Castrum Minervae

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Castrum Minervae (Latin for "Minerva's castle", now Castro), an ancient town of the Sallentini in Calabria, 10 miles south of Hydruntum, with an ancient temple of Minerva, said to have been founded by Idomeneus, who formed the tribe of the Sallentini from a mixture of Cretans, Illyrians and Italian Locrians.

It is also said to have been the place where Aeneas first landed in Italy, the port of which he named Portus Veneris ("Port of Venus"). The temple had lost some of its importance in Strabo's day.

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This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.