Velia

Ancient Greek: Υέλη, Ελέα
View of the excavations and the tower at Velia
Shown within Italy
Alternative name	Hyele, Ele, Elea
Location	Velia, Province of Salerno, Campania, Italy
Region	Magna Graecia
Coordinates	40°09′39″N 15°09′18″E / 40.16083°N 15.15500°E / 40.16083; 15.15500Coordinates: 40°09′39″N 15°09′18″E / 40.16083°N 15.15500°E / 40.16083; 15.15500
Type	Settlement
History
Builder	Settlers from Phocaea
Founded	Between 538 and 535 BC
Associated with	Parmenides, Zeno, Statius
Site notes
Management	Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici di Salerno, Avellino, Benevento e Caserta
Website	Parco archeologico di Elea-Velia (in Italian)
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park with the Archaeological sites of Paestum and Velia, and the Certosa di Padula
Type	Cultural
Criteria	iii, iv
Designated	1998 (22nd session)
Reference no.	842
Region	Europe and North America

Silver coin from Velia, circa 280 BC, with Athena on the obverse, and a lion devouring a stag on the reverse.

Velia was the Roman name of an ancient city of Magna Graecia on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. It was founded by Greeks from Phocaea as Hyele (Ancient Greek: Ὑέλη) around 538–535 BC. The name later changed to Ele and then Elea (/ˈɛliə/; Ancient Greek: Ἐλέα) before it became known by its current Latin and Italian name during the Roman era. Its ruins are located in the Cilento region near the modern village Velia, which was named after the ancient city. The village is a frazione of the comune Ascea in the Province of Salerno, Campania, Italy.

The city was known for being 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 was once a promontory called Castello a Mare, meaning "castle on the sea" in Italian. It now lies inland and was renamed to Castellammare della Bruca in the Middle Ages.

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 the 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. According to Book 6 of Virgil's Aeneid, Velia is the place where the body of Palinurus washed ashore.^[1]

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 inches square, with a thickness of nearly 4 inches They all bear Greek brick-stamps. There are some remains of cisterns on the site, and, various other traces of buildings.^[2]

In February 2022, archaeologists from the Velia excavation reported the discovery of two well-preserved bronze Greek helmets with Etruscan design, the remains of a painted brick wall and vases at the site of Velia. According to Italian Culture Minister Dario Franceschini, the excavation included metal fragments from weapons, vases with the Greek inscription for "sacred".^[3]

Eleatics

The Eleatics were a school of pre-Socratic philosophers. The group was founded in the early 5th century BC 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 residents

• The father of the Roman poet Publius Papinius Statius was born in Hyele (Silv 5.3.127).
• Parmenides, philosopher and founder of the Eleatics
• Zeno of Elea, Eleatic philosopher known for his paradoxes

Gallery