Laüs
Λᾶος Laos | |
Lucanian | |
Site notes | |
---|---|
Excavation dates | First between 1929 and 1932 |
Ownership | Public |
Management | Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Calabria |
Website | ArcheoCalabriaVirtual |
Laüs or Laus (
The archaeological site of the city can be found at a short distance to the east of Marcellina, near Santa Maria del Cedro in Calabria.[4]
History
Herodotus states that the inhabitants of Sybaris who had survived the destruction of their city in 510 BC took refuge in Laus and Scidrus.[5] Silver coins were found with the legend LAFINON and symbols similar to those of the coins of Sybaris, dated between 500 and 440 BC.[6]
Strabo in 7 BC-23 AD describes the city as still being in existence. He mentions a
Excavations
The first excavation started between 1929 and 1932. The necropolis of Laus now lies below Marcellina and is notable for its important finds. A rich tomb chamber was discovered by accident in 1961 not far from the railway station of Marcellina, in which were dozens of red-figured vases, bronze and precious metals, and a finely crafted bronze armour. Dated to the second half of the fourth century BC, it is now exhibited in the Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia in Reggio Calabria. Other burials of the same period, though less rich, were found in the same area in the 1950s and 1960s.
The excavations revealed the city was defended on at least three sides by a wall. The urban space was organised according to a grid plan with at least two central roadways in a north–south orientation and 12 m wide. These were intersected at regular distances of 96 m by perpendicular roads in an east–west orientation and approximately 5 m wide. This created a checkerboard layout of building blocks, which were further separated by narrow lanes. In the south-east of the site, near the present cemetery, an area of artisanal kilns for the production of ceramics was discovered.[6][9]
The site today
The Laus Archaeological Park was created in 1994 to protect the site covering an area of approximately 60 hectares.
See also
References
- ^ a b Strabo, Geographica 6.1.1
- ^ a b Pliny the Elder, Natural History 3.10
- ^ Ptolemy, Geography 3.1.9
- ISBN 0-691-03169-X), Map 46, notes.
- ^ Herodotus, The Histories 6.21.1
- ^ a b "La Città di Laos". ArcheoCalabriaVirtual (in Italian). Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Calabria. 2007. Archived from the original on 19 August 2011. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
- ^ Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 14.101.3–14.102.1
- ^ Pseudo Scylax, Periplous, §12
- ^ "La Necropoli di Marcellina". ArcheoCalabriaVirtual (in Italian). Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Calabria. 2007. Archived from the original on 18 August 2011. Retrieved 10 February 2013.