Stabiae: Difference between revisions

'''Stabiae''' ({{IPA-la|ˈstabɪ.ae̯|lang}}) was an ancient city situated near the modern town of [[Castellammare di Stabia]] and approximately 4.5&nbsp;km southwest of [[Pompeii]]. Like Pompeii, and being only {{cvt|16|km|mi}} from [[Mount Vesuvius]], it was largely buried by [[tephra]] ash in 79 AD [[Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD|eruption of Mount Vesuvius]], in this case at a shallower depth of up to 5 m.<ref>Giovanna Bonifacio; Anna Maria Sodo, Gina Carla Ascione, In Stabiano – Cultura e archeologia da Stabiae , Castellammare di Stabia, Longobardi Editore, 2006. {{ISBN|88-8090-126-5}} p. 117-118</ref>

 

 

Many of the objects and frescoes taken from these villas are now in the [[National Archaeological Museum of Naples]].

 

==History==

 

The settlement at Stabiae arose from as early as the 7th century BC due to the favourable climate and its strategic and commercial significance as evocatively documented by materials found in the vast [[necropolis]] discovered in 1957 on via Madonna delle Grazie, situated between [[Gragnano]] and [[Santa Maria la Carità]]. The necropolis of over 300 tombs containing imported pottery of Corinthian, Etruscan, [[Chalcidians|Chalcidian]] and [[Attica|Attic]] origin clearly shows that the town had major commercial contacts.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.pompeiisites.org/Sezione.jsp?titolo=%E2%80%9CIn+Search+of+Stabiae%E2%80%9D&idSezione=7766 |title=Homepage – Pompeii Sites Portale Ufficiale Parco Archeologico di Pompei |access-date=17 October 2018 |archive-date=17 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181017163116/http://www.pompeiisites.org/Sezione.jsp?titolo=%E2%80%9CIn+Search+of+Stabiae%E2%80%9D&idSezione=7766 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The necropolis, covering an area of {{cvt|15000|m2}}, was used from the 7th to the end of the 3rd century BC and shows the complex population changes with the arrival of new peoples, such as the [[Etruscans]], which opened up new contacts.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.pompeiisites.org/Sezione.jsp?titolo=History+of+Stabiae&idSezione=3386 |title=Homepage – Pompeii Sites Portale Ufficiale Parco Archeologico di Pompei|date=9 March 2024 }}</ref>

 

 

With the arrival of the Samnites the city suffered a sudden social and economic slowdown in favour of the development of nearby Pompeii, as shown by the almost total absence of burials: however, when the influence of the Samnites became more marked in the middle of the 4th century BC Stabiae began a slow recovery,<ref>Giovanna Bonifacio and Anna Maria Sodo, Stabia: history and architecture: p. 13. 250th anniversary of the Stabiae excavations 1749–1999, Rome, The Hermes of Bretschneider, 2004, {{ISBN|978-88-826-5201-2}} .</ref> so much so that it was necessary to build two new necropoles, one discovered in 1932 near the [[Mediaeval]] Castle, the other in Scanzano. A sanctuary, probably dedicated to Athena, was built in the locality of Privati.<ref>Giovanna Bonifacio, Anna Maria Sodo and Gina Carla Ascione, In Stabiano – Culture and Archeology from Stabiae , Castellammare di Stabia, p. 16. Longobardi Editore, 2006, {{ISBN|88-8090-126-5}}</ref>

In 62 AD the city was hit by a violent earthquake that affected the whole region, causing considerable damage to the buildings and creating the need for restoration work, which was never finished.{{cn|date = January 2024}}

 

 

Pliny died at Stabiae the following day. This coincides with the arrival of the sixth and largest [[pyroclastic surge]] of the eruption caused by the collapse of the [[eruption plume]].<ref>

In 1980 the violent [[1980 Irpinia earthquake|earthquake of Irpinia]] caused huge damage to the villas and destroyed part of the colonnade of the upper peristyle of Villa San Marco.<ref>Arnold De Vos; Mariette De Vos, Pompei, Ercolano, Stabia, Roma, Editori Laterza, 1982. p. 326</ref> It caused the closure of the excavations to the public. Nevertheless, in 1981 part of the courtyard of Villa Arianna was found, inside which were two agricultural wagons, one of which was restored and put on view to the public. In the rest of the eighties and nineties, only maintenance and restoration works were carried out, except for a few important events, such as the discovery of substructures at Villa Arianna in 1994 and the ''[[Gymnasium (ancient Greece)|gymnasium]]'' in 1997.<ref>Giovanna Bonifacio e Anna Maria Sodo, Stabia: storia e architettura: 250º anniversario degli scavi di Stabiae 1749-1999, Roma, L'Erma di Bretschneider, 2004, {{ISBN|978-88-826-5201-2}}. p. 30</ref> The archaeological site was reopened to the public in 1995.

 

 

The year 2006 was eventful: following clearance on the Varano hill, rooms belonging to the [[Villa of Anteros and Heracles]], already discovered by the [[House of Bourbon|Bourbons]] in 1749, but reburied and lost, were brought to light. In July the RAS revealed the upper peristyle of Villa San Marco and in its south-east corner Stabiae's first human skeleton was also found, probably a fugitive who fell victim to falling debris.<ref>Archemail 2006: The Peristyle of Villa San Marco in Stabiae (NA), The chronicle and photos of the discovery https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&prev=search&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=it&sp=nmt4&u=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019153951/http://www.archemail.it/stabia1.htm&usg=ALkJrhht3E3d9Oh-fByku8_GrbJ_sk1_Bw</ref>

[[File:Villa del Pastore.jpg|thumb|300px|Plan of the Villa del Pastore]]

[[File:Labrum (Villa del Pastore) 3.JPG|thumb|Labrum from Villa del Pastore]]

 

"Villa of the Shepherd" in English, this villa gets its name from a small statue of a shepherd that was discovered at this site. The villa, at 19,000 m² area, is one of the very largest ever discovered and is even larger than Villa San Marco with many rooms, large baths and luxurious gardens. It lacks, however, any domestic rooms suggesting that it may not have been a residence. One hypothesis is that it is instead a ''valetudinarium''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Valetudinarium |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0062:entry=valetudinarium-harpers&highlight=valetudinarium |access-date=2023-03-22 |website=perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> (health spa or a sort of domestic hospital and infirmary for sick slaves) to allow people to take advantage of the famous spring waters of Stabiae.

It had a large courtyard with ''[[cryptoporticus]]'' and oven and well. The rooms branch off from the central area: there are workspaces, ''triclinia'', ''cubicula'' and six ''[[ergastula]]'', or cells for slaves.

 

 

<gallery mode="packed" heights="150px">

===Villa Carmiano (Villa A)===

 

 

It is a rustic villa of the ''ager stabianus'' located just under a kilometre from the plateau of Varano. It has an area of 400 m² and dates from the end of the 1st c. BC. The quality of the paintings indicates that the owner was a wealthy farmer.<ref>Giovanna Bonifacio; Anna Maria Sodo, Gina Carla Ascione, In Stabiano – Cultura e archeologia da Stabiae , Castellammare di Stabia, Longobardi Editore, 2006. {{ISBN|88-8090-126-5}} p 36</ref> The most important works come from the ''[[triclinium]]'' such as the representation of [[Neptune (mythology)|Neptune]] and [[Amymone]], [[Bacchus]] and [[Ceres (mythology)|Ceres]] and the Triumph of [[Dionysus]].

 

===Villa Casa dei Miri===

 

This is a ''villa rustica'' excavated in 1779–80 and is near the ''villas of [[otium]]'' of ancient Stabia. It is divided into residential and the rustic areas; the living area consists of an entrance portico with three columns, in which a staircase leads to the upper floor and divides the entrance from a small ''atrium''. Around this are several rooms and a doorway into a large peristyle with twenty columns, with frescoed walls and floors decorated with mosaics and marble ''[[opus sectile]]''. There are also [[thermal baths]].<ref>Arnold De Vos; Mariette De Vos, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Stabia, Rome, Editori Laterza, 1982. p. 328</ref>

 

[[Category:Castellammare di Stabia|.]]

[[Category:Coastal towns in Campania]]

[[Category:Destroyed populated places]]

[[Category:Former populated places in Italy]]

[[Category:National museums of Italy]]

[[Category:Pompeii (ancient city)]]

[[Category:Populated places established in the 1st millennium BC]]

[[Category:Populated places disestablished in the 1st century]]