Kamarina or Camarina () was an ancient city on the southern coast of

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

Magna Graecia Magna Graecia refers to the Greek-speaking areas of southern Italy, encompassing the modern Regions of Italy, Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania, and Sicily. These regions were Greek colonisation, extensively settled by G ...

. The ruins of the site and an archaeological museum are located south of the modern town of

Scoglitti Scoglitti () is a fishing village and hamlet () of Vittoria, a municipality in the Province of Ragusa, Sicily, Italy. In 2011 it had a population of 4,175. History Scoglitti found a niche in history after being selected by the Allies as the sit ...

, a (borough) of the (municipality) of Vittoria in the

province of Ragusa The province of Ragusa (; ) was a province in the autonomous region of Sicily, Italy, located in the southeast of the island. Following the abolition of the Sicilian provinces, it was replaced in 2015 by the Free municipal consortium of Ragusa ...

Geography

The city of Camarina was located 112 km west of Syracuse, between the rivers Hipparis and Oanis and on the south bank of Hipparis which also acted as a moat for the city. It had two harbours at the river mouths but not big enough to accommodate a large fleet and ships had to be beached on the shore. The land north of the river originally contained marshes, which would have caused difficulty for invaders.

History

It was founded in

by Syracuse in 599 BC, but after it rebelled against its mother city with the aid of the

Sicels The Sicels ( ; or ''Siculī'') were an Indo-European tribe who inhabited eastern Sicily, their namesake, during the Iron Age. They spoke the Siculian language. After the defeat of the Sicels at the Battle of Nomae in 450 BC and the death of ...

, it was sacked in 552 BC, rejoining the Syracuse domain. Camarina rebelled again in 492 BC and

Hippocrates of Gela Hippocrates (; died 491 BC) was the second tyrant of Gela, Magna Graecia, and ruled from 498 BC to 491 BC. He was the brother of Cleander and succeeded him to the throne after his death in 498. With him, Gela began its expansion phase; Hippocrat ...

(498-491 BC) intervened to wage war against Syracuse. After defeating the Syracusan army at the Heloros river, he besieged the city but was persuaded to retreat in exchange for possession of Camarina. It was destroyed by

Gela Gela (Sicilian and ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the regional autonomy, Autonomous Region of Sicily, Italy; in terms of area and population, it is the largest municipality on the southern coast of Sicily. Gela is part of the Province o ...

in 484 BC but the Geloans founded it anew in 461 BC, under the Olympic charioteer Psaumis of Camarina. They appear to have done so with a democratic constitution (alongside a more general institution of democracies in the wake of the Common Resolution). In 415 Thucydides describes a public meeting (''syllogos'') at which the city decided for neutrality (though it later voted to reverse this decision). A series of more than 140 lead plates, discovered around the Temple of Athena, and with information about citizens written on them, has suggested to some that Kamarina used allotment to select jurors and city officials (as Athens and other democratic city-states did). These may, however, have had some other use, for example, as a register of citizens for military purposes. It had allied with Leontini and Athens in 427 BC against Syracuse, while Gela was an ally of Syracuse. In the Sicilian wars that followed, Camarina and Gela concluded an armistice in 425 BC. To settle peace in the rest of the island, the two cities not only sent ambassadors but also granted them unusually broad power to conduct diplomacy and invited all the belligerents to convene and discuss peace terms which were agreed at the

Congress of Gela The Congress of Gela was a diplomatic meeting between a number of Sicilian cities in 424 BC. It brought a temporary halt to several years of warfare between cities on the island. At the conference, the Sicilian cities agreed to a Syracusan prop ...

, and Syracuse ceded Morgantina to Camarina in exchange for money. Then it aided Syracuse during the Athenian Expedition in 415–413 BC. Camarina had contributed 500

hoplites Hoplites ( ) ( ) were citizen-soldiers of Ancient Greek city-states who were primarily armed with spears and shields. Hoplite soldiers used the phalanx formation to be effective in war with fewer soldiers. The formation discouraged the soldi ...

, 600 light troops and 20 horse to defend

Akragas Agrigento (; or ) is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy and capital of the province of Agrigento. Founded around 582 BC by Greek colonisation, Greek colonists from Gela, Agrigento, then known as Akragas, was one of the leading citie ...

against the Carthaginians in 406 BC. After its fall, Gela was attacked by the Carthaginians in 405 BC and the allied Greek army cammanded by Dionysius I was defeated and led to the Sack of Camarina. Dionysius evacuated Gela and the Greek army had fallen back to Camarina after a forced march along with Gelan refugees. Dionysius ordered the citizens of Camarina to leave their city instead of organizing a defence. The Carthaginians sacked Camarina and encamped before Syracuse during the summer, and after a while a peace treaty was signed which confirmed Carthaginian control over Selinus, Akragas, Gela, and Camarina, but Greeks were allowed to return to these cities, and Camarina was forbidden to repair their walls. Before this event the Kamarinians were plagued with a mysterious disease. The marsh of Kamarina had protected the city from its hostile neighbours to the north. It was suspected that the marsh was the source of the strange illness and the idea of draining the marsh to end the epidemic became popular (the

germ theory The germ theory of disease is the currently accepted scientific theory for many diseases. It states that microorganisms known as pathogens or "germs" can cause disease. These small organisms, which are too small to be seen without magnification, ...

of disease was millennia in the future, but some people associated swamps with disease). The town oracle was consulted. The oracle advised the leaders not to drain the marsh, suggesting the plague would pass with time. But the discontent was widespread and the leaders opted to drain the marsh against the oracle's advice. Once it was dry, there was nothing stopping the Carthaginian army from advancing. They marched across the newly drained marsh and razed the city, killing every last inhabitant. Kamarina was restored by the Corinthian Timoleon to Syracusan control in 339 BC. A new period of prosperity followed, after the reconstruction of the city by Timoleon. Having sided with the Carthaginians during a conflict with Syracuse in 311 BC, it was razed in 309 BC by Syracusan troops.

Roman era

In 259 BC in the

First Punic War The First Punic War (264–241 BC) was the first of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the early 3rd century BC. For 23 years, in the longest continuous conflict and grea ...

, the Carthaginians under Hamilcar seized Kamarina. In 258 BC it fell into the hands of the Romans after a lengthy siege at the Battle of Kamarina. The battle is notable for two events: first, the consul Aulus Atilius Calatinus's foolish decision to march his troops into a ravine where they were ambushed and almost massacred; secondly, the wisdom and bravery of the military tribune Marcus Calpurnius Flamma who identified the strategic advantage of a nearby hilltop and led 300 men to the top, diverting the Carthaginians from Atilius and allowing the main force to escape from the ravine. All 300 of Calpurnius’ men died on the hill; he himself was left for dead but survived and was taken prisoner. The city never fully recovered. It was mostly depopulated at the time of Strabo, (1st c. BC) and was later only partially reoccupied. Kamarina's complete destruction dates from the

Arab conquest The early Muslim conquests or early Islamic conquests (), also known as the Arab conquests, were initiated in the 7th century by Muhammad, the founder of Islam. He established the first Islamic state in Medina, Arabia that expanded rapidly un ...

in AD 827.

The Site

The remains are of great archaeological interest, and testify to the vastness of the ancient site. The Kamarina Regional Archaeological Museum is in the archaeological park which includes many excavated remains: * Agora * temple of

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

* the city wall * the

necropolis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...

from 7th and 5th-4th centuries BC has been carefully explored. Some of the contents are now in the archaeological museum of Syracuse. * the port-channel along the Ippari river is recognisable, made in the Greek age with adaptation of the mouth of the river, and lasted for a long time as the hub of important commercial traffic up to the Roman age. * the house of the altar. The remains of a "Hamman qbel Jamaa", public baths used before entering the mosque, are one of only two known on the island.

Gallery

File:Camarina QuartierAltare 03.jpg, The House of the Altar File:Camarina TempleAthena 02.jpg, A part of the wall of the temple of

File:Camarina TempleAthena 01.jpg, Ruins of the temple of Athena File:Camarina Agora 03.jpg,

Agora The agora (; , romanized: ', meaning "market" in Modern Greek) was a central public space in ancient Ancient Greece, Greek polis, city-states. The literal meaning of the word "agora" is "gathering place" or "assembly". The agora was the center ...

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Archaeological sites in Sicily Former populated places in Italy Province of Ragusa Syracusian colonies Greek city-states Ancient cities in Sicily