Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

PUTEOLI (mod. Pozzuoli, q.v.)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 670 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

PUTEOLI (mod. See also:Pozzuoli, q.v.) , an See also:ancient See also:town of See also:Campania, See also:Italy, on the See also:northern See also:shore of the See also:Bay of Puteoli, a portion of the Bay of See also:Naples, from which it is 6 m. W. The statement made by Stephanus of See also:Byzantium and See also:Jerome, that the See also:city was founded under the name of Dicaearchia by a See also:colony of Samians about 520 B.C., is probably correct, for, though in the territory of See also:Cumae, it does not appear to have been occupied previous to 520, See also:Misenum having been the See also:original See also:port of Cumae. On the other See also:hand, Cumae probably extended her supremacy over it not See also:long after. Its See also:history in the Samnite See also:period is unknown; but the coins of Fistelia (or Fistlus in Oscan) probably belong to Puteoli, as See also:Mommsen thought. Nor do we know anything of its history between 334 (when it probably became a civitas sine suffragio under See also:Roman domination, shortly afterwards receiving, in 318, a praefectus iure dicundo) and 215, when the See also:Romans introduced a See also:garrison of 6000 men to protect the town from See also:Hannibal, who besieged it in vain for three days in 214. In 194 a Roman colony of 300 men was established. The lex parieti faciundo, an interesting inscription of 105 B.C. See also:relating to some See also:building See also:works in front of the See also:temple of See also:Serapis, shows that Puteoli hadconsiderable administrative See also:independence, including the right to date such a public document by the names of its own magistrates. See also:Sulla retired to Puteoli after his resignation of the dictatorship in 79, and ten days before his See also:death reconciled the disputes of the citizens by giving them a constitution. See also:Cicero had a See also:house in Puteoli itself, and a See also:villa on the edge of the Lucrine See also:lake (which, though nearer to Puteoli, was in the territory of Cumae), and many prominent men of the See also:republic possessed See also:country houses in the neighbourhood of Puteoli (see BAIAE; See also:AVERNUS LACUS; LUCRINUS LACUS; MISENUM). In the See also:Civil See also:War it sided with See also:Pompey, and later on with See also:Brutus and See also:Cassius.

See also:

Nero admitted the old inhabitants to the privileges of the colony, thus uniting in one the two previously distinct communities. In 61 St See also:Paul landed here, and spent seven days before leaving for See also:Rome (Acts See also:xxviii. 13). See also:Vespasian, as a See also:reward for its having taken his See also:part, gave the town part of the territory of See also:Capua, and installed more colonists there—whence it took the See also:title Colonia Flavia, which it retained till the end of the See also:empire. The remains of See also:Hadrian, who died at the neighbouring town of Baiae, were buried at Puteoli, and See also:Antoninus See also:Pius, besides erecting a temple to his memory on the site of Cicero's villa, instituted sacred See also:games to be held in the city every five years. See also:Commodus held the title of duumvir quinquennalis. It was mainly, however, as a See also:great commercial port that Puteoli was famous in ancient times. It joined with Naples to erect one of the finest porticoes of See also:Constantinople at the See also:time of its construction. A See also:letter of See also:Symmachus gives us interesting details as to public See also:corn distributions of the 4th See also:century, throwing some See also:light on the See also:population. Like See also:Ostia, Puteoli was considered a See also:special port of Rome, and, on See also:account of the safety and convenience of its See also:harbour, it was preferred to Ostia for the landing of the more costly and delicate wares. As at Ostia, the various See also:gilds were of considerable importance, but we find no centonarii or fabri, perhaps owing to its relations with the See also:East, where these popular gilds were prohibited. Puteoli was preferred to Naples, (a) as being in Roman territory, (b) because the customs See also:duty was only leviable once, not twice as it would have been at Naples—once by the See also:local authorities, and once by the Roman authorities on entrance into Roman territory.' It exported See also:iron from See also:Elba, mosaics, pottery, manufactured locally with See also:earth from See also:Ischia (which was in considerable demand until 1883), See also:sulphur (which indeed was extracted in the neighbourhood until the 18th century), probably See also:alum (which is still worked), perfumes, pozzolana earth (taking its name from the See also:place), cretaceous earth for mixing with See also:grain (alica) from the Leucogaean hills, See also:glass cups engraved with views of Puteoli, See also:mineral dyes (the See also:blue invented by one Vestorius is mentioned by See also:Vitruvius and the See also:purple of Puteoli by See also:Pliny, as being of special excellence), &c., but not agricultural products, except certain brands of Campanian See also:wine; but its imports were considerably greater.

During the Punic See also:

Wars it was still a See also:naval port, but in the latter part of the 2nd century B.C. it became the greatest commercial harbour of Italy and we find See also:Lucilius about 125 B.C. placing it next in importance to See also:Delos, then the greatest harbour of the ancient See also:world. We See also:note a little later the existence of merchants of Puteoli in the East. Under the empire we find Eastern cults taking See also:root here sooner than in Rome. The construction of the harbour of See also:Claudius at the mouth of the See also:Tiber adversely affected Puteoli. Nero's See also:scheme for the construction of a See also:canal from Lake Avernus to Ostia would have restored the See also:balance in its favour (though it certainly could not have been continuous all the way to Rome with the means of See also:engineering then available). The corn See also:supply of Rome came partly through Puteoli, partly through Ostia. See also:Seneca (Epist. 77) describes the joy of the inhabitants in the See also:spring when the See also:fleet of corn vessels from See also:Alexandria was seen approaching, and See also:Statius tells us that the See also:crew of the See also:ship which arrived first made libations to See also:Minerva ' A See also:mass of pottery debris found in 1875 gave important See also:information as to the local manufacture. Some fragments came from See also:Arretium, others, not quite so See also:good, were of local See also:work, but of the same See also:style. when passing the promontory which See also:bore her name (the Punta See also:Campanella at See also:Sorrento). It is uncertain what See also:official had the See also:charge of the corn supply at Puteoli under the Republic, but in the time of Antoninus Pius we find an Aug(usti) dis(pensator) a frumento Puteolis et Ostis dependent no doubt on a See also:procurator annonae of the two ports. Claudius established here, as at Ostia, a See also:cohort of vigiles as a See also:fire-See also:brigade.

Brundusium was similarly protected. There was also a station of the imperial See also:

post, sailors of the imperial fleet at Misenum being apparently employed as couriers. The artificial See also:mole was probably of earlier date than the reign of See also:Augustus (possibly 2nd century B.c.) ; and by that time at any See also:rate there were docks large enough to contain the vessels employed in bringing the obelisks from See also:Egypt. Remains of the piles of the mole still exist, and are popularly known as Caligula's See also:Bridge, from the mistaken See also:idea that they belong to the temporary structure which that See also:emperor flung across the bay from the mole at Puteoli to the shore at Baiae. See also:Inscriptions See also:record See also:repairs to the See also:breakwater by Antoninus Pius in 139 in fulfilment of a promise made by Hadrian before his death. See also:Alaric (41o), Genseric (455) and See also:Totila (545) successively laid Puteoli in ruins. The restoration effected by the Byzantines was partial and See also:short-lived. The original town of Puteoli was situated on the narrow See also:hill of the See also:Castello. Scanty traces of fortifications of the Roman period seem to have come to light in See also:recent tunnelling operations. The streets of the old town probably, as at Naples, preserve the ancient See also:alignment. There are also traces of the See also:division of the lands in the immediate vicinity of the town into squares by parallel paths (decumani and cardines) at See also:regular intervals of 1111 i Roman feet, postulating as the basis of the division a square with a See also:side of io,000 Roman feet, divided into 81 smaller squares—an arrangement which could not have existed at Puteoli, and must have arisen elsewhere. It is remarkable as being contrary to Roman surveyors' practice, according to which the basis of division is the intersection at right angles of the cardo and decumanus, which would give an even (not an See also:odd) number of smaller squares.

The See also:

size of the ancient town at its largest can be roughly fixed by its tombs. Inscriptions show that it was divided into regiones. The See also:market See also:hall (macellum) (compare the similar buildings at See also:Pompeii and elsewhere), generally known as the temple of Serapis, from a statue of that deity found there, was excavated in 1750. It consisted of a rectangular See also:court surrounded by See also:chambers on the outside and with a See also:colonnade of See also:thirty-six columns of cipollino (Carystian) See also:marble and See also:grey See also:granite. The three columns still See also:standing, some 39 ft. high, belong to a See also:facade of four still higher columns erected in front of the absidal See also:cella or See also:sanctuary, with three niches for statues—no doubt of the protecting deities. The borings of marine shellfish visible in these columns between 11 and 19 ft. from the ground, and the various levels of See also:pavement in the macellum help to indicate, according to See also:Gunther's researches (Archaeologia, lvii. 499; Earth Movements in the Bay of Naples, 1903), that the level of the shore See also:fell very slightly during the Roman period, when it was some 20 ft. higher than at See also:present; that it fell more rapidly during the See also:middle ages, was then raised again See also:early in the 16th century (before the upheaval of the See also:Monte Nuovo in 1538) and has since been sinking gradually. In the centre was a See also:round colonnade with sixteen columns of Numidian marble (giallo antico) now in the See also:theatre of the See also:palace at See also:Caserta. See also:Dubois (op. cit., 286 sqq.) reproduces important drawings and a description made by the architect Caristie in 182o. The well-preserved See also:amphitheatre, the subterranean parts of which below the See also:arena are intact, with a See also:main passage down the centre, a curved passage all round with holes for See also:trap doors in its roof, and numerous small chambers, also with trap doors in their vaulted See also:roofs for admitting the See also:wild beasts, whose cages were on the other side of the curved passage, to the arena, are especially interesting. There were also arrangements for flooding the arena, but these can only have been in use before the construction of the greater part of the subterranean portion with its cages, &c. The whole amphitheatre See also:measures 489 by 381 ft., and the arena 245 by 138 ft.

Of the upper portion the interior is well preserved, but very little of the See also:

external arcades remains. It was not constructed before the reign of Vespasian, for inscriptions record that it was built by the Goiania Flavia. There was, however, an amphitheatre in the reign of Nero, who himself fought in games given there, and the glass See also:cup of Odemira shows two. A ruin still exists which may be doubtfully attributed to the latter (Dubois, p. 192). Remains of thermae also exist in various places, the mineral springs having been much used in Roman times. The See also:cathedral of S. Proculus (containing the See also:tomb of the musician See also:Pergolesi, d. 1736) is built into a temple of Augustus, erected by L. See also:Calpurnius, 6 columns of which, with their Corinthian capitals, still exist. Other ruins—of a See also:circus, of tombs, &c., exist, and there are also considerable remains of villas in the neighbourhood. Puteoli was supplied with See also:water by two aqueducts, both subterranean, one of which, bringing water from springs in the immediate neighbourhood, is still in use, while the other is a See also:branch of the Serino See also:aqueduct, which was probably taken to Misenum by See also:Agrippa.

Several remains of reservoirs exist ; one very large one is now called See also:

Piscina di Cardito. Among the inscriptions one of the most interesting is the letter of the Tyrian merchants See also:resident at Puteoli to the See also:senate of See also:Tyre, written in 174, asking the latter to undertake the See also:payment of the See also:rent of their factory, and the reply of the senate promising to do so. (This is the See also:interpretation adopted by Dubois, pp. 86, 92, following Dittenberger.) We find other Eastern merchants resident here—merchants from See also:Heliopolis, Berytus (See also:Beirut), Nabataea, See also:Palestine, and from See also:Asia See also:Minor, See also:Greece, &c. We find far less trace of commercial relations with the See also:West, though there was considerable importation of commodities from See also:southern See also:Spain—wine, oil, metals, See also:salt See also:fish, &c., while a good See also:deal of pottery was exported to Spain and southern See also:Gaul. We find, indeed, two cases of men who held municipal honours at Puteoli and in the See also:Rhone valley. Puteoli was reached See also:direct by a road from Capua traversing the hills to the See also:north by a cutting (the Montagna Spaccata), which went on to Neapolis, and by the Via Domitiana from Rome and Cumae. There was also a short cut from Puteoli to Neapolis by the See also:tunnel of Pausilipon, made under Augustus. It is not possible to trace the episcopal see of Puteoli with any certainty further back than the beginning of the 4th century. In 305, S. See also:Januarius (S. Gennaro, the See also:patron See also:saint of Naples), See also:bishop of Beneventum, S.

Proculus, patron of Puteoli, and others, suffered martyrdom at Puteoli. See the careful study by C. Dubois, Pouzzoles See also:

antique (See also:Paris, 1907) (Bibliotheque See also:des ecoles frangaises d'Athenes et de Rome, fasc. 98). (T.

End of Article: PUTEOLI (mod. Pozzuoli, q.v.)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
PUTEAUX 		[next]
PUTLITZ, GUSTAV HEINRICH GANS, EDLER

Site © 2006 - Net Industries