Velia Information
Velia is the Italian (and Latin) name of the ancient town of Elea located on the territory of the comune of Ascea, Salerno, Campania, Italy in a geographical sub-area named Cilento. Originally founded by the Greeks as Hyele in ancient Magna Graecia around 538–535 BC, it is best known as the home of the philosophers Parmenides and Zeno of Elea, as well as the Eleatic school of which they were a part. The site of the Acropolis of ancient Elea, once a promontory (castello a mare meaning castle on the sea) and now inland, was renamed in the Middle Ages Castellammare della Bruca.
Geography
The town is situated close to the Tyrrhenian coast in a hill zone nearby Marina di Casalvelino and Marina di Ascea, on a road linking Agropoli to the southern Cilentan Coast. Its population is mainly located in the plain by the sea (surrounding the southern part of the ancient ruins) and in the hill zones of Enotria, Bosco and Scifro. Velia also had a railway station on the Naples-Salerno-Reggio Calabria line, closed at the end of 1970s.
History
According to Herodotus: in 545 BC Ionian Greeks fled Phocaea, in modern Turkey, besieged by the Persians. After some wanderings (8 to 10 years) at sea, they stopped in Reggio Calabria where, probably, they were joined by Xenophanes who was at the time at Messina, and then moved North along the coast and founded the town of Hyele (Greek: Ὑέλη), later renamed Ele (Ἔλη), and then, eventually, Elea (Ἐλέα). The location is nearly at the same latitude as Phocaea.
Elea was not conquered by the Lucanians, but eventually joined Rome in 273 BC and was included in ancient Lucania.
Ruins
Remains of the city walls, with traces of one gate and several towers, of a total length of over three miles, still exist, and belong to three different periods, in all of which the crystalline limestone of the locality is used. Bricks were also employed in later times; their form is peculiar to this place, each having two rectangular channels on one side, and being about 1.5 in. square, with a thickness of nearly 4 in. They all bear Greek brick-stamps. There are some remains of cisterns on the site, and, various other traces of buildings.
Ruins of the Greek theater
Eleatics
Main article:
Eleatics
The Eleatics were a school of pre-Socratic philosophers. The group was founded in the early 5th century BCE by Parmenides. Other members of the school included Zeno of Elea and Melissus of Samos. Xenophanes is sometimes included in the list, though there is some dispute over this.
Famous personages
Statius, father of the Roman poet Publius Papinius Statius was born in Hyele (Silv 5.3.127).
Gallery
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The Porta Rosa (Pink Gate), made of sandstone bricks, a rare exemplar of a Greek arch, circa 4th century BC
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The Porta Rosa road was the main street of Elea, circa 4th-3rd centuries BC
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The medieval tower of Velia built out of a Greek temple
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See also
References
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Elea-Velia |
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World Heritage Sites in Italy |
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| For official site names, see each article or the List of World Heritage Sites in Italy. |
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North West |
Crespi d'Adda · Genoa · Mantua and Sabbioneta · Portovenere, Cinque Terre (Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, Riomaggiore), Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto · Residences of the Royal House of Savoy · Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes1 · Rock Drawings in Valcamonica · Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy · Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan
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| 1 Shared with Switzerland · 2 Shared with the Holy See |
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Categories: Populated places established in the 6th century BC | Ancient Greek cities | Colonies of Magna Graecia | Phocaean colonies | Ionian colonies in Magna Graecia | Roman towns and cities in Magna Grecia | World Heritage Sites in Italy | Frazioni of the Province of Salerno | Localities of Cilento | Former populated places in Italy | Greek colonies in Lucania
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