Velia
- Not to be confused with the municipality of Novi Velia. For other uses, see Velia (disambiguation).
Velia is the Italian (and Latin) name of the ancient town of Elea (Ancient Greek: Ἐλέα) 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 (Ancient Greek: Ὑέλη) in 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, which was being besieged by the Persians. After some wanderings (8 to 10 years) at sea, they stopped in Reggio Calabria, where they were probably joined by Xenophanes, who was at the time at Messina, and then moved north along the coast and founded the town of Hyele, later renamed Ele and then, eventually, Elea. 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
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