CE, Metamorphoses, 15.68
8) POMPONIUS MELA c44CE, Description of the world, book 2, Ch59-68 & 115-119.
9) GAIUS PLINIUS SECUNDUS ( Pliny the Elder) d79CE, Book 3 42-47, 71-75 & 95-99.
10) CLAUDIUS PTOLEMY, c150 CE,GEOGRAPHIKE HYPHEGESUS, Book3,Ch 1, Italy.
11) PAUSANIUS c150CE, Description of Greece, 6.3.12
12) ITINERARIUM ANTONINIUM, 3rd C CE, land and sea itinerary.
13) TABULA PEUTINGERIANA, 4th C CE original.
14) RAVENNA COSMOGRAPHY , 7th C CE.
The five subsidiary texts are; A) Guido of Pisa 1116CE; B) Al-Idrisi 1143CE; C) Lo Compasso de Navegare, January 1296; D) Liber de Extencia Riveriarum 12th C CE. E) Il Portolano di Grazia Pauli 14th C CE.

EXTRACTS OF EACH COSMOGRAPHER AND BASIC COMMENTS.
1) THUCYDIDES 7;25, 1-3 6 lines.

“After this the Syracusians sent out 12 galleys under the command of Agatharcnus, a Syracusian, of which one carried ambassadors into Peloponnesus to declare what hope they now of their business and to instigate them to a sharper war in Attica. The other 11 went into Italy, upon intelligence of certain vessels laden with commodities coming to the Athenian army, which also they met with and destroyed most of them;(2) and the timber, which for building of galleys the Athenians had already framed, they burned in the territory of Caulonia. After this they went to Locri; (3) and riding here, there came unto then one of the ships that carried the men of arms of the Thespians, whom the Syracusians took aboard and went homeward by the coast”.

The fact that Caulonia is mentioned c425BCE is very pertinent to the whole history of the “Sole of Italy”. Founded 8/7th C BCE, archaeologists think the reason for its positioning on the coast between two rivers is the good supply of timber in the hinterland and the fact that “pitch” could be obtained. Tree sap is clear and watery, but tree pitch, amber coloured is thick gooey and tacky, hence Pitch Pine Trees. Thus the comment in the text concerning timber is very apt. Caulonia is discussed fully later in this text.

2) POLYBIUS, THE HISTORIES
I have listed out the geographical extracts to be found in the books and set down explanatory notes to each section which will also be amplified by the cosmographical texts which follow.
BOOK 1;42 SICILY, 10 lines

SICILY, then, lies towards Southern Italy very much in the same position as the Peloponnese does to the rest of Greece. The only difference is that the one is an island, the other a peninsula; and consequently in the former case there is no communication except by sea, in the latter there is a land communication also. The shape of Sicily is a triangle, of which the several angles are represented by promontories: that to the south jutting out into the Sicilian Sea is called Pachynus; that which looks to the north forms the western extremity of the Straits of Messene and is about 12 stades from Italy, its name is Pelorus; while the third projects in the direction of Libya itself, and is conveniently situated opposite promontories which cover Carthage, at a distance of about 1000 stades: it looks somewhat south of due west, dividing the Libyan from the Sardinian Sea, and is called Lilybaeum. On this last there is a city of the same name. It was this city that the Romans were now besieging. It was exceedingly strongly fortified: for besides its walls there was a deep ditch running all round it, and on the side of the sea it was protected by lagoons, to steer through which into the harbour was a task requiring much skill and practice.

There-in are two distances, first across the straits of Messina, 12 stades and secondly to Carthage, about 1000 stades. From Lilybaeum (Marsala) situate at 37° 18’N & 12° 27’E to Carthage, Tunisia, situate at 36° 54’N & 10° 16’E based on a plain triangle the direct distance is 1189 stades, calculated at 8 stades per Roman Mile. However in Chapter 34 Polybius gives a figure of 8 1/3rd stades to a mile. This would produce a distance of 1238 stades, but the figure of 8 stades per Roman Mile is later confirmed and is the known unit number per mile.

However, the idea of Lilybaeum promontory looking somewhat south of due west is awry in that it is basically facing due west with the Sicilian Channel dividing it from Tunisia with its Capes Bland and Bon.

This is illustrative of the generalisations which occur in the cosmographical and geographical texts of that age; they are loosely correct and the readers of those texts in that age could not “gainsay” them as travel was limited.

BOOK 2;14, 13 lines.

Italy , taken as a whole, is a triangle, of which the eastern side is bounded by the Ionian Sea and the Adriatic Gulf, its southern and western sides by the Sicilian and Tyrrhenian seas; those two sides converge to form the apex of the triangle, which is represented by the southern promontory of Italy called Cocinthus, and which separates the Ionian from the Sicilian Sea. The third side, or base of this triangle, is on the north, and is formed by the chain of the Alps stretching right across the country, beginning at Marseilles and the coast of the Sardinian Sea and with no break in its continuity until within a short distance of the head of the Adriatic. To the south of this range, which I said we must regard as the base of the triangle, are the most northerly plains of Italy, the largest and most fertile of any which I am acquainted in all Europe. This is the district with which we are at present concerned. Taken as a whole, it too forms a triangle, the apex of which is the point where the Apennines and the Alps converge, above Marseilles, and not far from the coast of the Sardinian Sea. The northern side of this triangle is formed by the Alps, extending for 2200 stades; the southern by the Apennines, extending 3600; and the base is the sea-bord of the Adriatic, from the town of Sena to the head of the gulf, a distance of more than 2500 stades. The total length of the three sides will thus be nearly 10,000 stades.

CgSOL/1/D01

Having read above the “loose” geographical descriptions , next is a text which questions whether Polybius actually grasped the shape of Italy. But, it also clearly indicates the cosmological ideas that Italy from the Alps (North) to the “Sole” (South) does not accord to the geography. On the one hand Polybius explains that the sides of his triangle are both “two” sided, the east bounded by the Ionian Sea and the Adriatic Gulf, and the west bounded by the Southern Sea and western Sea, Sicilian and Tyrrhenian. Diagrammatically it produces a “Drinking Cup” shape with “lips”. However the northern triangle as described produces a peculiar form when drawn to the description. That occurs even ignoring the fact that the Apennines and the Alps do not converge above Marseilles as described.

CgSOL/1/D02

Returning to the main triangle of Italy and the apex being the promontory called “Cocinthus” on the “Sole of Italy”, this is taken up later as it is not central to the “Sole” even if it is limited to the western portion of it. Its name and position are analysed here-in later.

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BOOK 2 ; 16 7 lines, The River PO
The distance between the Apennines and the Adriatic averages about 500 stades; and when it leaves the northern plains the chain verges to the right and goes entirely through the middle of the rest of Italy, as far as the Sicilian Sea. The remaining portion of this triangle, namely the plain along the sea coast, extends as far as the town of Sena.
The Padus, celebrated by the poets under the name of “Eridanus”, rises in the Alps near the apex of the triangle, and flows down to the plains with a southerly course; but after reaching the plains, it turns to the east, and flowing through them discharges itself by two mouths into the Adriatic. The larger part of the plain is thus cut off by it, and lies between this river and the Alps to the head of the Adriatic.

The Apennines, the backbone of Italy, and the River Padus (Po) are discussed at length in Book 34, which follows in text order.

BOOK 3; 39 13 lines, Hannibal’s March
At this period the Carthaginians were masters of the whole Mediterranean coast of Libya from the Altars of Philaenus, opposite the Great Syrtis, to the Pillars of Hercules, a sea-bord of over 16000 stades. They had crossed the strait of the Pillars of Hercules, and got possession of the whole sea-bord of Iberia on the Mediterranean as far as the Pyrenees, which separate the “Iberes” from the “Celts”—that is, for a distance of about 8000 stades: for it is 3000 from the Pillars to New Carthage, from which Hannibal started for Italy; 2600 from thence to the Iber; and from that river to Emporium again 1600; from which town, I may add, to passage of the Rhone is a distance of about 1600 stades; for all these distances have now been carefully measured by the Romans and marked with milestones at every eighth stade. After crossing the river there was a march up stream along its bank of 1400 stades, before reaching the foot of the pass over the Alps into Italy. The pass itself was about 1200 stades, which being crossed would bring him into the plains of the Padus in Italy. So that the whole length of his march from New Carthage was about 9000 stades, or 1125 Roman Miles.

Hannibal’s assault on Italy/Rome is the great story told many times and in many ways. This is a very sterile comment from Polybius on the campaign and the journey which rather surprises me.

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Thus the Roman Mile is confirmed as having 8 stades, as previously noted and the diagrams illustrate the journey, a momentous affair! Cartago Nova, Cartagena, to the Iber , River Ebro and thence Emporiae is Ampurias in northern Spain and from thence to the Rhone and Italy , the River Po.

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BOOK 3; 47, 8 lines, The Rhone
The Rhone rises to the north west of the Adriatic Gulf on the northern slopes of the Alps and flowing westward, eventually discharges itself into the Sardinian Sea. It flows for the most part through a deep valley to the north of which lives the “Celtic tribe of the “Ardyes”; while its southern side is entirely walled in by the northern slopes of the Alps, the ridges of which, beginning at Marseilles and extending to the head of the Adriatic, separate it from the valley of the Padus, of which I have already had occasion to speak at length. It was these mountains that Hannibal now crossed from the Rhone Valley to Italy.

179) This statement has done much to ruin Polybius’s credit as a geographer. It indicates indeed a strangely defective concept of distances; as his idea of the Rhone flowing always west, does of the general lie of the country. ( Editor/translators note, thus enough said).

BOOK 4; 39, 8 lines, The Pontus Euxine.
The sea called “The Pontus” has a circumference of 22000 stades, and two mouths diametrically opposite to each other, the one opening into the “Propontis” and the other into the “Maeotic” Lake; which latter also has itself a circumference of 8000 stades. Into these two basins many great rivers discharge themselves on the Asiatic Side, and still larger and more numerous on the European; and so the Maeotic Lake, as it gets filled up, flows into the Pontus, and the Pontus into the Propontis, The mouth of the Maeotic Lake is called the Cimmerian Bosporus, about 30 stades broad and 60 long, and shallow all over; that of the Pontus is called the Thracian Bosporus, and is a 120 stades long, and of varying breadth. Between Calchedon and Byzantium the channel is 14 stades broad, and this is the entrance at the end nearest the Propontis.
PARA 41; For the Danube discharging itself into the Pontus by several mouths, we find opposite it a bank formed by the mud discharged from these mouths extending for nearly 1000 stades, at a distance of a day’s sail from the shore as it now exists; upon which ships sailing to Pontus run, while apparently still in deep water, find themselves unexpectedly stranded on the sandbanks which sailors call the Breasts.

222) However cogent may be the reasons for his prophecy adduced by Polybius, there are no signs of its being fulfilled. Indeed, the bank at the mouth of the Danube which he mentions has long since disappeared. The fact that he failed to take into account calculation of the constant rush of water out of the Euxine, which is sufficient enough to carry off any amount of alluvial deposit. ( Polybius writes a full explanation in paragraphs 39-44, this is an abbreviation and editor’s note.)

BOOK 9; 21 Size of Towns or Camps. A curious dissertation

BOOK 10;1, Tarentum and the Sole of Italy
The distance from the strait and town of Rhegium to Tarentum is more than 2000 stades; and that portion of the shore of Italy is entirely destitute of harbours, except those of Tarentum; I mean the coast facing the Sicilian Sea, and verging towards Greece, which contains the most populous barbarian tribes as well as the most famous of the Greek Cities. For the Bruttii, Lucani, some portions of the Daunii, the Cabalii, and several others, occupy this quarter of Italy. So again this coast is lined by the Greek cities of Rhegium, Caulon, Locri, Croton, Metapontum and Thurii; so that voyages from Sicily or from Greece to any one of these cities are compelled to drop anchor in the harbours of Tarentum; and the exchange and commerce with all who occupy this coast of Italy take place in this city. One may judge of the excellence of its situation from the prosperity attained by the people of Croton; who, though only possessing road-steads suitable for the summer, and enjoying therefore but a short season of mercantile activity, still have acquired great wealth, entirely owing, it seems, to a favourable situation of their town and harbour, which yet cannot be compared with those of Tarentum. For, even at this day, Tarentum is in a most convenient position in respect to the harbours of the Adriatic, and was formerly still more so. Since, from the Iapygian promontory as far as Sipontum, every one coming from the other side and dropping anchor at Italy always crossed to Tarentum, and used that city for his mercantile transactions as an emporium; for the town of Brundisium had not yet been founded in these times.

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Firstly and importantly the list of cities whether regarded as from north to south or vice versa is awry with their placement incorrect; Rhegium, Locri, Caulon, Croton, Thurii & Metapontum is in fact correct and this is thus typical of cosmologists lack of geographical knowledge. The statement that between Rhegium and Tarentum is entirely destitute of Harbours when he comments about road-steads, omits the fact the river estuaries were used as harbours and berths for trade and that “beaching” a craft by a town/river was common practice. He actually switches from road-stead to harbour for Croton and then mistakenly states that Brundisium (Brindisi) was not then founded, when it was a Roman Naval Station in 267BCE, & colonised in 244BCE, having been an early Greek town in the 7th C BCE. There are other Greek towns on that stretch of coast which he either did not have knowledge of ? or chose to ignore. However, recent research has found a very early harbour at Croton, and perhaps the change he made was acknowledging this fact.

From BOOK 12 we read that, Byzacia is near the Syrtes; it has a circumference of 2000 stades, and is circular in shape. Then, Hippo, Singa, Tabraca are cities of Libya. Chalkeia however is not, as Demosthenes ignorantly states the name of the city, but it means only “Bronze Factory”.

Byzacium is the south part of the Roman Province of Africa and corresponds to the southern half of Tunisia and is in fact crescent shaped encompassing the coast of Syrtis Minor from Hadrumentum to the Isle of Djerba. The towns of Hippo and Tabraca are well documented, however, Singa is not a town between them on the coast. Again Polybius is rather awry in his measurements and town listing.

From BOOK 24;3 we read that,Mount Haemus is close to the Pontus, the most extensive and loftiest of the ranges of Thrace, which it divides into two nearly equal parts from which a view of both seas may be obtained.

It is quite evident that Polybius has mixed the mountains. Close to the Pontus are the Turkish Mountains , “Yildiz Dagliari” which soar to a height of over 1000 metres and afford a view of the Pontus Euxine, the Sea of Marmara and possibly the Mediterranean sea in the far west. Mount Haemus is famous for the Battle of Alexander III and is far to the west of the Pontus in Thrace. Apollodorus, Publius Ovidius Naso (6, 87-89) and Titus Livius (46;21) all record it and the only view would be of the Mediterranean Sea.

BOOK 34 chapters 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11 12, 13, and 14.

Chapter 4, 6 lines
The distance from Malea to the Pillars is 22500 stades. If we suppose this to have been accomplished at an even speed in the nine days, he would take 2500 stades a day. Now, who has ever asserted that any one made the voyage from Lycia or Rhodes to Alexandria in four days, a distance of 4000 stades.

The pillars are 5° 20’W, 36°N and Cape Malea is at 24° 12’E, 36° 26’N. At 36°N the degree of longitude is 485.4 stades and thus with a longitude of 29° 32’ the distance is 14320 Stades. However, that calculation is theoretical as a ship cannot sail along the 36N parallel, but from the Pillars , it sails past Alboran at 36N, then E30N to the 36.5N latitude and then 11 degrees of longitude to the Sicilian Channel, turns E30S passing Pantellaria and Malta, before turning east to Cape Malea. That is a direct sailing distance of 16000 stades. But, is the measurement actually a direct route?
From Rhodes at 36N to Alexandria at 31N, 5 degrees of latitude at 75 Roman Miles or 600 stades per degree the distance by simple calculation is 3000 stades.

CgSOL/1/D07 & D08

Chapter 5 complete text extant.
In treating of the geography of Europe I shall say nothing of ancient geographers, but shall confine my attention to their modern critics, Dicaearchus, Eratosthenes, who is the most recent writer on Geography, and Pytheas, who has misled many readers by professing to have traversed on foot the whole of Britain, the coastline of which island, he says, is more than 40000 stades. And again by his stories of Thule and the countries in its neighbourhood, “in which” he says “there is neither unmixed land or sea or air, but a kind of compound of all three ( like the jelly-fish or Pulmo Marinus), in which earth and sea and everything else are held in suspense, and which forms a kind of connecting link to the whole, through which one can neither walk nor sail.” This substance, which he says is like Pulmo Marinus, he saw with his own eyes, the rest he learnt by report. Such is Pytheas’s story, and he adds that , on his return thence, he traversed the whole of the coast of Europe from Gades to the Tanais.(The Don).
But we cannot believe that a private person, who was also a poor man, should have made such immense journeys by land and sea. Even Eratosthenes doubted this part of his story, though he believed what he said about Britain, and Gades, and Iberia. I would much rather believe the Messenian (Euhemerus) than him. The latter is content with saying that he sailed to one country which he calls Panchaia; while the former asserts that he has actually seen the whole northern coast of Europe up to the very verge of the world, which one would hardly believe of Hermes himself if he said it.

Professor Barry Cunliffe has written extensively about the Voyage of Pytheas, and Panchaia was supposedly a fabulous island or country in the Red Sea.
The Ordnance Survey gives the length of the coastline of Britain as 11073 miles. The Roman Mile is 0.919118 statute miles, and thus12047 Roman Miles or 96380 Stades. But depending on how it is measured the answer is “how long is a piece of string”.

Chapter 6, complete text extant.
For instance Dicaearchus says that the distance from the Peloponnese to the Pillars is 10000 stades and still further to the head of the Adriatic; and from the Peloponnese to the Sicilian straits 3000; and therefore the remainder, from the straits to the Pillars, is 7000 stades. I say nothing about the 3000 stades, whether they are right or wrong; but the 7000 cannot be made out, whether you measure along the coast or straight across the sea. The coast route is a kind of obtuse angle, contained by two lines resting on the straits and the Pillars respectively; so that we have a triangle, of which the apex is Narbo, and the base the strait line representing the course by open sea; the two sides of the triangle which contain the obtuse angle, that which extends from the straits to Narbo is more than 11200 stades, the other from Narbo to the Pillars is a little under 8000. The longest distance from Europe to Libya across the Tuscan Sea is allowed to be not more than 3000 stades, that by the Sardinian Sea is somewhat less; but let us call it 3000 stades. Now suppose a perpendicular let down through the Gulf of Narbo to the base of the triangle, that is to the straight sea course, measuring 2000 stades; it requires only a schoolboy’s geometry to prove that the coasting voyage is longer than the direct sea voyage by nearly 500 stades. And when the 3000 stades from the Peloponnese to the straits are added, the whole number of the stades even of straight sea course will be more than double Dicaearchus’s reckoning. And if we measure to the head of the Adriatic we must add still more by his own admission; that is to say, from the Peloponnese to Leucas is 700 stades, from Leucas to Corcyra 700, and from Corcyra to Ceraunia 700 and from Ceraunia along the Illyrian coast 6150.
In talking such nonsense he might well be regarded as having gone beyond——-.

This is no more than the theorem, “the square on the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares on the other two sides of a right angled triangle”. But of course the lines cannot be sailed as the diagram clearly indicates and noted in Chapter 4 above.

Chapter 7, 12 lines
From Ithaca to Corcyra is more than 900 stades; from Epidamnus to Thessalonica more than 2000. From Marseilles to the Pillars is more than 9000; from the Pyrenees, rather less than 8000.
The Pagus from source to mouth is 8000, not following its windings, but taking a direct line—–. The length of Europe is less than that of Libya and Asia put together by the difference between the sunrise in summer and at the point of the Equinox; for the source of the Tanais is at the former, and the pillars are at the western Equinox, and between them lies Europe, while Asia occupies the northern semicircle between the Tanias and Equinoctial sunrise—-.
Southern Europe is divided into five peninsulas— Iberia; Italy; a third ending in Cape Malea and Sunium in which are included Greece and Illyria and a part of Thrace; a fourth called the Thracian Chersonese bounded by the strait between Sestos and Abydos; and a fifth along the Cimmerian Bosphorus and the entrance to the Maeotis—-.

Epidamnus is now Durrazo, Albania and features again in the Via Egnatia. Pagus is mis-spelt for Padus, the River PO, N Italy. Sunium is another Cape of Columns at the end of the Athens Peninsula and Cape Malea is S30W of it. The Thracian Chersonese is the Gallipoli Peninsula.

Chapter 10, 20 lines
If we compare the mountains in Greece—Taygetus, Lycaeus. Parnassus, Olympus, Pelion, Ossa, and thos of the Alps, we may state the case thus. Each one of the former may be ascended or skirted by an active traveller in a single day; but no one could asxcend the Alps even in 5 days, the distance from the plain being 2200 stades. There are four passes, one through Liguria, the nearest to the Tyrrhenian sea; the next through the Taurini, which was the one used by Hannibal; the third through the Salassi; and the last by the Rhaeti, all of them excessively precipitous. There are several lakes in the mountains, three of great size, the Benacus, 500 x 130 stades, out of which the Mincius Flows; the Larius, 400 stades long, and somewhat narrower than the Benacus, discharging the Addua; and thirdly, the Verbanus, about 300 stades by 30, from which comes a considerable river, the Ticinus. All these three rivers discharge themselves into the Padus—-.
(Passes are , the Cornice, Argentiere, Genevre , Val d’Aosta and Cenis; The lakes are the Lago di Garda, Lago di Como and Lago Maggiore)

Chapter 11, 12 lines.
The length of the coast from Iapygia to the straits is 3000 stades by land, and it is washed by the Sicilian sea. Sailing, however, the distance is less than 500 stades—–.
The north road from Iapygia has been marked out with miles, 560 to Sena and 170 thence to Aquileia—-.
Then comes Lacinium—– from the straits to this place is a distance of 1300 stades, and thence to the Iapygian promontory 700—–.

Chapter 12, complete as extant.
The road from Apollonia to Macedonia is called the Via Egnatia, which has been measured in miles and marked out with milestones as far as Cypselus and the River Hebrus, a distance of 535 miles. Reckoning eight and one third stades to a mile, the number of stades will be 4458.The distance is exactly the same whether you start from Appollonia or Epidamnus. The whole road is called the Egnatia, but its first part has got a name from Candavia, a mountain of Illyria, and leads through the town of Lycnidus, and through Pylon, which is the point on the road where Illyria and Macedonia join, Thence it leads over Mount Barnus, through Heracleia, lyncestia, and Eordea, to Edessa and Pella and finally to Thessalonica; and the number of miles is together 267—–. And the whole distance from the Ionian Gulf at Apollonia to Byzantium is 7500 stades—–.
The circumference of the Peloponnesus, if you do not follow the indentations is 4000 stades—-.
The distance from Cape Malae to the Ister ( Danube) is 10000 stades—.

CgSOL/1/D09

This Via Egnatia is a very tortuous route across mountainous country and thus having to be as best walked/ Rode with major deviations around geographical features, and not the best of routes! It passes through the modern countries of Albania, North Macedonia, Greece and Turkey on its route from both Dyrrachium/Durres and Apollonia, by the village of Pojani, to Thessaloniki and finally Byzantium/Constantinople/Istanbul.

DIODORUS SICULUS, BIBLIOTHECAE HISTORICAE
BOOK , 16-10
When Dion was on the borders of the Syracusan territory, there came to meet him a host of men without arms both from the countryside and from the city: for Dionysius being suspicious of the Syracusians had disarmed many of them. About this time the Tyrant was sojourning in newly founded cities along the Adriatic with large forces and the commanders who had been left in charge——.

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CgSOL/1/D11

NOTE 1); That Dionysius was in Italy is attested by Plutarch. Dion 26.1 and Nepos Dion 5.4. If Plutarch is correct in placing him at Caulonia, Plut. Dion 26.4 as Diodorus does in chap 11.3, he could not have been by the Adriatic. Caulonia, on the east coast of Bruttium, was destroyed by Dionysius the Elder in 389BCE, its inhabitants removed to Syracuse, and its territory given to the Locrians for settlement ( see Book 14.106.3). In this sense it might be called a new foundation.

BOOK 16.11
Dionysius himself at this time chanced to be sojourning near Caulonia, in Italy, and he sent for Philistus his General, who was cruising the Adriatic, to come with his fleet and ordered him to sail to Syracuse.

PUBLIUS VERGILIUS MARO ( VIRGIL) Appendix D28
AENEID BOOK 3, 548
At once, soon as our vows are paid in full, we point windward the horns of our sail-clad yards, and leave the homes of the Greek-born race and the fields we distrust. Next is descried the bay of Tarentum, a town of Hercules, if the tale be true; while over against it rise the Lacinian goddess, the towers of Caulon and shipwrecking Scylaceum. Then in the distance out of the waves appears Trinacrian Aetna, and from afar we hear the loud moaning of the main, the lashing of the rocks, the broken noises along the shore; the shoals dash up and sands mingle with the surge. Then father Anchises; “Surely this is that Charybdis, these are the crags, these the dread rocks Helenus foretold. To the rescue, comrades, and rise together over the oars”.

Lacinian Goddess is from the Temple of Juno on Cape Colonne; Scylacium is Squillace and should precede Caulon in the original text. Ship- wrecking Scylaceum is explained later. Trinacrian Aetna refers to the three promontories of Sicily and Mount Etna itself. Aetna is the famous volcano in N E Sicily and its etiological myths are familiar; supposedly Hephaestus and the Cyclops forged Zeus’ thunderbolts there, and buried below their forge was the monster Typhon.

STRABO, GEOGRAPHY
Book 5 Chapter 1.
Note, Strabo in paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 takes issue with the text of Polybius regarding the triangle of Italy and demolishes his description completely. He also demolishes the description of the triangle of the northern plain. It should be read for the complete context of the geographical knowledge now pertaining at the beginning of our common era.

BOOK 6 chapters 1 and 3
Note. In chapter 1, sections 7-15 Strabo provides a complete description of the coast from Rhegium to Metapontum with many historical additions.
In chapter 3, sections 5 and 6 he describes the Iapygian Promontory.
In total 12 pages of text which should be read as corrections to other texts abound.
The following are “extracts” of a geographical nature from Book 6, chapter 1.
One sails from Rhegium towards the east (should be south), and at a distance of 50 stadia one comes to Cape Leucopetra. Then comes Heracleium, which is the last cape of Italy. After Heracleium comes a cape belonging to Locris, which is called Zephyrium. Then comes the city of Loci Epizephyrii. The distance from Rhegium to Locri is 200 stadia. The Locri Epizephyrii are believed to have been the first people to use written laws. The Halex River, marks the boundary between the Rhegian and Locrian territories. The interior above these cities is held by the Brettii; here is the city Mamertium, and also the forest that produces the best pitch, the Brettian. This forest is called Sila, is both well wooded and well-watered, and is 700 stadia in length. After Locri comes the Sagra, a river which has a feminine name. After the Sagra comes a city founded by the Achaeans, Caulonia, formerly called Aulonia, because of the Glen which lies in front of it ( actually inside the walls.) It is deserted, however, for those who held it were driven out by the Barbarians to Sicily and founded the Caulonia there. After this city comes Scylletium, a colony of the Athenians who were with Menestheus ( and now called Scylacium). The Scylletic, which, with the Hipponiate Gulf forms the aforementioned isthmus, is named after the city. After Scylletium comes the territory of the Crotoniates ,and the three capes of the Iapyges ( carefull, Iapygium tria promontorium) and after these, the Lacinium, a temple of Hera,( no one of them is Capo Colonne) which at one time was rich and full of dedicated offerings. As for distances by sea, writers give them without satisfactory clearness, except that in a general way, Polybius gives the distance from the start to Lacinium as 2300 stadia, and the distance thence across to cape Iapygia as 700. This point is called the mouth of the Tarentine Gulf.. As for the gulf itself, the distance around it by sea is of considerable length, 240 miles, as the Chorographer says, but Artemidorus says 380 for a man well-girded, although he falls short of the real breadth of the mouth of the gulf by as much. The gulf faces the winter sunrise.
The first city is Croton, within 150 stadia from Lacinium; and then comes the River Aesarus, and a harbour, and another river, the Neaethus. Next in order, at a distance of 200 stadia, comes Sybaris, founded by Achaeans; it is between two rivers, the Crathis and the Sybaris. After Thurii( Sybaris of old) comes Lagaria,( Nocara? Or Monte Coppolo? But basically unknown.) a stronghold. Then comes the city of Heracleia, a short distance above the sea; and two navigable rivers, the Acris and the Siris. On the Siris there used to be a Trojan city of the same name, but in time, when Heracleia was colonized thence by the Tarantini, it became the port of the Heracleotes. It is 24 stadia distant from Herecleia and about 330 from Thurii .Next in order comes Metapontium, which is 140 stadia from the naval station of Herecleia. Next in order comes Taras and Iapygia.

Note; Sybaris becomes Thurii and then Copia being Ancient Greek in 720BCE; Hellenistic Greek in 443BCE and Roman in 193BCE and built on each foundation. Taras is Taranto.

BOOK 6 chapter 3, Iapygia
But the distance by sea from Taras around to Brentesium is as follows; First, to a small town of Baris, 600 stadia; Baris is called by the people of today Vertum, is situated at the edge of the Salentine territory and the trip thither from Taras is for the most part easier to make on foot than by sailing. Thence to Leuca 80 stadia; this, too, is a small town. Again from Leuca to Hydrus, a small town, is 150 stadia. Thence to Brentesium 400; and it is an equal distance to the island Sason, which is situated midway of the distance across from Epeirus to Brentesium.

Epeirus, an ancient country of NW Greece south of the Acroceraunia promontory with Sason being Sazan or Saseno and is a tiny Island off the tip of the Acroceraunian promontory. Thus again some data is fine but others are really very awry.

TITUS LIVIUS ( LIVY), THE HISTORY OF ROME, BOOK 27
Chapter 12; the battles against Hannibal 209BCE
The consuls set out for war. He sent a messenger to Regium also to the commander of the garrison which had been posted there against the Bruttii by Laevinus, the consul, 8000 men for the most part from Agathyrna, as has been said above, who had been brought over from Sicily, being men accustomed to living by plundering. To their number had been added from the same region Bruttian deserters, a match for them in daring and in the urgent needs that compelled them to take risk. This force Fabius ordered to be led out first for the purpose of ravaging the country of the Bruttians, and then besieging the city of Caulonia. After carrying out their orders not only with energy but also with zest, robbing and putting to flight the tillers of the soil, they proceeded to assail the city with great violence.

Chapter 15 section 7
Those ships were equipped and made ready to attack the city from the open sea. And the sea was unmolested by the Punic Fleet, which had been sent over to Corcyra, since Philip was preparing to attack the Aetolians. In the country of the Bruttii meanwhile the besiegers of Caulonia, to avoid being surprised, just before Hannibal’s arrival withdrew to a hill that was safe from immediate attack and otherwise offered nothing.

Chapter 16 section 9.
While these things were going on, Hannibal received the surrender of the force besieging Caulonia and, on hearing of the attack upon Tarentum, urged his column rapidly forward day and night. When informed, while hastening to bring aid, that the city had been taken, “The Romans also” he said, “have their Hannibal; by the same art by which we captured Tarentum we have lost it”.

PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO (OVID), METAMORPHOSES, 15.680
chapter 15.680, the voyage of the God Serpent
While all the people strewed his way with flowers, the great snake wound in sinuous course along and, passing through the middle of their town, came to the harbour and its curving wall. He stopped there, and it seemed that he dismissed his train and dutiful attendant crowd, and with a placid countenance he placed his mighty body in the Ausonian ship, which plainly showed the great weight of the God.
(Ausonia is a poetic form for the whole of the “Foot” of Italy and thus where the ship was actually built is unknown. Ausonia is in Latium, Italy)
The descendants of Aeneas all rejoiced, and they sacrificed a bull beside the harbour, wreathed the ship with flowers, and, loosed the twisted hawsers from the shore, As a soft breeze impelled the ship, within her curving stern the God reclined, his coils uprising high, and gazed down on the blue Ionian waves. So wafted by favouring winds they came in 6 days to the shores of Italy.
There he was borne past the Lacinian Cape, ennobled by the goddess Juno’s shrine, and the Scylacean coasts. He left behind Iapygia; then he shunned Amphrysian rocks upon the left and on the other side escaped Cocinthian crags. He passed , near-by, Romechium and Caulon and Naricia; crossed the Sicilian Sea; went through the strait; sailed by Pelorus and the island home of Aeolus and the copper mines of Temesa. He turned then toward Leucosia and toward mile Paestum, famous for the rose.

The last section concerning rocks and crags is fully discussed later, giving a new and from this description, correct positioning for the crags. The various Scoglio/ rocks are discussed as well as Sea mounts and missing islands. The storylines from History become more real when the coastal changes are known and results of seismic events understood.
But a cautionary tale is the Italian text discussing this work where for line 705, which in Italian is Anfrisia, Romezio e Celennia sono altrimenti sconosciute. “Basically they are otherwise unknown”. But, the Celennia, line 704 is also translated as Ceraunia and Cocinthia, in other versions thus the Cocynthian crags are the key to the whole section. It should be noted that in fact Romezio/Romechium is probably Roccella Ionica, from the many finds there.

POMPONIUS MELA; DESCRIPTION OF THE WORLD, 43-44CE.
Book 2, chapters 64/66. These chapters are a description of the road along the east coast of Italy from the River Padus to the gulf of Tarentum and Gallipoli. It lists the towns, bays and rivers in a geographical order.

Book 2 chapter 67 and 68. The Adriatic reaches this far; so does one side of Italy. Its coast line breaks into two horns, in fact, as we have said . It lets the sea enter between both horns, however, and divides it several times by slender promontories. The coast does not go around, then, with a uniform edge, and receives the sea not spread out and wide open but in bays.
The first one is called the Gulf of Tarentum, between Point Sallentum and Point Lacinium ( Capo Colonna), and on it are Tartentus, Metapontum, Heraclea, Croto, amd Thurium. Second is the Bay of Scyllaceum ( Squillace). Between Point Lacinium and Zephyr Point, and on this bay is Petelia, Carcinus, Scyllaceum, and Mystiae. The third one, between Zephyr Point and Bruttium, passes around Bruttium, Consentia, Caulonia and Locri. In Bruttium are Columna Rhegia, Rhegium, Scylla, Taurianum and Metaurum.

In fact geographically the text should read;
Gulf of Tarentum, Point Sallentum to Punta Alice and the Temple of Apollo Aleo with only Thurium , the last town.
From Punta Alice to Point Lacinium the towns are Petelia and Crotone. Then the Gulf of Squillace to Punta Stilo (Caulonia) and thence to Locri with Zephyrum Promontory being far south and just before Heracleum Promontory (Cape Spartivento) before the south coast and Leucopetra Promontory before the coast turns north to Rhegium and Scylla.
Basically Pomponius Mela has made the same mistakes as preceding cosmographers and it would appear did not actually know the correct positioning of the geographical features he was describing. Or as I suspect is he just copying an earlier text?

PLINY THE ELDER, BOOK 3, 42-45; 72-74; 95-100.
of an Amazon’s shield, the projection in the centre being called Cocynthos, while it sends out two horns along bays of crescent shape, Leucopetra on the right and Lacinium on the left. Its length extends for 1020 miles, beginning from Praetoria Augusta at the foot of the Alps and passing through Rome and Capua in a winding course to the town of Rhegium situated on its shoulder, where begins the curve, as it were, of the neck. The measure would be much greater if the line were carried on to Lacinium, but with that bend the line would seem to diverge to one side.

Note, if Cocynthus is Punto Stilo then it is not the centre as the diagram clearly indicates. That holds good even if the River Stilaro is moved southwards to its c500BCE position as is discussed later. I find the Oak Leaf idea bizarre as its side lobes are not Italy! The top of the leaf in its overall shape is a crescent and is thus upside down on Italy. See D30 for shield

Paragraph 44/45; The breadth varies, being 410 miles between the rivers Varus and Arsia where they flow into the Mediterranean and the Adriatic, nut about at the middle, in the neighbourhood of the city of Rome, from the mouth of the river Aternus, which flows into the Adriatic Sea, the mouths of the Tiber, its breadth is 136 miles, and a little less from Castrum Novum on the Adriatic Sea to Alsium on the Tuscan Sea, in no place exceeding a width of 200 miles. The circuit of the entire coast from Varus round to Arsia is 2049 miles. Its distances from the countries that surround it are as follows; from Istria and Liburnia in certain places 100 miles, from Epirus and Illyricum, 50 miles, from Africa, according to Marcos Varo, less than 200 miles, from Sardinia 120, from Sicily 1, from Corcyra less than 80, from Issa 50. It stretches through the seas in a southerly direction, but a more careful and accurate calculation would place it between due south and sunrise at mid-winter.
73 (part) the Sicilian straits and the two opposing headlands, Caenus on the Italian and Pelorum on the Sicilian side, the distance between them being 12 stades; Rhegium is 93 stades away. (74) Next comes the Apennine forest of Sila, and the promontory of Leucopetra 15 miles from it, and Epizephyrian Locri ( called after the promontory of Zephyrium) 51 miles; it is 303 miles to the river Silarus. And this rounds off the first gulf of Europe. And this rounds off the first gulf of Europe.

Note; Pliny has given the very shallow gulf as the first and then confuses the second and third as follows.

75(part) Beyond Sicily, a far as the south-eastern point of Italy Polybius calls it the Ausonian Sea, but Eratosthenes calls all the part between the ocean inlet and Sardinia the Sardoan Sea, from Sardinia to Sicily the Tyrrhenian, from Sicily to Crete the Sicilian and beyond Crete the Cretan.
95. At Locri begins the projection of Italy called Magna Graecia, retiring into three bays of the Ausonian Sea, so called from its first inhabitants the Ausones. According to Varro its length is 86 miles, but most authorities have made it 75. On this coast are rivers beyond count; but the places worthy of mention, beginning at Locri, are the Sagra and the ruins of the town of Caulon, Mustiae, Camp Consilinum, Cocynthum ( thought by some to be the longest promontory in Italy), then the gulf and city of Scolagium, called by the Athenians when founding it Scylletium. This part of the country is made into a peninsula by the Gulf of Terina which runs up to it, and on it is the harbour called Hannibal’s camp. It is the narrowest part of Italy, which is here 20 miles across, and consequently the elder Dionysius wanted to cut a canal across the peninsula in this place, and annexe it to Sicily. (96). The navigable rivers in this district are the Carcinus, Crotlaus, Semirus, Arogas and Thagines; it contains the inland town of Petilia, the mount Clibanus and the promontory of Lacinium, off the coast of which 10 miles out lies the Island of the Sons of Zeus and another called Calypso’s Island, which is thought to be Homer’s island of Ogygia, and also Tyris Eranusa and Meloessa. According to Agrippa the distance of the promontory of Lacinium from Caulon is 70 miles.

Note; this gulf does not start at Locri but Punta Stilo/Cocynthius and is not named for a minor River/town but Squillace, and is the second Gulf/bay. But Pliny uses both Names for the same gulf?

(97) At the promontory of Lacinium begins the second Gulf of Europe; it curves round in a large bay and ends in Acroceraunium, a promontory of Epirus; the distance from cape to cape is 75 miles. Here the town of Croton, the river Neaethus, and the town of Thurii between the river Crathios and the river Sybaris, on which once stood the city of the same name. Likewise Heraclea, once called Siris, lies between the Siris and the Aciris, Then the rivers Acalandrum and Causentum, and the town of Metapontum, at which the third region of Italy ends.

This (97) shows clearly that Pliny has mistaken Lacinium for Iapygian in that the Acroceraunian promontory is situated across from Otranto on the north coast of the Iapygian promontory, that is across the Strait of Otranto, thus his description of the Sole of Italy and the Amazonian Shield requires revising to be from Leucopetra to Iapygia. The Paragraph (99) following exposes the mistake. The bay is the same as in (99). It is possible that Pliny may have thought of the Lacinium Cape as Iapygium tria promontoria but in (95) he nearly dismisses the Lacinium promontory, and of course has placed Cocynthium away from Caulonia! Thus a little unravelling is required.

99) Adjoining this district is the second region of Italy, embracing the Hirpini, Calabria, Apulia and the Sallentini with the 250-mile bay named after the Laconian town of Tarentum, this is situated in the innermost recess of the bay and has attached to it the sea-bord colony that had settled there, and it is 136 miles distant from the promontory of Lacinium, throwing out Calabria which is opposite to Lacinium to form a peninsula.

Note; this is in fact the third bay, the Gulf of Taranto.
Note; there are two excellent English versions of the text by Pliny, one being from PERSEUS TUFTS, and the other, http://www.attalus.org/info/pliny_hn.html

CLAUDIUS PTOLEMY, GEOGRAPHIKE HYPHEGESIS, BOOK 3 CHAPTER 1. ITALY
The towns are tabulated with latitudes and longitudes (excluded here) and we can commence at the Bruttii on the Tyrrhenum Sea, Mouth of the river Laus; Tempsa Town; Taurianus cliff; Hipponiates bay; Scyllaeum promontory; Rhegium Julium; Leucopetra promontory
Of Magna Graecia on the Adriatic Sea; Zephyrium promontory; Locri town; mouth of the Locani river.
On Scylacius bay; Scylacium town; inner most part of Scylacium bay; Lacinium Promontory.
On Tarentinus bay; Croton town; Thurium; Metapontum; Tarentum.
Of the Salentini; Iapygium promontory or Salentinum.

The world of Claudius Ptolemy comprised 500 stadia per degree of latitude and not the 600 actual. Hence his positioning by Latitude and Longitude is awry. For information see texts CP/1 and CP/2.

PAUSANIUS, DESCRIPTION OF GREECE 6.3.12
Caulonia was a colony in Italy founded by the Achaeans, and its founder was Typhon of Aegium. When Pyrrhus, son of Aeacides, and the Tarentines were at war with the Romans, several cities in Italy were destroyed , either by the Romans or by the Epeirots, and those included Caulonia whose fate was to be utterly laid waste, having been taken by the Campanians, who formed the largest contingent of allies on the Roman side.

IMPERATORIS ANTONINI AUGUSTI ITINERARIM PROVINCIARUM
Item ab Equo tutico per Roscianum Regio —- mpm CCCCLXXIIII sic
Sentianum/ Baleianum/ Venusia/ Ad Pinum/ Ypinum/Caelianum/ Heraclia/ Ad Vicensimum/ Turios/ Roscianum mpmXII/ Paternum mpm XXVII/ Meto mpm XXXII/ Tacina mpmXXIIII/ Scylacio mpm XXII/ Cocinto mpn XXII/ Succeiano mpm XX/ Subsicivo mpm XXIIII/ Altanum mpm XX/ Hipprrum mpm XXIIII/ Decastadium mpm XXII Regio mpm XX.
Roscianum is on Tarentus Sinus ( Rossano) and the rest follow round the coast in a southerly direction ( see map)

ITINERARIUM MARITIMUM
Ab Hydrunto litoraria Leucas provinciae Calabriae— stadia CCCC
a Leucis Crotona provinciae supra scriptae— stadia DCCC
a Crotona Naus provinciae supra scriptae— stadia C
a Naus Stilida provinciae supra scriptae— stadia DC
ab Stilida Zephyrio provinciae supra scriptae—- stadia CCCC
a Zephyrio Regio civitas provinciae supre scriptae—- Stadia CCCCXX
a Regio traiectus in Siciliam, civitas Messana— stadia LXX
a Messana Tauromenio civitas provinciae supra scriptae—-stadia CCL.

Professor P ORSI in Notizie degli scav 49 real ( page 68) comments on the Itinerarium Marittimura comparing the actual distances for both Itinerarium.
In the text of the Rev, J A Cramer, A Geographical Description of Ancient Italy, dated 1828 and in 2 volumes, section XIV, BRUTII, he lists the Roman Roads to be found in our research area. Under the title, ROMAN WAYS he starts with the continuation of the Via Aquilia into Bruttium and lists five sections giving modern names. The pages 441 to 444 are included in the appendices and provide a variation from the one quoted here-in. See D34

TABULA PEUTINGERIANA See Appendices D35
Brindifi/ Pastium/ Balentium/ Lupia/ Ydrunte/ Castra Minerve/ Veretum/ Uhintum/ Baletium/ Herfetum/ Mandaris/ Tarento/ Cortofro/ Heraclea/ Sentinum/ Turis/ Petelia/ Crontona/ Lacenium/ Annibali
Caulon/Lucis/ Scyle/ Leucopetra/ Regio
Note; the road on the actual map is not continuous and at Annibali (Castrum Hannibalis) crosses the mountains to the north side and finally Vibona Balentia. A copy of the map is attached.

RAVENNA COSMOGRAPHY See appendices D29
Sections IV31 and IV32, cover the coastline from Lupia, now San Cataldo, around the Iapygian Promontory, into the Gulf of Tarento, then passes Caulonia, Locris, Leucopetra and Rhegio Julii, now Reggio di Calabria. The names of some place would appear to be singularly the authors as historically they are not found in the other texts except the Tabula Peutingeriana which is dated originally to the 4th C. CE, and would be a base for listed text identification however it is nebulous for some. The list is in the appendices.

THE FOLLOWING TEXTS ARE THE SUBSIDARY ITEMS See Appendices
GUIDONIS GEOGRAPHICA. The list is here-in a text format.
29. Ydronyus/ Minervum, in qua templum Minervae, ubi Anchises pater Aeneae primo hominem equos pascentes Italiam advectus prospexit, ut infit Virgilius./ Beretos quae imnc Augentum/ Valentium/ Lubias ubi munc est Calipolis/ Saturnum/ Tarentum, inclita ac regalis et omnium copiarum opulentissima, in qua Quintus Ennius poeta antiquissimus exortus Romae floruit.

30. Mesochorus/ Metapontus, fulgentissima ac fertilis atque nobilitated insignis, in qua Samius Pitagora philosophus post secessum Crotone deguit peripateticamque doctrinam sequacibus tradidit. Huius moenia duo irrigui ac pulcherrimi amnes ambient, dextra laevaque mari influentes vastissime, Bradanus amenissimus, qui et Tardus propter sinuosos orbes sui discursus, unde Bradinos graece dicitur, et Basentius defluus et omni gravitate fecundus, propter quod graece Basintos quasi badizon sintomos appellatur. Dehinc civitas est Heraclea/ Senasum/ Tueeis/ Pellia/ Crotona/ Facenium/ Hannibal.

31. Item iuxta fretum quod inter Siciliam et Calabriara Italiae dividit est civitas quae dicitur/ Caulon/ Locris/ Sileum/ Leucopetra/ Regium/ Columna Regia quae nunc Stilos.

Tavole Palatine, the temple site is Temple of Hera,(Minervum) a 6th century Hexastyle Peripteral Greek Temple located near the Bradanus River on ancient sandbanks and on the site of a neolithic village. Note how Guido of Pisa notices that the towns are generally between two rivers, obviously an aid to defence as well as water etc.

AL-IDRISI
French text, Tome 2, 4th climate, 3rd section (page 117) is in the appendix As D30.

LO COMPASSO DE NAVEGARE Appendices D31
From the Straits of Messana to the Iapygian Promontory pages 24 -27 are in the appendices.

LIBER DE EXTENSIA RIVERIARUM; PORTULAN AU XII SIECLE See D32
Pages 156-158 are attached in the appendix, covering lines 1550 to 1680 from Patrick Gautier Dalche’s work of translation and explanation.
Line 1606, e.g. Ab squillace ad caput Stile LV
Line 1607/8 e.g. Inde voluitur sinus Girace usque ad caput Brussani, habens a Stile ad Rocellam XX.

IL PORTOLANO DI GRAZIA PAULI SECOLO XIV See D33
Pages 27-29 (in the appendices) describe the route from Spartivento to Taranto. However , yet again we see names at variance to preceding papers and obviously the use of other places on route. There are few references to “ancient” sites and it is mainly a mariners artifact.

NOW FOLLOWS THE TECHNICAL DATA FOR THE COASTAL CHANGES, THE PROBLEM OF CAPO STILO AND CAULONIA AND THE POSSIBLE ANSWERS TO THE MYSTERIOUS ISLANDS.
THE SOLE OF ITALY; THE SEISMIC ACTIVITY AND PROBLEMS AT SEA.

Given the fact that Sicily with Mount Etna and then the Aeolian, “Isole Eolie O Lipari” with Stromboli and Vulcano isles to the west of the Sole of Italy, thus Calabria is one of he most seismically active areas of the Mediterranean Sea basin, and we must expect landscape and littoral changes to have occurred. The Earthquake diagram indicates Italy and the activity around the Sole of Italy, which surprisingly appears devoid of activity on the Iapygian Promontory northwards to the Gargano Promontory on Italy’s Adriatic coast.

However it clearly indicates seismic activity which affected Caulonia and to its south Locri as well as the major activity on the Lacinium Promontory and the littoral to Sybaris. Locri to the south of Caulonia and Punta Stilo show evidence of coastal seabed subsidence and littoral uplift, such that the shore line moves inland and the sea gradually overtakes what was both beach and land, returning to a position of many millennia ago in the Holocene era, 5000-4000BCE.

Kaulonia (as spelt on coins) is quite different as the regression and transgression are more pronounced with what was a shoreline c500BCE regressing from a beach land of some +450 metres and the River Assi (Stilari) changing course. This is clearly illustrated by the sectional plot and the plan of the shoreline changes from the work by Jean-Daniel Stanley et al.

CgSOL/1/D12

CgSOL/1/D13

CgSOL/1/D14

CgSOL/1/D15

Then, we have the example of Sybaris/Thurii/Copia in the Gulf of Taranto, where those cities as one, with harbour, ship slips etc are now over 2Km from the sea due to the uplift of the land.

CgSOL/1/D16

Thus when reading cosmographers texts which discuss places in 800-200BCE we must clearly acknowledge that we do not have a clear idea of their descriptions given such momentous changes. Those changes not only affect the littoral but also the sea-bed along these coastal areas and thus require examination.

In the Ionian Sea, east of Sybaris are three sea mounts which in the present day have a peak depth of 30/40; 170/180 and 220/230 metres with a near constant base depth of 350/360 metres. This is the Amendolara Bank and is illustrated on the appendix information sheet.

Next is Capo Colonne with numerous shoals and submerged reef which is dangerous to navigation and is about 0.4 mile offshore between the Cape and Croton.

CgSOL/1/D17

On the Lacinium Promontory, Cape Rizzuto, there are two shoals known as Secche di Capo Rizzuto and have least depths of 4 and 8 metres. They lie 1 ½ and 2.3 miles ENE of the Cape. They feature in “Sailing Directions for Mariners” as the whole area of the promontory starting north of Capo Colonne and south of Capo Rizzuto/La Castella with its own Secca is now a Marine Protection Zone. There is also a shoal with a depth of less than 180cms which extends up to 0.2 mile East from Capo Colonne.

The Rev J A Cramer writes; “The promontory of Lacinium derives its modern names of Capo delle Colonne, and Capo Nao, from the remains of this temple ( Temple of Juno)——– To the south are three other capes, now called Capo delle castella, Capo Rizzuto, And Capo della Nave, but anciently designated by the name of Iapygum tria Promontoria. Close to these points were formerly two rocks, or islets, each distinguished by a specific appellation, but they have now entirely disappeared”.
Lacinium Promontory also hides another secret which is discussed later.

Further south at Squillace the coastal sea depth is quite shallow and the area is full of reefs and rocks as the photograph illustrates and give cause to accept Virgil’s comment, “ship-wrecking Scylaceum.”

In the sea south of Capo Bruzzano/Zephyrium Promontory there is a large rock, Scoglio di Cazzufri, which is just north of Cape Spartivento. This appears to have other names.

KAULONIA AND THE “COCINTHIAN” PROMONTORY; AND PUNTA STILO.

CgSOL/1/D18 & D19

Situated on the Ionian Sea and on a coast which is a huge sweeping arc, Polybius considered the promontory as the point of his triangle as previously discussed. But, Kaulonia has been the subject of much research, commencing in the 1890’s and continuing even today. Using Google Earth Pro I have plotted the survey outlines and the major features of Caulonia; Faro Hill, then the 50m and 55m hills and the Piazzetta at 70m in height. The survey which was enlarge actually fits the photo plot very well indeed, hence Virgil’s comment “the Towers of Caulon” are given meaning as they form an important part of the city walls.

CgSOL/1/D20 & D21

Kaulonia unfortunately has suffered from the wars between the various factions of the
age. In 389BCE Dionysus 1st of Syracuse destroyed it. Rebuilt it was again destroyed in the Pyrrhic war against Hannibal (280-275 BCE) and finally by the Romans in 200BCE.

However , thanks to the archaeological efforts of Professor Paolo Orsi, we can discuss the name of the “headland” of the curving coast now called Punto Stilo. Curiously whilst many seem to think it is the “Cocinthian Promontory”, Pliny writes (95) beginning at Locri, are Sagra and the ruins of Caulon, Mustiae, Camp Consilium and Cocynthium ( thought to be by some the longest promontory in Italy) then the gulf and city of Scolagium, called by the Athenians when founding it Scylletium.”

I have already listed the mistaken promontory of Pliny and thus with the above find it does not place “Cocinthium Prom” at Caulonia, but further along the coast! He previously wrote in Para., 43, “in the shape of an Amazons Shield, the projection in the centre being called Cocynthus, while it sends out two horns along bays of crescent shape”.

The Amazon shield is a crescent shape with two horns and hence His Oak leaf is set upside down with the top of the leaf being a basic crescent across the three lobes. Pliny is very precise in his statements and thus the centre of the Sole of Italy is Cocynthus. Polybius has it at Punto Stilo which my diagram clearly illustrates is incorrect and the Lacinium Promontory consisting of Capes, Colonne, Cimitri and Rizzuto is the centre point.

CgSOL/1/D22

On that promontory between Capo Cimitri (Capo Naus) and Capo Rizzuto are the “Cocinthian Crags “ of Ovid. These are the “RED CLIFFS” , Le Arene Rosse”, a natural feature caused by a combination of sedimentary and geological; events over millions of years dating back to the Lower Cambrian Period around 500 million years ago. The vibrant Red colour results from the Iron Oxide minerals, particularly Hematite which oxidises to this colour (rust).

Now regard the Latin words COCCUM-I, noun, “Scarlet” and COCCINEUS or COCCINUS the adjective “Scarlet” and thus the “Cocynthium” is a corruption of COCCINEUS and does not apply to Punta Stilo, which even in 500BCE was surrounded by a beach headland forming a “perhaps” promontory. It certainly is not scarlet in any stretch of the imagination and neither is it the central point of the Sole of Italy. Set the Amazons shield, onto the map and the Horns are Cape Leucopetra and Cape Iapygia and the central point is nearer the Cocynthian Crags, the Red Cliffs of the Lacinium Promontory.

Punta Stilo derives from a man-made feature that was found by the archaeologists originally on the Faro Mound. Professor Paolo Orsi writes in his 1891 “Notizie”, page 61 the following (in translation);

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CgSOL/1/D24

ince the lighthouse was built on the spot, or rather on the ruins of the old watch tower on the coast,—- and which mostly date back to the 16th century, its foundations were destroyed, to better reinforce those of the lighthouse under construction, and on that occasion, according to what was reported to me by the engineer of the Civil Engineering Department appointed to inspect those works, large parallelepiped boulders in Syracuse Limestone were found, placed in order to form a wall, whose Greek origin seems to me not to call into question, although, for lack of appropriate observations, its destination is obscure and doubtful. In April, I noticed on the East side of the Hill a rough ancient scarp wall which seemed to have been built – “contra montis labem”- as the slope of the hill was very steep and crumbling; it had been exposed and partly destroyed, to remove the pieces.

For the same works, at the southern foot of the hill. And a few tens of metres away from the summit, on which the light house stands, an extensive trench was opened to convert the land into a vineyard, and at no great depth debris began to appear there, scraps of bricks, other squared boulders, irregularly arranged, because they were displaced and the drums of fluted columns which however I did not see; and among all these remains of the demolition of a building some terracotta’s, the majority of which were recovered due to the care of the R. Prefecture of Regio , and deposited in the Municipal Archaeological Museum of Regio Calabria.
Lets summarize; if terracotta’s both by their individual character and as a whole clearly allude to the existence of a small temple or small sanctuary on the hill of the Stilo Lighthouse, the decoration of the tile, and the location in an elevated place dominating the entire beach —–think of the sanctuary of one of the sailors, be it Poseidon, or his son Taras or Apollo Delphinos—- as demonstrated by many symbols and subjects of their coins—– both signs of health and recognition to the sailors.

Hence on top of the Faro Hill was a Temple or Sanctuary to the Gods of the Sailors, or a TEOS SOTER, (savour god) of sailors and thus at Kaulonia a very early Greek Temple which certainly had columns, hence Punta Stilo.

Whether this was a Dystyle or Prostyle Temple or even a small Peripteral Temple as illustrated on Pages 82/83 of Sir Banister Fletcher’s, “A History of Architecture” is unknown, but given that the number of column drums found was small probably a Dystyle.

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From the Beach, the “Doric” “In Antis” temple having 40 columns and being some 45 x 18 ½ metres would fit on the Faro Mount, hence perhaps there was more there than the remains found account for.

That point raises a large query for the debris scatter found on the seabed which has been noted as having “Ionic” column sections or drums. Doric Temples are basically from 640-300BCE and Ionic temples 500-200BCE. The Doric column, a circular shaft diminishing from ¾ to 2/3rds its diameter, is divided as a rule into 20 shallow flutes or channels separated by sharp arises. Ionic Columns usually have 24 flutes separated by fillets and not by arises or sharp edges as in Doric columns, however, early examples are similar to the Doric. The photo of the column drum on the seabed is hard to judge as being either, but given that the destruction of the Doric Beach Temple of 40 columns would probably mean a minimum of 160 drums the seabed scatter does not reflect that, so where is the debris?

Returning to the Faro Mount Dystyle Temple, there is also the possibility of it being the Treasury of Kaulonia. This is common in Greece and the best preserved are at Delphi. But the photos of the Faro Hill and the comments made indicate it has a very steep slope and this could have been “shaped by man” to provide an excellent refuge as any attacker would be unable to ascend the slope with ease. Thus a very secure place for a Treasury of the Silver coinage of Kaulonia.

The text by Professor Orsi is found in “Monumenti Antichi, volume XXIII, P Orsi-Caulonia”. There are many photographs and plans, plus the items which give the clues to the temples. The text by Lucia Lepore and Paolo Turi ( 2010) “Caulonia tra Crotone e Locri”, has the underwater photos. The text by Jean Daniel Stanley et al, (2007) is Kaulonia, southern Italy, in “Mediterranee (108)” pp7-15.

FINAL COMMENTS AND SUMMARY

The “Sole of Italy” was chosen for an in depth study of the cosmographers art, being capable of division from Italy itself. The fact that it was also part of Magna Graecia and had been well developed in the first millennia BCE gave adequate reason to think there would be interesting archaeology, geography and history to explore.

The findings regarding the seismological actions, however, rather confused the situation in that the extant written texts dated c500BCE to c150 BCE and then c75BCE to c600CE, coupled with the work of the professionals in underwater studies, subsidence and uplift, with materially concerning landscape changes probably voided many of their comments. Obviously not one of these ancient cosmographers would have seen the coastline prior to c500BCE and what they were writing about from “historical facts” in even older texts would require investigating from the new view point of a much changed landscape and coast.

Thus the sea features, be they Scoglio or Secche which have existed for many millennia and eroded by the actions of the sea over the +2500 years being discussed took on an important role in trying to understand these texts.

The Amphrysian Rocks and the Cocinthian Crags, with mysterious islands in these texts were thus as shown real geographical features and required to be treated with care so as not to merely dismiss them as a writers imaginary geography.

The coastline certainly has many extant features as has been shown to provide enough tentative ideas to determine what is what in the texts. That was the purpose of this paper which by the findings cannot make definitive statements, merely indicate that which is within the ancient texts which can be identified with some certainty.

The curious identification of Punta Stilo as the Cocinthian Promontory when it is named for a Distyle Temple on the Faro Mount at Caulonia, and when Ovid used “Cocinthian Crags” certainly set the tone of this research to ignore certain translations and rely on searching for geographical features that may apply. This led to the Lacinium Promontory, Le Arene Rosse, the Red Cliffs and thence with Pliny the Elders crescent shaped shield, the centre of the coast was found and Polybius’s theory debunked.

It was a piecemeal approach with the research toing and froing, testing each and every part against probability given the coastal changes that the experts had discovered. Thus this text is borne out of hundreds of pages of research collated into a single large file and finally written in a paper which is simple and without conclusion.

There cannot be an actual conclusion regarding the fourteen main texts and the five subsidiary texts as many are obviously “copies” from others, particularly the listing of towns which has similar mis-placements. They were all using the same historical documents, the ancient books, and not one of them saw the original landscape or coastline of the “Sole of Italy” for the years 1000-500BCE.

Therefore, should any researcher wish to take issue with this paper, I wish them well in unravelling the ancient coastline and the texts to arrive at a better explanation.

MICHAEL J FERRAR JULY 2024

APPENDICES

The Amendolara Bank CgSOL/1/D26

Via Egnatia CgSOL/1/D27

Shipwrecking Scylaceum CgSOL/1/D28

The Ravenna Cosmography CgSOL/1/D29

Al-Idrisi CgSOL/1/D30, includes the Shield of Pliny.

Lo Compasso de Navegare CgSOL/1/D31

Liber de Extensia Riveriarum CgSOL/1/D32

Il Portolan di Grazia Pauli CgSOL/1/D33

Rev J A Cramer , Roman Ways. CgSOL/1/D34

Tabula Peutingeriana; CgSOL/1/D35

MICHAEL J FERRAR JULY 2024