Matauros

MATAUROS or Metauros (Gioia Tauro) Calabria, Italy.

On the Tyrrhenian Sea about 100 km N of Reggio Calabria. A settlement of Chalkidians of Rhegion was occupied at the beginning of the 6th c. B.C. by Lokrians in the course of their W expansion. Between the 5th c. and the Roman period there are few records: the settled life must have moved S of the Petrace river (ancient Matauros) into the ancient center of Taurianon. The poet Stesichoros was most likely a citizen of Matauros and from there moved to Himera.

In the area of Due Pompe, excavations have revealed a necropolis, which was used during three major periods. The oldest period (cremation) comprised the 7th c. and the first half of the 6th c. B.C., and provides late proto-Corinthian ware; Ionic ware (Ionic cups B1 and B2); Greco-oriental ware (alabaster on grey bucchero and glazed figured vases); Attic black-figure ware (a kotyle of the painter KX). The middle period (inhumation) lasted from the middle of the 6th c. until the beginning of the 5th c. B.C. The final period (covered tombs) spans the period from the 2d c. to the 3d c. A.D.

In the area of Masseria Fava, an imperial villa has been partially excavated, along with its attached bath complex. Occasionally, a cache of Carthaginian and Neapolitan coins of the Hellenistic period is discovered. Related to the construction of a temple are the remains of a terracotta equestrian group, perhaps an acroterion of the Lokrian type, dating to the beginning of the 5th c. B.C. and contemporary with other terracotta finds.

The city itself, of which nothing is known, is probably covered over by the present settlement. The finds are preserved in Reggio Calabria and in New York.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

P. Orsi, “Gioia Tauro (Metaurum). Scoperte vane,” NSc (1902) 126-30; Oldfather, “Matauros,” RE XIV (1930); T. J. Dunbabin, The Western Greeks (1948) 168-69; G. Procopio, FA, XI (1956) n. 2070; N. W. van Buren, “New Letters from Rome,” AJA 62 (1958) 421; E. Gagliardi, “Ii gruppo equestre fittile di Metauro,” AttiMGrecia, n.s. 2 (1958) 33-36; G. Vallet, Rhégion et Zancle (1958) 135-37, 261; U. Kahrstedt, Die wirtschaftliche Lage Grossgriechenlands in der Kaiserzeit (1960) 42-45; A. de Franciscis, “Μέταυρος,” AttiMGrecia, n.s. 3 (1960) 21-67; J. Berard, La Magna Grecia (1963) 206.

On Taurianum. S. Settis, “Tauriana (Bruttium): note storico-archeologiche,” RendLinc (1964) 117-44.

P. GUZZO