Olbia
- I A city in Pamphylia, Plin. 5, 27, 26, § 96.—
- II A city in Bithynia, afterwards called Nicaea, now Izmid, Plin. 5, 32, 43, § 148.—Hence,
- B Olbĭānus, a, um, adj.: sinus, now Golfo d’ Izmid, Mel. 1, 19, 4.—
- III A city in Gallia Narbonensis, Mel. 2, 5.—
- IV A city in Sardinia, now Terranova, Cic. Q. Fr. 2, 6, 7; 2, 8, 1; Flor. 2, 2, 6; Val. Max. 5, 1, 2.
- —Hence, Olbĭensis, e, adj., of or belonging to Olbia, Olbian: epistula. from Olbia, Cic. Q. Fr. 2, 3, 7: ager, the territory of Olbia, Liv. 27, 6.
O´LBIA(Ὀλβία, Strab. 4. p. 200, 7. p. 206; Scymn. 806; Ptol. 3.5.28; Arrian, Per. p. 20; Anon. Per. p. 8; Mela, 2.1.6; Jornand. B. Get. 5; with the affix Sabia, Σαβία, Anon. l. c.;on coins in the Ionic form always Ὀλβίη). Pliny (Plin. Nat. 4.26) says that it was anciently called OLBIOPOLIS,and MILFTOPOLIS:the former of these names does not occur elsewhere, and is derived probably from the ethnic name OLBIOPOLITAE(Ὀλβιοπολῖται, Hdt. 4.18; Suid. s. v. Ποσειδώνιος), which appears on coins as late as the date of Caracalla and Alexander Severus. (Kohler, Mém. de l'Acad. de St. Petersb. vol. 14. p. 106; Blaramberg, Choix des Méd. Antiques d'Olbiopolis ou d'Olbia, Paris, 1822; Mionnet, Descr. des Méd. vol. 1. p. 349.) Although the inhabitants always called their city Olbia, strangers were in the habit of calling it by the name of the chief river of Scythia, BORYSTHENES(Βορυσθένης, Βοροσθένις), and the people BORYSTHENITAE(Βορυσθενεΐται, Herod. l. c.;Dion Chrys. Orat.xxxvi. vol. 2. p. 74; Lucian, Toxar. 61; Menand. ap. Schol. ad Dionys. Perieg. 311; Steph. B. s. v.;Ammian. 22.8.40; Macrob. Sat. 1.10). A Grecian colony in Scythia, on the right bank of the Hypanis, 240 stadia (Anon. l. c.;200 stadia, Strab. p. 200; 15 M. P., Plin. l. c.) from its mouth, the ruins of which are now found at a place on the W. bank of the Bug, called Stomogil, not far from the village llginskoje,about 12 Eng. miles below Nicholaev. This important settlement, which was situated among the Scythian tribes of the Callipidae and Alazones, owed its origin to the Ionic Miletus in B.C. 655. (Anon. Peripl. l. c.;Euseb. Chron. ) At an early period it became a point of the highest importance for the inland trade, which, issuing from thence, was carried on in an easterly and northern direction as far as Central Asia. It was visited by Herodotus (Hdt. 4.17, 18, 53, 78), who obtained his valuable information about Scythia from the Greek traders of Olbia. From the important series of inscriptions in Böckh's collection ( Inscr. 2058--2096), it appears that this city, although at times dependent upon the Scythian or Sarmatian princes, enjoyed the privileges of a free government, with institutions framed upon the Ionic model. Among its eminent names occur those of Poseidonius (Suidas, s. v.), a sophist and historian, and Sphaerus the stoic, a disciple of Zeno of Citium. (Plut. Cleom. 2.) There has been much controversy as to the date of the famous inscription (Böckh, No. 2058) which records the exploits of Protogenes, who, in the extreme distress of his native city, aided it both with his purse and person. This inscription, apparently belonging to the period B.C. 218--201, mentions the Galatians and Sciri (perhaps the same as those who are afterwards found united with the Heruli and Rugii) as the worst enemies of Olbia, a clear proof that in the third century B.C. Celtic tribes had penetrated as far to the E. as the Borysthenes. Dion Chrysostom (Orat.36. p. 76), who came to Olbia when he escaped from Domitian's edict, relates how it had been destroyed by the Getae about 150 years before the date of his arrival, or about B.C. 50, but had been restored by the old inhabitants. From the inscriptions it appears that Augustus and Tiberius conferred favours on a certain Ababus of Olbia (No. 2060), who, in gratitude, erected a portico in their honour (No. 2087), while Antoninus Pius assisted them against the Tauro-Scythians. (Jul. Capit. Anton. 9.) The citizens erected statues to Caracalla and Geta (No. 2091). The city was in all probability destroyed in the invasion of the Goths A.D. 250, as the name does not occur henceforth in history. For coins of Olbia, besides the works already quoted, see Eckhel, vol. 2. p. 3. (Pallas, Reise, vol. 2. p. 507; Clarke, Trav. vol. 2. p. 351; Murawien Apostol's Reise, p. 27; Böckh, Inscr. vol. ii. pp. 86--89; Niebuhr, Kleine Schrift. p. 352; Schafarik, Slav. Alt. vol. 1. p. 397; Creuzer, Heidelberg. Jährbuch, 1822, p. 1235; Bähr, Excursus ad Herod. 4.18.) COIN OF OLBIA.
[E.B.J]O´LBIA(Ὀλβία: Eth. Ὀλβιανός, Olbiensis: Terranova), one of the most considerable cities of Sardinia, situated on the E. coast of the island not far from its NE. extremity, in the innermost recess or bight of a deep bay now called the Golfo di Terranova. According to Pausanias it was one of the most ancient cities in the island, having been founded by the colony of Thespiadae under lolaus, the companion of Hercules, with whom were associated a body of Athenians, who founded a separate city, which they named Ogryle. (Paus. 10.17.5; Diod. 4.29; Solin. 1.61.) The name of Olbia certainly seems to indicate that the city was of Greek origin; but, with the exception of this mythical legend, we have no accounts of its foundation. After the Roman conquest of the island it became one of the most important towns in Sardinia; and from its proximity to Italy and its opportune port, became the ordinary point of communication with the island, and the place where the Roman governors and others who visited Sardinia usually landed. (Cic. ad Q. Fr. 2.3. 7, 6.7.) In the First Punic War it was the scene of a naval engagement between the consul Cornelius and a Carthaginian fleet, which had taken refuge in its spacious port; but was attacked and defeated there by Cornelins, who followed up his advantage by taking the city, B.C. 259. (Zonar. 8.11; Flor. 2.2.16; Val. Max..) In the Second Punic War (B.C. 210) its territory was ravaged by a Carthaginian fleet. (Liv. 27.6.) Under the reign of Honorius, Olbia is still mentioned by Claudian as one of the principal sea-ports of Sardinia; and the Itineraries give more than one line of road proceeding from thence towards different parts of the island. (Claudian, B. Gild. 519; Itin. Ant. pp. 79, 80, 82.) The name is there written Ulbia: in the middle ages it came to be known as Civita, and obtained its modern appellation of Terranovafrom the Spaniards.
Ptolemy distinguishes the port of Olbia (Ὀλβιανὸς λιμήν, 3.3.4) from the city itself: he probably applies this name to the whole of the spacious bay or inlet now known as the Gulf of Terranova, and the position given is that of the entrance.
[E.H.B]O´LBIA(Ὀλβία: Eth. Ὀλβιοπολίτης, and Ὀλβιανός). Stephanus (s. v. Ὀλβία) speaks of one city of this name as a Ligurian city, by which he means the Olbia on the Ligurian coast of Gallia; for the name Olbia appears to be Greek. Mela (2.5), who proceeds from east to west in enumerating the cities on the Mediterranean coast of Gallia, places Olbia between Forum Julii ( Fréjus) and Massilia ( Marseille). The order of place is this: Forum Julii, Athenopolis, Olbia, Taurois, Citharistes, Massilia. Strabo (4. p. 184), who proceeds from west to east in his enumeration of the cities of this coast, mentions Massilia, Tauroentium, Olbia, and Antipolis, and Nicaea. He adds that the port of Augustus, which they call Forum Julii, is between Olbia and Antipolis ( Antibes). The Massaliots built Olbia, with the other places on this coast, as a defence against the Salyes and the Ligures of the Alps. (Strab. p. 180.) Ptolemy (Ptol. 2.10.8) places Olbia between the promontory Citharistes ( Cap Cicier) and the mouth of the river Argenteus ( Argents), west of Fréjus. There is nothing that fixes the site of Olbia with precision; and we must accept D'Anville's conjecture that Olbia was at a place now called Eoube, between Cap Combeand Bréganson. Forbiger accepts the conjecture that Olbia was at St. Tropez, which he supports by saying that Strabo places Olbia 600 stadia from Massilia; but Strabo places Forum Julii 600 stadia from Massilia.
[G.L]O´LBIA(ολβία).
1.A town in Bithynia, on the bay called, after it, the Sinus Olbianus (commonly Sinus Astacenus), was in all probability only another name for Astacus [ASTACUS]. Pliny (Plin. Nat. 5.43) is probably mistaken in saying that Olbia was the ancient name for Nicaea in Bithynia; he seems to confound Nicaea with Astacus.
2.The westernmost town on the coast of Pamphylia. (Strab. xiv. pp. 666, foll.; Plin. Nat. 5.26.) Ptolemy (Ptol. 5.5.2), consistently with this description, places it between Phaselis and Attaleia. Stephanus B. (s. v.) blames Philo for ascribing this town to Pamphylia, since, as he asserts, it was situated in the territory of the Solymi, and its real name was Olba; but the critic is here himself at fault, confounding Olbia with the Pisidian Olbasa. Strabo describes our Olbia as a strong fortress, and its inhabitants colonised the Lycian town of Cydrema.
3.A town of Cilicia, mentioned only by Stephanus Byz. (s. v.), who may possibly have been thinking of the Cilician Olbasa or Olbe. [L.S]
OLBIA[OLIBA]
(Όλβία). (1) Now Eoubes near Hyères; a colony of Massilia (Marseilles), on a hill called Olbianus, east of Telo Martius (Toulon).
(2) A city near the northern end of the eastern side of the island of Sardinia, with the only good harbour on this coast; and therefore the usual landing-place for persons coming from Rome. It is now Terra Nuova.
(3) See Borysthenes.
Greek city situated on the right bank of the Bug liman, S of the present-day village of Parutino. One of the most important cities on the N coast of the Black Sea, it was founded in the 1st half of the 6th c. B.C. by Miletian colonists and by inhabitants of the other Greek cities (Hdt. 4.78.79; Dio. Chrys. Or. 36).
The city rapidly became self-governing, reaching full prosperity in the 4th c. B.C. From the beginning of the 3d c. B.C. the danger of barbarian invasions grew. The Sarmatians and Scythians invaded the city in the 2d c. B.C., and from that period it started to decline. The Getae seized it in the 1st c. B.C., and the city gradually became barbarized and lost its Greek traditions. In the Roman Empire it was a small town, becoming part of the province of Lower Mysia toward the end of the 2d c. A.D. when it was surrounded by fortifications. In the 4th c. the Getae again invaded Olbia and gradually destroyed it.
Olbia covered a triangular area originally of ca. 50 ha, but because of erosion only ca. 33 ha remain. The city was spread out on two terraces, the lower city along the river and the upper city with its business district and public buildings near the agora and the temenos. Covering an area of over 2000 sq. m, the agora was bordered by a stoa (45 x 17.5 m) of the 4th c. B.C. with 9 Ionic columns, a large public building of the 4th-2d c., two large commercial buildings divided into shops with basements for storage, and among other buildings a gymnasium (?) with baths. The temenos covered an area of over 3000 sq. m and was bordered by stone walls and porticos. Among its buildings are a temple of Zeus (13.9 x 7.7 m) of the 3d c. B.C., a temple of Apollo Delphinios (30-35 x 16 m) of the 4th-2d c. completely surrounded by porticos of Ionian columns; and from the 5th c. B.C. a temple in antis dedicated to Apollo with an Ionic portico, an altar for libations, and an altar for burnt offerings. By the 1st c. A.D. both the temenos and the agora had been abandoned and this area, now beyond the new city walls, became a commercial center with several pottery workshops, winemaking establishments, and granaries.
It is possible to trace the evolution of the residential section from the 6th c. B.C. In the beginning it consisted of small two-roomed houses with an area of 12 sq. m. The houses of the 5th c. B.C. are more spacious. The largest and most luxurious ones are those built in the 4th-3d c. B.C., especially in the residential quarter of the lower city, where they are aligned on a broad stone-paved street. These houses, covering an area of as much as 50 x 38 m, had a rectangular vestibule leading to a square inner courtyard with rooms arranged around it. Some contained as many as 25 rooms. Fragments of mosaics and wall paintings have been found in a few houses.
In the late 2d c. A.D. a kurgan of Zeus was erected in what had been a residential area of the 6th-2d c.: a burial mound 14.5 m high and 37 m in diameter surrounded by a small wall. A dromos 1.75 m wide led down steps into a stone burial chamber comprising two identical rooms.
The necropolis N and W of the city walls encompasses an area of almost 500 ha. About 2000 burials have been excavated. The most prevalent graves in all periods were simple rectangular holes dug into the ground, but from the 5th c. B.C. there are passage graves formed from a niche or passage cut into the side of a tomb, and from the 4th c. B.C. vaulted graves with steps lead down a dromos into a burial chamber. The burial of Heuresibius and Arete (2d c. A.D.) consisted of a large kurgan covering a vault composed of two rooms.
In the early centuries A.D. the S part of the upper city became a citadel with massive walls and towers. Among the buildings of this era are the barracks (?) of the Roman garrison and a metal-working shop of the 3d-4th c.
From the 6th c. B.C. Olbia minted its own coins, and in the 4th c. B.C. gold staters of Alexander and Lysimachos. Among the rich archaeological finds are wares of the 6th c. B.C. from Rhodes, Miletos, Samos, Corinth, Chios, Klazomenai, Chalkis, and black-figured Attic bowls, as well as the local production of bowls and terracottas imitating imported forms. The Hermitage Museum contains material from the site.
BIBLIOGRAPHYE. H. Minns, Scythians and Greeks (1913) 453-89; B. Farmakovskii, Ol'viia (1915); Ol'viia, (1940); Ol'viia i nizhnee Pobuzh'e v antichnuiu epokhu [Materialy i issledovaniia PO arkheologii SSSR, No. 50] (1956); Ol'viia, II [Arkheologichni Pam'iatky URSR, No. 7] (1958); L. M. Slavin, “Periodizatsiia istoricheskogo razvitiia Ol'vii,” Problemy istorii Severnogo Prichernomor'ia v antichnuiu epokhu (1959) 86-107; A. L. Mongait, Archaeology in the USSR, tr. M. W. Thompson (1961) 180-85; C. M. Danoff, Pontos Euxeinos (1962) 1092-1104 = RE Suppl. IX; Ol'viia, Temenos agora (1964); E. Belin de Ballu, L'Histoire des Colonies grecques du Littoral nord de la Mer Noire (1965) 44-72; id., Olbia: Cité antique du littoral nord de la Mer Noire (1972); L. M. Slavin, Zdes' byl gorod Ol'viia (1967); I. B. Brašinskij, “Recherches soviétiques sur les monuments antiques des régions de la Mer Noire,” Eirene 7 (1968) 87-92; A. I. Karasev, “Raskopki Ol'viiskoi agory v 1967-1969 gg.,” KSIA 130 (1972) 35-44.
M. L. BERNHARD & Z. SZTETYŁŁOOlbia (“the Fortunate”) is located near Hyères, 65 km from Marseille. According to ancient authors (Pseudo-Skymnos 215; Strab. 4.1.5and 4.1.9; Ptol. 239.1; Steph. Byz. s.v.), it was one of four large fortified settlements established by Massilia on the Mediterranean coast E of the Rhône. Like Tauroention, Antipolis, and Nikaia, it was intended to contain the ascendancy of the Celto-Ligurian tribes of the confederation of the Salyes. It was founded at the end of the 4th c. B.C. and may have been taken by the Romans at the time of the siege of Marseille (49 B.C.). Later it was included within a larger built-up area. It is impossible, however, to affirm with certitude that this was the Pomponia mentioned by the Maritime Itinerary and by Pliny. The occupation seems to have lasted until the Early Christian period. In the Middle Ages the site was occupied by a monastery (12th to 15th c.).
The location of Olbia, for a long time not known for certain, was determined by the discovery on the site of a dedication to the Genius Viciniae Castellanae Olbiensium. Excavations have reconstructed the general features of the Greek settlement. The founding of Olbia is well dated stratigraphically to ca. 330-300 (there are no sherds earlier than the 4th c. B.C. and Etrusco-Campanian black-finish ware predominated). These years correspond to the economic renascence of Marseille. At this time the town was provided with a strong cyclopean rampart of large polygonal stones. This was later replaced, or perhaps supplemented, by a second enceinte of large ashlar (2d c. B.C.). From the beginning the town was organized according to a rigorous orthogonal plan: the ramparts form a square, 160 m on each side; the S flank is next to the seashore. It was defended by square towers (which are still in place on the N and W sides). The wall was pierced by gates of which the main one, to the E, led to the port.
The urban area was divided into quarters by two wide streets, one E-W 5 m wide, the other N-S 4 m wide. Streets parallel to these axes and 2.20 m wide delimited rectangular blocks 11 m wide (in other words, exactly five times the width of the streets). There are 36 blocks of dwellings in all, divided into nine series of four blocks each. The location corresponding to a last series along the W sector of the ramparts was reserved for a group of buildings arranged around an interior courtyard. It has only been partially cleared, but it may be supposed to be public, and probably religious, in character.
The blocks of dwellings and the streets include several Hellenistic levels. These more or less preserved the original city plan. There are many shops and private houses, carefully built of small ashlar, an intricate network of streets, a large square-sectioned well built in opus quadratum with sharp corners. But the most interesting building is a square monument, 5 m on each side, which leans directly on the N flank of the oldest rampart. Its nature has been revealed by a building block bearing the name of the goddess ἈΦΡΟΔΙΤΗΣ. Under the lowest floor there appeared well-aligned piles of terracotta cups, bases uppermost. Nearby, three lead plates were found which carry the inscriptions LVNAE, MERCVRIO, VENERI. A stone encased in a wall of the same block carries another Greek inscription: ΗΡΩΣ. It follows that this block is religious in function. Curiously, it contains installations which show that it was also used for crafts: rooms, basins, water channels. (Could purple have been manufactured under the patronage of the goddess?) Also to be noted is the inscription ΜΗΤΡΩΝ, of the 3d or 4th c. B.C., found on a milestone at the E gate.
The Roman stratum is placed on top of a destruction level dating to about the middle of the 1st c. B.C. The new built-up area overflowed the original enclosure and extended beyond the ramparts. The most important monument is a complete set of baths. Other remains have been noted at various localities, notably those of port installations on the modern beach of l'Almanarre.
Of the mediaeval level, remains can be seen of a chapel with an apse, a church and its sacristy, and a cemetery.
BIBLIOGRAPHYForma Orbis Romani II: Var (1932); J. Coupry, “Les fouilles d'Olbia,” CRAI (19$); “Chronique des circonscriptions arch.,” Gallia (1965ff).
C. GOUDINEAUCity in the NE part of Sardinia, situated on a broad gulf (Ptol. 3.3.4). The foundation of Olbia, which Greek tradition attributed to the Foci (6th c. B.C.), is today attributed to the Carthaginians. With the Roman occupation Olbia acquired considerable importance as a commercial center in trade with the continent. In Imperial times the presence in the Olbian countryside of landed estates of the gens Claudia and of Atte, concubine of Nero, who erected a temple to Ceres here (CIL X, 1414), testify to its prosperity. The numerous main thoroughfares converging at Olbia attest to the continued importance of the city in the 3d and 4th c. A.D. and to an intensity of life that persists in the recollections of the historians (Claudi. de Bello Gild. 15.519, who speaks of the circuit walls along the shore), and of the geographers (It. Ant. 81; Tab. Peut.). With the decline of the Empire the city suffered upheaval from the invasion of the Vandals in the 5th c. A.D., but revived in the early mediaeval period as the capital of the governors of Gallura.
The city was erected on the tongue of land projecting out into the sea, where the remains of a Punic temple (3d-2d c. B.C.) have been found. The Punic necropoleis, which were later reused by the Romans, contained ditch, shaft, and coffin burials and extended to the NW, W, and SW of the ancient center. Of the Roman walls, which were constructed of a double course of large isodomic granite blocks and date from the 3d-2d c., there remains a stretch with a rectangular tower and the opening of a gate into the Lupacciolu garden in Via R. Elena. On the axes of the city, beginning on the cardo and decumanus, which correspond to the modern Via R. Elena and the Corso Umberto, were built both private and civic structures. Among them there remains a large bath complex (1st-2d c.), and an aqueduct that brought water from the slopes of the Cabu Abbas mountains and carried it to the city. The ancient port occupied a space slightly larger than the modern seaplane airport. The Roman necropoleis extended over a large area in present Fontana Noa, Abba Ona, and Joanne Canu, entirely encircling the city. The burials, which in part reuse earlier building material, consist of ditch, shaft, and coffin tombs. The funerary fittings, other than ceramic material, consist of bronze or iron strigils, mirrors, and coins. The collection is preserved in the National Museum at Cagliari.
BIBLIOGRAPHYA. Tamponi, NSc (1890) 224ff; A. Taramelli, NSc (1911) 223ffPI; E. Pais, Storia della Sardegna e della Corsica, I (1923) 374ff; R. Hanslik, RE 17 (1936) 2423; D. Levi, Studi Sardi 9 (1950) 4ffPI; D. Panedda, Olbia nel periodo punico e romano (Forma Italiae) (1952) MPI; id., L'agro di Olbia nel periodo preistorico punico e romano (1954) MPI; G. Pesce, EAA 5 (1963) 634ff.
D. MANCONI- Paus. 10.17.5