Listed 4 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "SAMI Ancient city KEFALLONIA" .
SAMI (Ancient city) KEFALLONIA
Same, Samos, Eth.: Samaios: Samo. The most ancient city in Cephallenia,
which is also the name of this island in the poems of Homer. The city stood upon
the eastern coast, and upon the channel separating Cephallenia and Ithaca. (Strab.
x. p. 455.) Along with the other Cephallenian towns it joined the Athenian alliance
in B.C. 43. (Thuc. ii. 30.) When M. Fulvius passed over into Cephallenia in B.C.
189, Samos at first submitted to the Romans along with the other towns of the
island; but it shortly afterwards revolted, and was not taken till after a siege
of four months, when all the inhabitants were sold as slaves. (Liv. xxxviii. 28,
29.) It appears from Livy's narrative that Same had two citadels, of which the
smaller was called Cyatis; the larger he designates simply as the major arx. In
the time of Strabo there existed only a few vestiges of the ancient city. (Strab.
l. c.; comp. Plin. iv. 12. s. 19.)
Same has given its name to the modern town of Samo, and to the bay
upon which it stands. Its position and the remains of the ancient city are described
by Leake. It stood at the northern extremity of a wide valley, which borders the
bay, and which is overlooked to the southward by the lofty summit of Mount Aenus
(Elato). It was built upon the north-western face of a bicipitous height, which
rises from the shore at the northern end of the modern town. The ruins and vestiges
of the ancient walls show that the city occupied the two summits, an intermediate
hollow, and their slope as far as the sea. On the northern of the two summits
are the ruins of an acropolis, which seems to have been the major arx mentioned
by Livy. On the southern height there is a monastery, on one side of which are
some remains of a Hellenic wall, and which seems to be the site of the Cyatis,
or smaller citadel. There are considerable remains of the town walls. The whole
circuit of the city was barely two miles. (Leake, Northern Greece. vol. iii. p.
55.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
In the Palaeocastro location..
The Homeric name (Il. 2.634; Od. 1.246; 4.67 1; 9.24; 15.29) has been
handed down, designating either the entire island or only its E part (cf. Hdt.
9.28; Plin., HN 5.54). The present name refers to a small port not far from the
ruins of the ancient city. Same, the capital of the island, was taken and destroyed
in 189 B.C. by M. Fulvius Nobilior because of its resistance to the Romans. Situated
at the center of a fertile, well-watered zone near the sea, the city developed
considerably and was defended by a vast wall of ca. 3500 km. In ancient times
Same had two acropoleis, of which the one farthest S has been identified in the
locality of Kyathis.
Several Hellenistic tombs, a grotto sacred to the cult of Pan, and
a notable thermal complex datable to the late 2d-early 3d c. B.C. have been excavated
near the urban center. A fine male portrait in bronze from the late period of
the Emperor Gallienus has recently been found.
N. Bonacasa, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
Receive our daily Newsletter with all the latest updates on the Greek Travel industry.
Subscribe now!