Cosa
Frieze-Dennison Vergil
Could not find Cosanus in Logeion dictionaries. Looking for closest alphabetic form.
- An ancient town in Etruria, not far from the coast, now Ansedonia, above Orbitello, Mel. 2, 4, 9; Liv. Ep. 14; id. 22, 11, 6; Plin. 3, 5, 8, § 51; Vell. 1, 14, 6; Tac. A. 2, 39 al.—Hence,
- B Cŏ-sānus (Coss-), a, um, adj., of Cosa: litus, Plin. 3, 6, 12, § 81: portus, Liv. 22, 11, 6: praedia, Suet. Vesp. 2.—Subst.,
- 1 Cŏsā-num, i, n.
- α The territory around Cosa, Caes. B. C. 1, 34.—
- β A country seat near Cosa, Cic. Att. 9, 6, 2; 15, 27, 1.—
- 2 Cŏsā-ni, ōrum, m., the inhabitants of Cosa, Liv. 33, 24, 8.—
- II A town in Lucania, in the territory of the Thurini, the same as Consa or Compsa, Caes. B. C. 3, 22 dub.
- 1. stad aan de kust en voorgebergte in Etrurië; nu Ansedonia — inw. en adj. Cosānus, ī m resp. a, um;
- 2. stad in Lucanië (Z.-Italië).
Causa, Res, in veteri Charta apud Ughellum tom. 3. Ital. sacr. pag. 40. 41.
Chose.
Cota. Vide ibi.
COSA or COSSA.
1.(Κόσσαι, Strab. Ptol.: Eth. Cosanus: Ansedonia) a city of Etruria, situated on the sea-coast between the Portus Herculis and Graviscae; immediately adjoining the southernmost of the two necks of sand which connect the Monte Argentaro with the main land. [ARGENTARIUS MONS] It is mentioned by Virgil (Aen. 10.167) among the cities supposed to have furnished auxiliaries to Aeneas against Mezentius, but this is the only intimation we find of its having been in very early times a place of consideration: there is no authority for the supposition of some writers who would rank it among the twelve cities of the Etruscan League. Pliny speaks of it as a dependency of Volci, from which it was only 20 miles distant (Cosa Volcientium, Plin. Nat. 3.5. s. 8); and though this may apply to the time of the author, it is certain that we find no evidence of its having ever been an independent city: indeed its name appears for the first time in history in B.C. 273, when a Roman colony was established there (Liv. Epit. xiv.; Veil. Pat. 1.14). This statement has been regarded by Madvig and Mommsen as referring to Cosa in Lucania (see No. 2), but that appears to have been always an obscure place, and Zumpt is certainly correct in referring the Roman colony to the Etruscan Cosa. As the Romans had triumphed over the Volcientes only seven years before (Fast. Capit.), it was natural enough that they should seek to establish their power in this part of Etruria by planting a colony in their territory. (Madvig, de Colon. p. 298; Mommsen, Röm. Münzwesen, p. 232; Zumpt, de Colon. p. 257.) In the Second Punic War Cosa was one of the eighteen colonies which were still able and ready to furnish their required quota of supplies (Liv. 27.10); but it seems nevertheless to have suffered severely from the war, so that in B.C. 199 we find the Cosani petitioning for a reinforcement of colonists. Their request was at first refused, but granted three years afterwards, when 1000 new colonists were settled there. (Id. 32.2, 33.24.) The chief importance of Cosa was derived from its port, known as the Portus Cosanus, which became a frequent point of departure for the Roman fleets and squadrons, from its ready communication with the islands of Ilva, Corsica, and Sardinia. (Liv. 22.11, 30.39.) It was from thence that Lepidus embarked for Sardinia, when driven from Italy by his colleague Catulus in B.C. 78. (Rutil. Itin. 1.297.) It was in the neighbourhood of Cosa also that during the Civil War of B.C. 49, Domitius assembled a small force and a squadron, with which he proceeded to occupy Massilia. (Caes. B.C. 1.34; Cic. ad Att. 9.6, 9.) The town of Cosa is not again mentioned in history, but its name is found in all the geographers, and inscriptions prove it to have been still in existence in the third century. Rutilius, however, speaks of it as in his time utterly desolate and lying in ruins, and relates a ridiculous legend as the cause of its abandonment. (Itin. 1.285--290.) The city does not appear to have been ever again inhabited, and the origin of the name of Ansedonia, now given to its ruins, is uncertain.
The remains of Cosa are of much interest, and present a very striking specimen of ancient fortifications. Strabo correctly describes the city as standing on a lofty height above the bay, at a short distance from the sea (5. p. 225). A steep ascent of above a mile leads to the gates; and remains of the ancient road are visible all the way. The walls, which are preserved more or less perfectly, in their whole extent, enclosed a rude quadrangle, hardly a mile in circuit, forming the level summit of the hill, which rises about 600 feet above the sea. They vary from 12 to 30 feet in height, and are composed of polygonal blocks of hard limestone, fitted together with great nicety: the upper course of the masonry presenting a marked approximation to a horizontal and regular style. They are moreover strengthened at intervals by square towers, projecting from the front of the walls, 14 of which are still standing or distinctly to be traced, forming a continuous chain of towers round the W. and S. portions of the city. No other instance of this regular employment of towers is known in the Etruscan cities, or the massive polygonal walls of so many cities in Latium: while it precisely resembles that adopted by the Romans at Falerii and Alba Fucensis. It therefore furnishes a strong argument for supposing that the walls now standing, were either erected, or at least in great measure rebuilt, when Cosa became a Roman colony. Dennis, however, from whom the above description is taken, strenuously maintains their high antiquity and Pelasgic origin. (Dennis's Etruria, vol. ii. pp. 269--289; Micali, Antichi Popoli Italiani, vol. 1. p. 152, 3. p. 6.) The small extent of the space enclosed within the walls sufficiently proves that Cosa could never have been a very powerful city.
The Itinerary of Antoninus places Cosa on the Via Aurelia, and gives also another line of route passing through Tarquinii to Cosa (Itin. Ant. pp. 292, 300); but it is clear that the high road could never have ascended the hill to the city itself: and the Tab. Peut. gives the name of Succosa (Subcosa), which appears to have been a station or Mutatio at the foot of it. The port of Cosa, called by Livy Portus Cosanus, is evidently the same which is termed by Strabo and Rutilius the Portus Herculis, and is still called Porto d'Ercole: it is on the opposite side of the bay from Cosa itself, under the shoulder of the Mons Argentarius, the whole of which remarkable promontory appears to have been included in the territory of Cosa. Hence it is termed by Tacitus Cosa, a promontory of Etruria( Ann. ii.), where he is certainly speaking of the Monte Argentaro.
2.A town of Lucania, mentioned by Caesar, who calls it Cosa in agro Thurino( B.C. 3.22), and relates that Milo laid siege to it and was killed under its walls. Velleius, however, refers the same event to Compsa in the Hirpini (2.68), and Pliny speaks of the death of Milo as occurring juxta castellum Carissanum( 2.56), for which Sillig would read Compsanum. But the reading in Caesar is well supported, and there is no reason to reject it: the Cosa there mentioned would appear, however, to have been but an obscure place, a mere Castellum in the territory of Thurii, and there is clearly no ground for supposing the Roman colony of B.C. 273 to have been settled here instead of at Cosa in Etruria. It is not improbable that we should read in Pliny Cossanumo r Cassanumf or Carissanum,a nd that the name is still retained by the modern town of Cassano, near which is a place called Civita, where the ruins of an ancient city are said to be still visible. (Cluver. Ital. p. 1205; Romanelli, vol. 1. p. 238). Stephanus of Byzantium cites from Hecataeus a city of Cossa (Κόσσα), as existing in the interior of Oenotria, which may probably be identical with the preceding. [E.H.B]
COSA a town in Gallia, is placed in the Table on a road from Tolosa (Toulouse) to Divona (Cahors). The distance of Cosa from Divona is marked 20 Gallic leagues; which is too much, if the place is Cos or Coz, --as it seems to be,--on the river Aveiron, which flows into the Tarn, a branch of the Garonne.
[G.L]A Latin colony on a rocky promontory, rising ca. 113 m above the sea, on the Tyrrhenian coast 139 km NW of Rome. It was founded in 273 B.C., on territory taken from Etruscan Vulci (Vell. Pat. 1.14.7; Livy Per. 14; Strab. 5.2.8). Its name was derived from a nearby Etruscan town, probably modern Orbetello. After the wars of the 3d c. B.C. (Livy 22.11.6; 27.10.8-9; 32.2.7; 33.24.8-9) it prospered until an unrecorded event of the 60s B.C. left it sacked, burnt, and depopulated. Partially rebuilt under Augustus, it survived as a local religious and festival center until the second quarter of the 3d c. For a century or so after 350 the ruins of the forum were occupied by the center of a large estate.
Excavations (1948-54, 1965-72) have traced the city plan, the principal buildings, the port, and have uncovered the Arx, the forum, and a number of houses. Unexcavated buildings include a bathing establishment, but no trace of theater or amphitheater has been found.
The colony's fortifications of massive polygonal masonry still surround the town site. The circuit of less than 2 km had curtains flanked by 18 square towers and was pierced by three gateways and a postern. The gateways were of the inner court type with arched outer openings closed by portcullises and inner gates. The town site, sloping northward, covered ca. 13 ha. Its principal features were twin summits with a level saddle between. Temples stood on the summits. The forum occupied the saddle. Main streets at right angles crossed the site from the gates and were directed at the forum and temple heights. Secondary streets ending in a pomerial road subdivided the site into rectangular and trapezoidal blocks.
The Arx, on the loftier summit at the S angle of the fortifications, was set off from the city by low cliffs and walls of polygonal masonry. At a broad opening on the NE front a main street widened to become a sacred way. The Arx came to be the seat of a major temple, the Capitolium (175-150 B.C.) and a minor, of Mater Matuta (?) (200-175 B.C.). The Capitolium, raised on a high podium above the terraced altar court, had a facade of four columns, reached across its full width by a flight of steps. From a deep, half-enclosed pronaos opened the three cellae of its prototype. The exterior was decorated with molded and painted revetments and pedimental sculptures of terracotta. The minor temple, beside the approach to the Capitolium, was set on a low podium of polygonal masonry, and had a single, square ceila behind its deep pronnos. It, too, was adorned with terracotta revetments and pedimental sculptures.
Under the floor of the Capitolium, on the crest of the summit, were found the traces of the augural templum and sacred pit which celebrated the inauguration of the colony. Behind the Capitolium, cuttings in the rock have disclosed the outlines of the first temple on the Arx (240-220 B.C.), dedicated to Jupiter and torn down when the major temple was built. A small building, later erected on the site of its altar court and composed of atrium, meeting rooms, and kitchen, testifies to the observances of a religious confraternity and to the life of the Arx during the Empire.
The forum was a long, unpaved rectangle, entered at either end of the long axis by widened extensions of a main thoroughfare and at either side of one end by a secondary street. By 125 B.C. it had been surrounded by buildings, some of which had already passed through earlier stages. Its entrance from the center of the town was now marked by a monumental triple archway (175-150) between twin, public buildings (240-220), having the form of atria surrounded by shops and offices. One long and both short sides were lined with colonnades (175-150), behind which were the older facades, identically tripartite, of shops and offices (240-220). Along the fourth side stood a row of separate, public buildings. The oldest of these were the comitium and curia (273-250): a circular amphitheater of steps and a covered, rectangular hall, facing a bicolumnar monument across the short axis of the forum. To one side stood a temple, with its forecourt, similar to the minor temple of the Arx, and the Aerarium (200-175). To the other stood the basilica (150-125). Along both sides of the forum ran continuous pairs of steps, in front of which toward one end small trees were planted in tub-like, rock-cut pits. A double row of smaller, square pits across this end seems to have served to secure staging for various public purposes.
The principal buildings along the one side of the forum were preserved by the Augustan revival of the town, while most of the ruined shop and office buildings were sealed off and abandoned or turned into dwellings. Between A.D. 50 and 55 the basilica was rebuilt as an odeum with seats and a stage. Later a mithraeum was installed in the basement of the curia. In the 4th and 5th c. the ruins of these buildings provided a skeleton for the estate center. One aisle of the basilica accommodated a church. One of the forum's entrances was walled up to make a pagan sanctuary.
The residential blocks of the colony were terraced lengthwise according to the slope of the town site. In each block a row of houses on either side of the median terrace wall opened on the upper or lower street. Six small houses (250-200) show the uniform plots and more or less uniform plans of the early colony. Later houses, rebuilt on two or more of the original plots, display freer plans and gardens. These plans were not of the typical atrium type but centered on covered halls or open courtyards. All the houses brought to light so far were destroyed before 60 B.C. Houses reconstructed in the early Empire had similar plans.
The port of the colony lay in the lee of the promontory. It consisted of an outer harbor offshore, connected by a ship channel with an inner harbor at the end of a coastal lagoon. The outer harbor was protected by a mole and outlying breakwaters of large limestone blocks. The embankments of the ship channel were revetted with polygonal masonry. Recent excavations have uncovered a watering dock, jutting into the channel, its fountain house and quays. Measures for keeping the outer harbor free of sand and for circulating water through the inner harbor are represented by a flux channel to the lagoon with flood gates and by a large rock-cut flush basin fed by sluices.
The finds from the excavations of Cosa are to be stored and exhibited in an antiqunrium on the site.
BIBLIOGRAPHYR. Cardarelli in Maremma 1 (1924) 131-42, 155-86, 205-24; 2 (1925) 3-36, 75-128, 147-213; F. E. Brown, Cosa I, History and Topography (“MAAR,” 20, 1951) MPI; id. et al., Cosa II, The Temples on the Arx (“MAAR” 26, 1960) MPI; id., “Scavi a Cosa-Ansedonia (1965-1966),” BdA 52 (1967) 37-41MPI; F. Gastagnoli, “La centuriazione di Cosa,” MAAR 24 (1956) 147-65; L. Richardson, Jr., “Cosa and Rome: Comitium and Curia,” Archaeology 10 (1957) 49-51PI; D. M. Taylor, “Cosa: Black-Glaze Pottery,” MAAR 25 (1957) 65-193; A. M. McCann & J. D. Lewis, “The Ancient Port of Cosa,” Archaeology 23,3 (1970) 200-211PI; V. J. Bruno, “A Town House at Cosa,” Archaeology 23,4 (1970) 232-41; M-T. M. Moers, The Roman Thin Walled Pottery from Cosa, in MAAR 32 (1973).
F. E. BROWN