Listed 31 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "CORSICA Island FRANCE" .
ALALIA (Ancient city) CORSICA
This city was founded by the Phocaean in about 565 B.C. It was the first commercial syndicate created in Corsica. The indigenous population, ensconced in the mountains, do not take much advantage of the richness and diversity of this international metropolis. Situated at the crossroads of the major trade routes of the Old World, it is immediately coveted by the Etruscans of Tuscany who are allied to the Carthaginians of Africa. The contribution of these successive civilizations is remarkable. Democratic processes, artistic and technical achievments with the notable development of the Eastern plain through the cultivation of vine and olive trees. Mineral extraction and fishing industries are all developed at this time. Then the people of Syracuse who came from neighbouring Sicily arrive. They in turn are ousted by the same Carthaginians (280 B.C.).
ALALIA (Ancient city) CORSICA
Aleria or Alalia (Alalie, Herod.; Allalia, Steph. B.; Aleria, Ptol.:
Allaliaios, Steph. B.), one of the chief cities of Corsica, situated on the E.
coast of the island, near the mouth of the river Rhotanus (Tavignano). It was
originally a Greek colony, founded about B.C. 564, by the Phocaeans of Ionia.
Twenty years later, when the parent city was captured by Harpagus, a large portion
of its inhabitants repaired to their colony of Alalia, where they dwelt for five
years, but their piratical conduct involved them in hostilities with the Tyrrhenians
and Carthaginians; and in a great sea-fight with the combined fleets of these
two nations they suffered such heavy loss, as induced them to abandon the island,
and repair to the S. of Italy, where they ultimately established themselves at
Velia in Lucania. (Herod. i. 165-167; Steph. B.; Diod. v. 13, where Kalaris is
evidently a corrupt reading for Alapia.) No further mention is found of the Greek
colony, but the city appears again, under the Roman form of the name, Aleria,
during the first Punic war, when it was captured by the Roman fleet under L. Scipio,
in B.C. 259, an event which led to the submission of the whole island, and was
deemed worthy to be expressly mentioned in his epitaph. (Zonar. viii. 11; Flor.
ii. 2; Orell. Inscr. no. 552.) It subsequently received a Roman colony under the
dictator Sulla, and appears to have retained its colonial rank, and continued
to be one of the chief cities of Corsica under the Roman Empire. (Plin. iii. 6.
s. 12; Mela, ii. 7; Diod. v. 13; Seneca, Cons. ad Helv. 8; Ptol. iii. 2. § 5;
Itin. Ant. p. 85.)
Its ruins are still visible near the south bank of the river Tavignano:
they are now above half a mile from the coast, though it was in the Roman times
a seaport.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited July 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
CORSICA (Island) FRANCE
Corsica, called by the Greeks Cyrnus (Kurnos: Eth. Kurnaios: later
Greek writers, however, use also Korsis and Korsika; Dionys. Per.; Strab.; Ptol.,
&c.: the Latin Ethnic is Corsus, which Ovid uses also for the adjective: Corsicanus
is the adjective form in Servius and Solinus), one of the principal islands in
the Mediterranean, ranean, situated to the N. of Sardinia, from which it was separated
only by a narrow strait. It was generally rally reckoned the third in magnitude
of the seven great islands in that sea (Alexius, ap. Enstath. ad Dionys. Per.
4; Strab. ii. p. 123), though other authors gave it only the sixth place. (Diod.
v. 17; Scylax, § 113.) Pliny says that it was 150 miles long, and for the most
part 50 broad, and gives its circumference at 325 miles; Strabo, on the other
hand, states its length at 160 miles, and its greatest breadth at 70. (Plin. iii.
6. s. 12; Strab. v. p. 224.) Both these statements exceed the truth; the real
length of the island is just about 100 geographical (125 Roman) miles, while its
breadth nowhere exceeds 46 geographical or 58 Roman miles. Both Strabo and Diodorus
reckon it 300 stadia distant from the island of Aethalia or Ilva, which is very
little more than the truth; the former correctly states that it is visible from
the mainland near Populonium, but he was misled by his guides when they led him
to believe that Sardinia was so too. The northern extremity of Corsica, formed
by a narrow ridge of mountains, extending like a great promontory near 30 miles
from the main body of the island, is distinctly visible from many points on the
coast of Etruria, and even from that of Liguria. The distance of this part of
the island from Vada Volaterrana is correctly given by Pliny at 62 M.P., but it
is not more than 58 from Populonium, which is the nearest point on the mainland.
(Plin. l. c.; Strab. v. p. 223; Diod. v. 13.)
Almost the whole of Corsica is occupied by a range of lofty and rugged
mountains, extending from N. to S. from one extremity of the island to the other.
The highest summits of this range attain an elevation of from 8000 to 9000 feet,
and are in consequence covered with snow during the greater part of the year;
their sides are furrowed by deep torrents, and intersected by narrow, crooked
valleys or ravines, while they are covered almost throughout with dense forests.
The vast extent of these, and the magnitude and excellence of the timber which
they produced, have been celebrated in all ages. (Theophrast. H. P. v. 8. § §
1, 2; Dionys. Per. 460; Diod. l. c.) But notwithstanding this advantage, as well
as the excellent ports with which the W. and S. coasts of the island abound, its
rugged and inaccessible nature rendered it in ancient, as they still do in modern
times, one of the wildest and least civilised portions of Southern Europe. Theophrastus
says that the whole island was shaggy and savage, from the vast forests with which
it was covered (daseian kai hosper egriomenen tei hulei). Strabo speaks wilder
than the very beasts (agrioteroi therion, v. p. 224), and of so untameable a character,
that when they were brought to Rome as slaves it was impossible to make any use
of them, or accustom them to domestic habits. The judgment of Diodorus on this
point is more favourable. He says the Corsican slaves were very docile, and readily
adapted themselves to the ways of civilised life; and that the natives of the
island, though ignorant of tillage, and subsisting wholly on meat, milk, and honey,
were remarkable for their love of justice. (Diod. v. 13, 14.) Seneca, who was
banished to the island in A.D. 41, and lived there eight years in exile, naturally
takes an unfavourable view of it, and speaks in exaggerated terms of the barrenness
of its soil, as well as the barbarism of its inhabitants, and the unhealthiness
of its climate. (Sen. Cons. ad Helv. 6. § 4; Anthol. Lat. 129, 130.) In the latter
respect, however, it had greatly the advantage of the neighbouring island of Sardinia;
the low grounds on the E. coast are indeed very unhealthy, but the greater part
of the island is free from the scourge of malaria; and ancient writers speak of
the native Corsicans as remarkable for their longevity. (Eustath. ad Dion. Per.
458.)
We have very little information as to the origin of the native population
of Corsica, but there seems little doubt that it was derived principally from
a Ligurian source. This is the opinion of Seneca, though he tells us that there
were some tribes in the island of Spanish or Iberian extraction,whose manners
and dress resembled those of the Cantabrians, and appears inclined to regard these
as the earliest inhabitants, and the Ligurians as subsequent settlers. (Sen. l.c.
8.) Solinus, however, following authors now lost, who had written fully concerning
Corsica, expressly ascribes its first population to the Ligurians, and this is
confirmed by the legend which derived its name from a Ligurian woman of the name
of Corsa, who was fabled to have first discovered and visited its shores. (Solin.
3. § 3; Eustath. l. c.; Isidor. Origg. xiv. 6.) We are expressly told that Corsica
was the native name of the island, adopted from them by the Romans (Diod. v. 13;
Dionys. Per. 459); the origin of that of Cyrnus, by which it was known to the
Greeks, is wholly unknown, though late writers, as usual, derived it from a hero
Cyrnus, whom they pretended to be a son of Hercules.
The island appears to have been early known to the Greeks, and the
Phocaeans founded the city of Alalia on its eastern coast as early as B.C. 564.
(Herod. i. 165; Seneca, l. c.) Twenty years later they established themselves
in much greater force, but after a stay of only a few years were compelled to
abandon it again; and from this period we hear nothing more of Greek colonies
on the island. According to Diodorus, the Tyrrhenians, who had united their arms
with the Carthaginians to expel the Phocaeans, established their authority over
the island, in which they founded the city of Nicaea (a name that certainly appears
rather to point to a Greek origin), and exacted from the inhabitants a tribute
of resin, wax, and honey. (Diod. v. 13.) Their supremacy fell with the decline
of their naval power, and Corsica, as well as Sardinia, appears to have been in
a state of dependency, if not of subjection, to Carthage at the time of the First
Punic War. On this account it was attacked, in B.C. 259, by a Roman fleet under
L. Scipio, who took the city of Aleria, and compelled the inhabitants to acknowledge
the sovereignty of Rome, and give hostages for their fidelity. (Zonar. viii. 11;
Flor. ii. 2. § 16; Liv. Epit. xvii.; Orell. Inscr. 552.) It is probable that the
submission of the wild tribes of the native Corsicans was at this time little
more than nominal; and after the close of the First Punic War we find them again
repeatedly in arms, together with their neighbours the Sardinians; at length,
in B.C. 231, C. Papirius Maso is said to have effectually subdued them, for which
he claimed the honour of a triumph. (Zonar. viii. 18; Liv. Epit. xx.; Fast. Capit.)
Yet long after this, repeated revolts attest the imperfect nature of their subjection;
and the victories of the Roman praetors appear to have effected nothing beyond
a nominal submission, and the payment of an occasional tribute. (Liv. xl. 19,
34, xlii. 7, 21.) Before the close of the Republic, however, the maritime parts
of the island at least were brought under complete subjection, and two colonies
of Roman citizens were established on its E. coast, that of Mariana by Marius,
and Aleria by Sulla. (Plin. iii. 6. s. 12; Mel. ii. 7. § 9; Seneca, Cons. ad Helv.
8. § 2.) This example, however, was not followed; and under the Roman empire little
pains were taken to extend the civilisation of Italy to an island which was regarded
as wild and inhospitable. Even in the time of Augustus, Strabo describes the mountain
tribes of the interior as subsisting principally by robbery and plunder; while
the Roman governors from time to time made an attack upon their fastnesses, and
carried off a number of prisoners, whom they sold as slaves. (Strab. v. p. 224.)
The fact that it was selected as a place of banishment for political exiles (of
which Seneca was the most illustrious example) in itself shows the unfavourable
estimation in which it was held. Its name only once occurs in the history of this
period, during the civil wars of A.D. 69, when a vain attempt was made by Decimus
Pacarius to arouse the Corsicans in favour of Vitellius, though their coasts were
exposed to the fleet of Otho. (Tac. Hist. ii. 16.) Under the Roman Republic, Corsica
had been united in one province with Sardinia, and subject to the same praetor.
Tacitus speaks of it apparently as having then a separate Procurator, but this
was probably exceptional. After the time of Constantine, however, the two islands
were separated, and each had its own governor, with the title of Praeses. (Not.
Dign. ii. pp. 6, 64; P. Diac. ii. 22.) The seat of government was probably at
Aleria. On the fall of the Western Empire, Corsica fell into the hands of the
Vandals, from whom it was wrested by Belisarius, but was again conquered by the
Goths under Totila. (Procop. B. V. ii. 5, B. G. iv. 24.) It was, however, recovered
by the Exarchs of Ravenna, and continued a dependency of the Byzantine empire,
till it was conquered in the 8th century by the Saracens.
The physical character of Corsica has been already adverted to. The
great chain of mountains which fills up almost the whole island approaches, however,
somewhat nearer to the W. than the E. coast; the former is in consequence extremely
rugged, and broken by great mountain promontories, with deep bays between them,
many of which afford excellent harbours, though these are rendered comparatively
useless by the difficulty of communication with the interior. The E. coast, on
the contrary, is lower and more regular, presenting a nearly unbroken line for
a distance of 75 miles, from the neighbourhood of Bastia to the Gulf of Porto
Vecchio; but near its southern extremity this also is indented by two deep inlets,
one of which, called in ancient times the Portus Syracusanus (now Porto Vecchio),
constitutes a harbour of first-rate excellence. (Diod. v. 3.) The central mass
of the mountain chain, now called the Monte Rotondo, is apparently that which
is called by Ptolemy the Mons Aureus (to Chrusoun oros). It is in this group that
the two principal rivers of the island have their rise: the Rhotanus of Ptolemy,
now known as the Tavignano; and the Tuola or Tavola (Touolas or Tauolas), now
called the Golo. Both of these flow from W. to E., and enter the sea, the first
near the colony of Aleria, the second close to that of Mariana. The other rivers
of the island are of inferior magnitude; of those which flow to the W. coast,
Ptolemy mentions the Circidius (Kirkidios), which is probably the modern Liamone;
and the Locras, Ticarius, and Pitanus, which cannot be identified with any certainty.
The Hierus or Sacer fluvius (Hieros potamos), which he places on the E. coast,
S. of Aleria, may probably be the Fiume Orbo; and the Valerius (Oualerios or Ouolerios),
described by him as entering the sea in the middle of the N. coast, can be no
other than the small stream now called the Cigno, which flows by S. Fiorenzo.
The same author, to whom we are indebted for what little information
we possess concerning the ancient geography of Corsica, gives us the names of
a number of headlands, and bays or harbours; but very few of these can be identified
with any approach to certainty. A glance at a good map will show how irregular
and broken is the whole W. coast of the island, so that it is idle to choose a
few out of the number of bold headlands and deep inlets that it presents, and
assume them to be those intended by Ptolemy. The northernmost point of the island,
now called Capo Corso, appears to be that called by him the Sacred Promontory
(Hieron akron); and the southern extremity, near Bonifacio, may be that which
he calls Marianum, adjoining which was a city of the same name (Marianon akron
kai polis). Between these (proceeding from N. to S. along the W. coast of the
island) he enumerates: Tilox Pr., the Caesian shore (Kaisias aigialos), the Attian
Pr., the Gulf of Casalus, the Prom. of Viriballum, the Rhoetian mountain, the
Prom. of Rhium, the Sandy Shore (Ammodes aigialos), the Portus Titianus. The Portus
Syracusanus in the SE. part of the island is probably, as already observed, the
Gulf of Porto Vecchio. (Ptol. iii. 2. § § 3-5.)
Our knowledge of the internal geography of the island is extremely
vague and uncertain. Neither Strabo nor Pliny give us the names of any of the
tribes into which the native population was doubtless divided. The former says
merely that some parts of the island were habitable, and contained the towns of
the Blesini, Charax, Eniconiae, and Vapanes. (Strab. v. p. 224.) Pliny tells us
that Corsica contained thirty-three civitates, besides the two Roman colonies,
but without giving the names of any. Ptolemy, on the contrary, gives us the following
list: The Cervini occupy the W. side beneath the Golden Mountain; then follow
the Tarrabenii, the Titiani, the Balatonii. The most northerly promontory is occupied
by the Vanaceni; next to whom come the Cilebensii, then the Licnini, Macrini,
Opini, Simbri, and Comaceni, and furthest to the S. the Subasani (iii. 2. § 6).
Nothing more is known of any of these obscure tribes, who, as Ptolemy expressly
tells us, dwelt only in scattered villages; besides these, he enumerates 14 towns
in the interior, all of which are utterly unknown. Even those towns which he places
on the W. coast of the island cannot be determined with any approach to certainty,
their position depending on those of the promontories and bays, the geography
of which (as already observed) is extremely vague. The names of these places are
as follows: Urcinium (Ourkinion), Pauca (Pauka), Ficaria (Phikaria), and Marianum,
near the promontory of the same name. On the E. coast our data are rather more
precise; the site of the two Roman colonies of Aleria and Mariana being known
with certainty. The Itinerary of Antoninus also gives us a line of road (the only
one in the island) along this coast from Mariana to Pallae, a city mentioned also
by Ptolemy, which was probably situated at the head of the gulf called the Portus
Syracusanus. The intermediate stations between this and Aleria are the Portus
Favonii (still called Porto Favone, and probably identical with the Philoniou
limen of Ptolemy), and Praesidium, half way between Portus Favonii and Aleria,
probably, from its name, a mere military post. (Itin. Ant. p. 85; Ptol. iii. 2.
§ 5.) Besides these, Ptolemy mentions Rubra and Alista, which he places between
the Portus Syracusanus and Aleria; and the towns of Mantinum, Clunium, Centuria,
and Canelate, all of which are to be sought in the northern part of the island,
N. of Mariana. Nicaea, which from its name would appear to have been a Greek colony,
but is called by Diodorus (v. 13) a Tyrrhenian one, is not mentioned by any of
the geographers, and its position is quite unknown. It is a plausible conjecture
of Cluverius that it was the same place afterwards called Mariana.
Of the natural productions of Corsica, the chief, as already observed,
is timber, of which it furnished an almost unlimited supply. Theophrastus speaks
with especial admiration of the pine and fir trees that grew on the island, and
of which the Romans made great use for their fleets. (Theophr. H. P. v. 8. § 1.)
The same forests produced resin and pitch, and abounded in wild bees, so that
wax and honey were in all ages among the chief exports of the island, and we find
the Corsicans on one occasion compelled to pay 200,000 pounds of wax as a punishment
for their revolt. (Liv. xlii. 7; Diod. v. 13; Plin. xxi. 14. s. 49.) The longevity
of the inhabitants was supposed by some writers to arise from their abundant use
of honey as an article of food. (Steph. B. s. v. Kurnos.) Yet the Corsican honey
had a bitter taste, owing to the bees feeding on the box trees, which rendered
it unpalatable to strangers. (Theophr. H. P. iii. 15. § 5; Diod l. c.; Virg. Ecl.
ix. 30; Ovid, Amor. i. 12. 10.) Sheep, goats, and cattle were also abundant, though
the former were allowed to run almost wild about the mountains. (Pol. xii. 4.)
But the island produced little corn, and even under the Roman empire the cultivation
of fruit trees, vines, and olives was almost wholly neglected. (Senec. Cons. ad
Helv. 9. § 2; Anthol. Lat. 130.) Of wild animals, according to Polybius, there
were found abundance of foxes and rabbits, but no wolves, hares, or deer; the
wild goat also was unknown, but the wild sheep or mousmon (mousmon) was found
in the mountains of Corsica, as well as of Sardinia. Strabo mentions it in the
latter island only, but it is still common to them both. (Pol. xii. 3, 4.) The
mines of Corsica seem to have been neglected by the Romans; but its granite, which
is of a very fine quality, was worked for architectural purposes; and the Roman
quarries in two little islets a few miles from Bonifacio, at the southern extremity
of Corsica, are still visible. (Valery, Voyage en Corse, chap. 80.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ALALIA (Ancient city) CORSICA
One of the chief towns of Corsica, on the east of the island, founded by the Phocaeans in B.C. 564, and made a Roman colony by Sulla.
CORSICA (Island) FRANCE
An island of the Mediterranean, called by the Greeks Kurnos.
Its inhabitants were styled by the same people Kurnioi; by the Romans, Corsi.
In later times the island took also the name of Corsis (he Korsis). The inhabitants
were a rude race of mountaineers, indebted for their subsistence more to the produce
of their flocks than to the cultivation of the soil. Seneca, who was banished
to this quarter in the reign of Claudius, draws a very unfavourable picture of
the island and its inhabitants; describing the former as rocky, unproductive,
and unhealthy, and the latter as the worst of barbarians . His lines upon the
character of the Corsicans are still remembered by them with resentment, and are
as follows:
Prima est ulcisci lex, altera vivere raptu,
Tertia mentiri, quarta negare deos.
The Corsi appear to have derived their origin from Ligurian
and Iberian (called by Seneca Spanish) tribes. Eustathius says that a Ligurian
woman, named Corsa, having pursued in a small boat a bull which had taken to the
water, accidentally discovered the island, which her countrymen named after her.
The Romans took the island from Carthage in B.C. 231, and subsequently two colonies
were sent to it--one by Marius, which founded Mariana, and another by Sulla, which
settled on the site of Aleria. Mantinorum Oppidum, in the same island, is now
Bastia; and Urcinium, Ajaccio.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ALALIA (Ancient city) CORSICA
Half way down the E coast of Corsica, opposite the W shores of Etruria,
it was first a Greek, then a Roman colony. According to Herodotos (1.162-67),
a group of settlers from Phokaia established themselves on the site about twenty
years before the campaigns conducted by the Persian king Cyrus against the Greek
cities of Ionia, in other words about 565-560. They were joined around 545-540
by part of the population of the besieged Phokaia. By practicing piracy in Etruscan
territory and among the Carthaginian possessions in Sardinia, the Greeks of Alalia
provoked a punitive expedition by the Punic and Etruscan fleets. The battle of
Alalia (about 535) was a costly Pyrrhic victory for the Phokaians. Contrary to
Herodotos' assertions, it does not appear that the whole population then left
Alalia, first for Rhegion, then Velia (Elea). Certainly Etruscans, and possibly
Carthaginians, came to join the Greek and native elements. They made Alalia a
very active, cosmopolitan port. After a short period of Carthaginian control,
Rome took the town ca. 259 B.C. (the epitaph of L. Cornelius Scipio: HEC CEPIT
CORSICA(M) ALERIA(M)QUE URBEM: CIL 1.32). In 81 Aleria, which had resisted Sulla,
became a military colony. First Caesar, then Augustus made new settlements and
the town took the name of Colonia Veneria Julia Pacensis Restituta Tertianorum
Aleria. Augustus established a detachment of the Misenum fleet there. The development
of the port of Ostia led little by little to the economic decline of Aleria, but
it remained the political and administrative capital of Corsica under the Empire.
The town and its vicinity have been systematically explored since
1955. The first phase of occupation of the site by the Phokaians has left no remains
except for a stratigraphic level found in deep test pits made under the Roman
town. It corresponds to the 6th c. B.C. and is characterized by sherds of Ionian,
Phokaian, Rhodian, and Attic black-figure ware. Neither the dwellings nor the
tombs of this period have been brought to light as yet. However, the excavation
of the necropolis of Casabianda, whose access road has been cleared, has permitted
the discovery of tombs cut into the rock. They include a dromos, an antechamber
(sometimes double), and a chamber furnished with benches. Low brick walls blocked
the entrances. Some of these tombs retain traces of pictorial decoration. The
oldest goes back to the end of the archaic or the beginning of the Classical period.
The grave goods include works of the very first rank: jewels, weapons, metal artifacts,
bronze and ceramic plates and dishes--in particular, Attic cups, rhytons, kraters
with little columns, etc. They are decorated by artists such as the painters of
Pan, Alkimakos, Kalliope, Myson, and many others. They are all exceptional works
which are not found in such abundance except on the largest Etruscan sites, and
can be seen in the Aleria Museum.
In addition to the Casabianda necropolis, others prove the continuity
of occupation. No break appears in the material from the 5th c. B.C. until the
3d or 4th c. A.D. Even more, the enormous quantity and high value of the grave
goods show that before the Roman conquest Alalia was a center of importance. Further
excavations should permit the extrication of the sites and architecture of the
Greek and Hellenistic town. At the same time, they should provide an answer to
a difficult problem: what importance should be assigned to an Etruscan presence,
attested until now only by a very small proportion of the finds and by graffiti
still under study. The Roman town (no doubt like the earlier settlements) grew
up on a plateau ca. 3 km long. At its foot the river Tavignano describes a large
curve, and the commercial port was established inside this elbow. In relation
to the port a mansio was created, the baths of which have been discovered (the
so-called Baths of Santa Laurina). The war fleet anchored in the pool of Diana.
The Roman colony is still only incompletely excavated. A part of the
ramparts is visible to the W, on both sides of the Praetorian Gate which passed
over the decumanus. This last has been followed until it crosses the cardo just
outside the forum on its S side. The forum has the shape of a slightly irregular
trapezoid 92 m long, orientated E-W. After its founding by Sulla, it underwent
numerous rearrangements.
The E side is occupied by a temple, whose podium in opus incertum
has survived. Probably it was a Temple to Augustus and Rome (an inscription to
a flamen of Caracalla), and raised in the time of Hadrian. The N and S sides of
the square are adorned with porticos with brick columns. The W ends of the porticos
stand against two monuments of uncertain nature (a small temple to the N and an
office of the aediles to the S ?). Near them are two arches: a S arch marking
the beginning of the cardo and a second one, to the N and orientated to the W,
which gives access to the praetorium. This edifice occupies all of the W part
of the forum, to a depth of about 50 m. There are three porticos surrounding a
vast central court with a complex system of basins, cisterns, and nymphaea. The
NW corner contained chambers possibly used as strong rooms. The W portico was
altered at a late date in order to permit the construction of a new tribunal.
Several buildings have been excavated outside the forum. The most
important of these is located N of the praetorium and stands 5 m higher than it.
It includes two large cisterns, chambers adorned with mosaics, tabernae, and bath
pools with hypocausts. Tradition places the apartments of the governor there;
it is certain that this bath could not have been public. Perhaps it was the theater
of the events reported by Tacitus (Hist. 2.16), the assassination in the baths
of the procurator Decimus Pacarius. To the W was an establishment which included
many basins and contained an enormous quantity of shells; it must have been a
preserving and salting factory. North of the Temple of Augustus and Rome, the
so-called House of the Dolium has been excavated. Its oldest level has pavings
of opus signinum decorated with white lapilli and goes back to the period of Sulla.
A second level dates to the 1st c. A.D. and contains the outline of a house with
a peristyle. South of the temple another house (the House of the Impluvium) has
been only partly excavated. Also noteworthy are the foundations of a small Early
Christian chapel with an apse, on top of the remains of the N portico and virtually
touching the temple. Other monuments have been identified but not cleared. Notable
examples are the amphitheater, near the S gate of the ramparts, and a mausoleum
situated outside the W sector of the fortifications.
In the modern village the fort of Matra contains the museum, where
the rich collections from the necropoleis and the products of the excavations
in the town are on exhibit.
C. Goudineau, 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.
ALERIA (Town) CORSICA
Alalia later Aleria Corsica, France. Half way down the E coast of Corsica, opposite
the W shores of Etruria, it was first a Greek, then a Roman colony. According
to Herodotos (1.162-67), a group of settlers from Phokaia established themselves
on the site about twenty years before the campaigns conducted by the Persian king
Cyrus against the Greek cities of Ionia, in other words about 565-560. They were
joined around 545-540 by part of the population of the besieged Phokaia. By practicing
piracy in Etruscan territory and among the Carthaginian possessions in Sardinia,
the Greeks of Alalia provoked a punitive expedition by the Punic and Etruscan
fleets. The battle of Alalia (about 535) was a costly Pyrrhic victory for the
Phokaians. Contrary to Herodotos' assertions, it does not appear that the whole
population then left Alalia, first for Rhegion, then Velia (Elea). Certainly Etruscans,
and possibly Carthaginians, came to join the Greek and native elements. They made
Alalia a very active, cosmopolitan port. After a short period of Carthaginian
control, Rome took the town ca. 259 B.C. (the epitaph of L. Cornelius Scipio:
HEC CEPIT CORSICA(M) ALERIA(M)QUE URBEM: CIL 1.32). In 81 Aleria, which had resisted
Sulla, became a military colony. First Caesar, then Augustus made new settlements
and the town took the name of Colonia Veneria Julia Pacensis Restituta Tertianorum
Aleria. Augustus established a detachment of the Misenum fleet there. The development
of the port of Ostia led little by little to the economic decline of Aleria, but
it remained the political and administrative capital of Corsica under the Empire.
The town and its vicinity have been systematically explored since
1955. The first phase of occupation of the site by the Phokaians has left no remains
except for a stratigraphic level found in deep test pits made under the Roman
town. It corresponds to the 6th c. B.C. and is characterized by sherds of Ionian,
Phokaian, Rhodian, and Attic black-figure ware. Neither the dwellings nor the
tombs of this period have been brought to light as yet. However, the excavation
of the necropolis of Casabianda, whose access road has been cleared, has permitted
the discovery of tombs cut into the rock. They include a dromos, an antechamber
(sometimes double), and a chamber furnished with benches. Low brick walls blocked
the entrances. Some of these tombs retain traces of pictorial decoration. The
oldest goes back to the end of the archaic or the beginning of the Classical period.
The grave goods include works of the very first rank: jewels, weapons, metal artifacts,
bronze and ceramic plates and dishes--in particular, Attic cups, rhytons, kraters
with little columns, etc. They are decorated by artists such as the painters of
Pan, Alkimakos, Kalliope, Myson, and many others. They are all exceptional works
which are not found in such abundance except on the largest Etruscan sites, and
can be seen in the Aleria Museum.
In addition to the Casabianda necropolis, others prove the continuity
of occupation. No break appears in the material from the 5th c. B.C. until the
3d or 4th c. A.D. Even more, the enormous quantity and high value of the grave
goods show that before the Roman conquest Alalia was a center of importance. Further
excavations should permit the extrication of the sites and architecture of the
Greek and Hellenistic town. At the same time, they should provide an answer to
a difficult problem: what importance should be assigned to an Etruscan presence,
attested until now only by a very small proportion of the finds and by graffiti
still under study. The Roman town (no doubt like the earlier settlements) grew
up on a plateau ca. 3 km long. At its foot the river Tavignano describes a large
curve, and the commercial port was established inside this elbow. In relation
to the port a mansio was created, the baths of which have been discovered (the
so-called Baths of Santa Laurina). The war fleet anchored in the pool of Diana.
The Roman colony is still only incompletely excavated. A part of the
ramparts is visible to the W, on both sides of the Praetorian Gate which passed
over the decumanus. This last has been followed until it crosses the cardo just
outside the forum on its S side. The forum has the shape of a slightly irregular
trapezoid 92 m long, orientated E-W. After its founding by Sulla, it underwent
numerous rearrangements.
The E side is occupied by a temple, whose podium in opus incertum
has survived. Probably it was a Temple to Augustus and Rome (an inscription to
a flamen of Caracalla), and raised in the time of Hadrian. The N and S sides of
the square are adorned with porticos with brick columns. The W ends of the porticos
stand against two monuments of uncertain nature (a small temple to the N and an
office of the aediles to the S ?). Near them are two arches: a S arch marking
the beginning of the cardo and a second one, to the N and orientated to the W,
which gives access to the praetorium. This edifice occupies all of the W part
of the forum, to a depth of about 50 m. There are three porticos surrounding a
vast central court with a complex system of basins, cisterns, and nymphaea. The
NW corner contained chambers possibly used as strong rooms. The W portico was
altered at a late date in order to permit the construction of a new tribunal.
Several buildings have been excavated outside the forum. The most
important of these is located N of the praetorium and stands 5 m higher than it.
It includes two large cisterns, chambers adorned with mosaics, tabernae, and bath
pools with hypocausts. Tradition places the apartments of the governor there;
it is certain that this bath could not have been public. Perhaps it was the theater
of the events reported by Tacitus (Hist. 2.16), the assassination in the baths
of the procurator Decimus Pacarius. To the W was an establishment which included
many basins and contained an enormous quantity of shells; it must have been a
preserving and salting factory. North of the Temple of Augustus and Rome, the
so-called House of the Dolium has been excavated. Its oldest level has pavings
of opus signinum decorated with white lapilli and goes back to the period of Sulla.
A second level dates to the 1st c. A.D. and contains the outline of a house with
a peristyle. South of the temple another house (the House of the Impluvium) has
been only partly excavated. Also noteworthy are the foundations of a small Early
Christian chapel with an apse, on top of the remains of the N portico and virtually
touching the temple. Other monuments have been identified but not cleared. Notable
examples are the amphitheater, near the S gate of the ramparts, and a mausoleum
situated outside the W sector of the fortifications.
In the modern village the fort of Matra contains the museum, where
the rich collections from the necropoleis and the products of the excavations
in the town are on exhibit.
C. Goudineau, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Feb 2006 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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