Aletium
ALE´TIUM (ἈλήτιονPtol. 3.1.76; Eth. Aletinus, Plin. Nat. 3.11. s. 16), a town of Calabria, mentioned, both by Pliny and Ptolemy, among the inland cities which they assign to the Salentini. Its site (erroneously placed by Cluver at Lecce) is clearly marked by the ancient church of Sta Maria della Lizza (formerly an episcopal see) near the village of Fisciotti, about 5 miles from Gallipoli, on the road to Otranto. Here many ancient remains have been discovered, among which are numerous tombs, with inscriptions in the Messapian dialect. (D'Anville, Anal. Géogr. de l'Italie, p. 233; Mommsen, Unter-Ital. Dialekte, p. 57.) The name is corruptly written Baletium in the Tab. Peut., which however correctly places it between Neretum (Nardò) and Uxentum (Ugento), though the distances given are inaccurate. In Strabo, also, it is probable that we should read with Kramer Ἀλητία for Σαληπία, which he describes as a town in the interior of Calabria, a short distance from the sea. (Strab. p. 282; and Kramer, ad loc.)
[E.H.B]This ancient Messapian center was mentioned by Pliny (HN 3.105) and Ptolemy (3.1). Its position is clearly indicated in the name of the ancient church of S. Maria della Lizza, around which the mediaeval settlement called Picciotti grew up, and from which the modern town retook the ancient name. The flourishing economic life of Aletium was associated, especially around the 4th c. B.C., with its proximity to Kallipolis (Gallipoli) ca. 7 km away. There is evidence of the ancient city in the modern town, on the outskirts of which tombs with Messapian inscriptions frequently appear. Several tombs have been reconstructed in an archaeological park. Messapian inscriptions are to be found in the Municipal Library at Alezio and in the Castromediano Museum at Lecce. BIBLIOGRAPHY. W. Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, (1856) 95 (E. H. Bunbury); RE 1.2 (1894) 1371 (Hülsen); O. Parlangeli, Studi Messapici (1960) 202.
F. G. LO PORTO