HAVING previously passed over the regions of ancient Italy as far as Metapontium, we must now proceed to describe the rest. After it Iapygia1 comes next in order; the Greeks call it Messapia, but the inhabitants, dividing it into cantons, call one the Salentini,2 that in the neighbourhood of the Cape3 Iapygia, and another the Calabri;4 above these towards the north lie the Peucetii,5 and those who are called Daunii6 in the Greek language, but the inhabitants call the whole region beyond the Calabri, Apulia. Some of these people are called Pœdicli,7 especially the Peucetii. Messapia forms a peninsula; the isthmus extending from Brentesium8 to Tarentum, which bounds it, being 310 stadia, and the circumnavigation round the Iapygian promontory9 about [one thousand]10 four hundred. [Tarentum11] is distant from Metapontium12 about two hundred and twenty13] stadia. The course to it by sea runs in an easterly direction. The Gulf of Tarentum is for the most part destitute of a port, but here there is a spacious and commodious [harbour14], closed in by a great bridge. It is 100 stadia15 in circuit. This port, at the head of its basin which recedes most inland, forms, with the exterior sea, an isthmus which connects the peninsula with the land. The city is situated upon this peninsula. The neck of land is so low that ships are easily hauled over it from either side. The site of the city likewise is extremely low; the ground, however, rises slightly towards the citadel. The old wall of the city has an immense circuit, but now the portion towards the isthmus is deserted, but that standing near the mouth of the harbour, where the citadel is situated, still subsists, and contains a considerable city. It possesses a noble gymnasium and a spacious forum, in which there is set up a brazen colossus of Jupiter, the largest that ever was, with the exception of that of Rhodes. The citadel is situated between the forum and the entrance of the harbour, it still preserves some slight relics of its ancient magnificence and gifts, but the chief of them were destroyed either by the Carthaginians16 when they took the city, or by the Romans17 when they took it by force and sacked it. Amongst other booty taken on this occasion18 was the brazen colossus of Hercules, the work of Lysippus, now in the Capitol, which was dedicated as an offering by Fabius Maximus, who took the city.
1 A note in the French translation observes, that the Iapygia of Strabo was confined to the peninsula of Tarentum.
2 The Sallentini, or Salentini, cannot be distinguished with accuracy from the Calabri, as the name is used by several writers in a very ex tensive sense, and applied to the greater part of Iapygia.
3 Capo di Leuca.
4 The district occupied by the Calabri seems to have been that maritime part of the Iapygian peninsula extending from the ancient Brundusium to the city of Hydruntum, answering nearly to what is now called Terra di Lecce.
5 Dionysius of Halicarnassus derives the name of this people from Peucetius, son of Lycaon, king of Arcadia, but they are generally spoken of in history as barbarians, differing in no essential respect from the Daunii, Iapyges, and other neighbouring nations.
6 A note in the French translation remarks, that Strabo would have done well to add, ‘and also the Apuli properly so called.’ If we follow Strabo's testimony solely, we may almost describe the bounds of the Peucetii by four lines, viz. 1. From Tarentum to Brindisi. 2. Along the sea-shore from Brindisi to Bari. 3. From Bari to Garagnone or Gorgoglione, the ancient Sylvium, if not even still nearer to Venosa. 4. From Garagnone to Tarentum, constituting what is called in modern geography Terra di Bari.–The following are the limits of the Dannii. 1. From Garagnone to Bari. 2. From Bari to Peschici or to Rodi. 3. Thence to Lucera; and, 4 from Lucera to Garagnone. Thus they occupied a great part of La Puglia, with a portion of the Terra di Bari. With regard to those who, according to Strabo, were properly Apuli, they extended from the neighbourhood of Lucera to Rodi or Peschici, thence to the mouth of the river Fortore, thence to Civitate, (the ancient Teanum Apulum,) which was included, and from Civitate to Lucera; this district would answer to the northern portion of La Puglia, which the Fortore separates from La Capitanata.
7 The name of Pœdiculi was given to the inhabitants of that portion of Peucetia which was more particularly situated on the coast between the Aufidus and the confines of the Calabri. Pliny (iii. 11) states that this particular tribe derived their origin from Illyria.
8 Brindisi.
9 Capo di Leuca.
10 We have followed Groskurd's example in introducing this thousand. The French translators thought it too hardy to venture, and Kramer was fearful to insert it in his text, but he approves of it in his notes.
11 Manuscripts here have blanks.
12 Ruins near Torre a Mare.
13 Manuscripts here have blanks.
14 Mare-piccolo.
15 Or twelve miles and a half. This computation does not agree with modern measurements, which reckon the circuit at sixteen miles. See Swinburne's Travels, torn. i. sect. 32. Gagliardi, Topogr. di Taranto.
16 In the year 213 or 212 B. C.
17 B. C. 209.
18 It is said the pictures and statues taken on this occasion were nearly as numerous as those found at Syracuse.
The Geography of Strabo. Literally translated, with notes, in three volumes. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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