 Ancient Propylaeum Gate and Arch | |
  Tindari Shown within Sicily | |
| Alternative name | Tyndaris Tyndarion |
|---|---|
| Location | Patti,Italy |
| Coordinates | 38°08′44″N15°02′23″E / 38.14556°N 15.03972°E /38.14556; 15.03972 |
| Type | Settlement |
| History | |
| Periods | Archaic Greek toByzantine period |
| Cultures | Ancient Greece |
Tindari (Italian:[ˈtindari];Sicilian:Lu Tìnnaru[lʊˈtinnaɾʊ]), ancientTyndaris (Ancient Greek:Τυνδαρίς,Strab.) orTyndarion (Τυνδάριον,Ptol.), is a small town,frazione (suburb or municipal component) in thecomune ofPatti and a Latin Catholictitular see.
The monumental ruins of ancient Tyndaris are a main attraction for visitors and excavations are continuing to reveal more parts of the city.
Tindari has a famoussanctuary and is also famous for thepoemVento a Tindari, written bySalvatore Quasimodo.
Ancient Tyndaris was strategically situated on its prominent hill overlooking the wide bay of theTyrrhenian Sea bounded by theCapo di Milazzo on the east, and the Capo Calavà on the west.[citation needed] It was connected by a comparatively narrow isthmus with the lower ground inland. It thus commanded views of the summit ofMount Etna and northwards to theLipari Islands.[1]
It was one of the latest of all the cities in Sicily that could claim a purely Greek origin, having been founded by theelder Dionysius in 396 or 395 BC inMagna Graecia; the site is so strategic that it is a surprise it was not occupied earlier.[1] The original settlers were the remains of theMessenian exiles, who had been driven fromNaupactus,Zacynthus, and thePeloponnese by theSpartans after the close ofthe Peloponnesian War. These had at first been established by Dionysius at Messana, when he repeopled that city; but the Spartans having taken umbrage at this, he transferred them to the site of Tyndaris, which had previously been included in the territory ofAbacaenum. The colonists themselves gave to their new city the name of Tyndaris, from their native divinities, the "Tyndaridae" orDioscuri, and readily admitting fresh citizens from other quarters, soon raised their whole population to the number of 5000 citizens.[2] The new city thus rose at once to be a place of considerable importance.
It is next mentioned in 344 BC, when it was one of the first cities that declared in favor ofTimoleon after his landing in Sicily.[1][3] At a later period we find it mentioned as espousing the cause ofHieron, and supporting him during his war against the Mamertines, 269 BC. On that occasion he rested his position upon Tyndaris on the left, and on Tauromenium (modernTaormina) on the right.[4] Indeed, the strong position of Tyndaris made it an important strategic post on the Tyrrhenian sea, as Tauromenium was on the Sicilian sea, and hence we find it frequently mentioned in accounts of subsequent wars. In theFirst Punic War it was at first dependent uponCarthage; and though the citizens, alarmed at the progress of theRoman armies, were at one time on the point of turning to Rome, they were restrained by the Carthaginians, who carried off all the chief citizens as hostages.[5] In 257 BC, theBattle of Tyndaris took place off the coast of Tyndaris, between the city and theLiparaean islands, in which a Roman fleet underGaius Atilius Regulus obtained some advantage over the Carthaginian fleet, but without any decisive result.[6] The Roman fleet is described on that occasion as touching at the promontory of Tyndaris, but the city had not yet fallen into their hands, and it was not until after the fall of Panormus (modernPalermo) in 254 BC that Tyndaris expelled the Carthaginian garrison and joined the Roman alliance.[7]
We hear little of Tyndaris under Roman government, but it appears to have been a flourishing and considerable city.[1]Cicero calls itnobilissima civitas[8] and we learn from him that the inhabitants had displayed their zeal and fidelity towards the Romans upon many occasions. Among others they supplied naval forces for the armament ofScipio Africanus the Younger, a service for which he repaid them by restoring to them a statue ofMercury which had been carried off by the Carthaginians and which continued as an object of great veneration in the city, until it was stolen by the rapaciousVerres.[9] Tyndaris was also one of seventeen cities selected by theRoman senate, apparently as an honorary distinction, to contribute to certain offerings to the temple ofVenus atEryx.[10] In other respects it had no peculiar privileges, and was in the condition of an ordinarymunicipal town, with its own magistrates, local senate, etc., but was certainly in the time of Cicero one of the most considerable places in the island. It, however, suffered severely from the exactions of Verres[11] and the inhabitants, to revenge themselves on their oppressor, publicly demolished his statue as soon as he had quit the island.[12]
Tyndaris again bore a considerable part in theSicilian revolt betweenSextus Pompeius andOctavian. It was one of the points occupied and fortified by the former,[1] when preparing for the defence of the Sicilian straits, but was taken byAgrippa after his naval victory atMylae, and became one of his chief posts, from which he carried on offensive warfare against Pompey.[13] Subsequently, to this we hear nothing more of Tyndaris in history; but there is no doubt of its having continued to subsist throughout the period of theRoman Empire.Strabo speaks of it as one of the places on the north coast of Sicily which, in his time, still deserved the name of cities; andPliny gives it the title of aColonia. It is probable that it received a colony under Augustus, as we find it bearing in an inscription the titles ofColonia Augusta Tyndaritanorum.[14] Pliny indeed mentions a great calamity which the city had sustained, when (he tells us) half of it was swallowed up by the sea, probably from an earthquake having caused the fall of part of the hill on which it stands, but we have no clue to the date of this event.[1][15] The Itineraries attest the existence of Tyndaris, apparently still as a considerable place, in the fourth century.[16]
The diocese was nominally restored in 1968 as LatinTitular bishopric of Tindari (Curiate Italian) / Tyndaris (Latin) / Tyndaritan(us) (Latin adjective)
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By the 19th century, the site of Tyndaris was wholly deserted, but the name was retained by a church, which crowned the most elevated point of the hill on which the city formerly stood, and was still called the Madonna di Tindaro. It is c. 180 m above the sea-level, and forms a conspicuous landmark to sailors. Considerable ruins of the ancient city, are also visible. It occupied the whole plateau or summit of the hill, and the remains of the ancient walls may be traced, at intervals, all round the brow of the cliffs, except in one part, facing the sea, where the cliff is now quite precipitous. It is not improbable that it is here that a part of the cliff fell in, in the manner recorded by Pliny[17] Two gates of the city are also still distinctly to be traced.
The chief monuments, of which the ruins are still extant within the circuit of the walls, are:
Numerous inscriptions, fragments of sculpture, and architectural decorations, as well as coins, vases etc. have also been discovered on the site.
Local legend tells that the lagoon was created after a pilgrim who came to see the Madonna refused to pray to the Madonna because she wasblack. The woman accidentally dropped her baby into the ocean and the Madonna made the land rise to save the baby. The sands of Marinello have taken shape of the profile of the Madonna.
An episode ofInspector Montalbano was called "Excursion to Tindari". It ends with four of the main characters overlooking the bay.[19]Salvatore Quasimodo, who would later win the Nobel prize for literature, in 1930 published a poem entitled "Vento a Tindari" (Wind at Tindari).
By car, if you come from
Falcone,
of Autostrada Messina-Palermo take Palermo direction along SS 113.
But Tindari and its Church are reachable by trains run byTrenitalia, including services fromMessina with theOliveri railway station situated on the Palermo–Messina railway. Outside of the station is available anUber service by app.
Tindari is also served by bus provided fromAzienda Siciliana Trasporti.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857).Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Ashby, Thomas (1911). "Tyndaris". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 500.
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