Patrician house of the ancient city of Tindari, columns of the inner courtyard. Sicily

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Tyndaris was situated on a bold and lofty hill standing out as a promontory into the spacious bay of the Tyrrhenian Sea bounded by the Punta di Milazzo on the east, and the Capo Calavià on the west, and according to the Itineraries was 36 miles from Messana (modern Messina).[1] It was a Greek city, and one of the latest of all the cities in Sicily that could claim a purely Greek origin, having been founded by the elder Dionysius in 396 or 395 BC. The original settlers were the remains of the Messenian exiles, who had been driven from Naupactus, Zacynthus, and the Peloponnese by the Spartans after the close of the Peloponnesian War. These had at first been established by Dionysius at Messana, when he repeopled that city; but the Spartans having taken umbrage at this, he transferred them to the site of Tyndaris, which had previously been included in the territory of Abacaenum. The colonists themselves gave to their new city the name of Tyndaris, from their native divinities, the "Tyndaridae" or Dioscuri, and readily admitting fresh citizens from other quarters, soon raised their whole population to the number of 5000 citizens.[2] The new city thus rose at once to be a place of considerable importance.

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Size: 5616px × 3744px
Location: Tindari, Patti, Sicily, Italy, Europe
Photo credit: © Diego Barucco / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: ancient, architecture, city, column, columns, courtyard, europe, european, floor, greek, heritage, house, italian, italy, landscape, mosaic, patrician, roman, ruin, ruined, ruins, sicilian, sicily, tindary, tourism, unesco