{"id":1314,"date":"2026-06-23T08:30:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T08:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/?page_id=1314"},"modified":"2026-08-19T07:38:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T07:38:00","slug":"strabone","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/en\/strabone\/","title":{"rendered":"Strabone"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 fusion-flex-container has-pattern-background has-mask-background nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row fusion-flex-align-items-flex-start fusion-flex-content-wrap\" style=\"max-width:1331.2px;margin-left: calc(-4% \/ 2 );margin-right: calc(-4% \/ 2 );\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-flex-column\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-width-large:100%;--awb-margin-top-large:0px;--awb-spacing-right-large:1.92%;--awb-margin-bottom-large:20px;--awb-spacing-left-large:1.92%;--awb-width-medium:100%;--awb-order-medium:0;--awb-spacing-right-medium:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-medium:1.92%;--awb-width-small:100%;--awb-order-small:0;--awb-spacing-right-small:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-small:1.92%;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-column-has-shadow fusion-flex-justify-content-flex-start fusion-content-layout-column\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><p class=\"translation-block\">Strabone (Amasia, nel Ponto, circa 64 a.C. \u2013 Amasia, 24 d.C.), di formazione greca ma vissuto in piena epoca romana, fu uno dei pi\u00f9 grandi geografi e storici del mondo antico, animato da un profondo interesse per la conoscenza dei luoghi, dei popoli e delle tradizioni.<br>\r\nGrazie ai suoi viaggi in Asia Minore, Egitto, Grecia e Italia, raccolse un\u2019enorme quantit\u00e0 di informazioni, che confluirono nella sua opera pi\u00f9 importante, la Geografia, un vasto lavoro in diciassette libri che descrive l\u2019intero mondo conosciuto all\u2019epoca.<br>\r\nL\u2019intento di Strabone non \u00e8 soltanto quello di delineare carte e distanze, ma anche di raccontare come i paesaggi si intreccino con la storia e con i costumi dei popoli che li abitano.<br>\r\nPer l\u2019autore, il paesaggio \u00e8 la chiave per comprendere il carattere stesso delle civilt\u00e0: il mare, le montagne e i fiumi contribuiscono a formare la vita politica, economica e culturale dell\u2019uomo.<br>\r\nNel libro VI della Geografia, Strabone dedica particolare attenzione all\u2019Italia meridionale e al mare dello Stretto di Messina, luogo carico di mito ma anche di profonde realt\u00e0 storiche.<br>\r\nParlando delle coste della Calabria, descrive il promontorio Scilleo \u2013 che oggi identifichiamo con Scilla \u2013 fornendo una delle pi\u00f9 antiche e preziose descrizioni topografiche e storiche del luogo.<br>\r\nEgli testimonia inoltre la stabile presenza umana e l\u2019esistenza di strutture difensive, presentando per la prima volta Scilla come un centro reale e abitato, sede di marinai e di opere fortificate, e non pi\u00f9 soltanto come luogo geografico legato al mito.<\/p>\n<p><i>\u201cNext comes the Scyllaean Promontory, a very lofty rock projecting into the sea like a peninsula, connected to\nthe mainland by a narrow isthmus where landing is possible on both sides. Anaxilas, tyrant of Rhegium, fortified\nit against the Tyrrhenians, establishing there a naval station and thus preventing pirates from crossing the\nStrait.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"translation-block\">In these lines, Strabo describes with remarkable precision the shape of the promontory of Scilla: a high and\nimposing rock extending into the sea and connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus, allowing access from\nboth sides.\nThis is precisely the morphology that still characterizes the town of Scilla today, dominated by the Ruffo Rock,\nwhich rises like a natural peninsula in the heart of the Strait.Yet Strabo goes beyond a simple physical description.\nThe geographer recounts that Anaxilas of Rhegium, a tyrant who lived in the early fifth century BC, fortified\nthe promontory of Scilla and transformed it into a naval base (naustathmos) in order to defend against\nTyrrhenian pirates who infested those waters and attempted to cross the Strait.This passage provides unequivocal\nevidence that already in the fifth century BC Scilla was no longer merely a geographical point, but rather\na strategic site\u2014fortified, permanently inhabited, and of military significance: a real place, no longer only\nthe mythical dwelling of the monster described by Homer.Strabo, with the rational approach of a geographer\nand the careful eye of a historian, demythologizes the legend and restores to Scilla its authentic identity as a\nharbour and coastal outpost integrated into the defensive system of the ancient Mediterranean.This passage\nholds extraordinary value for the history of Scilla: it confirms the continuity between myth and reality, recognizing\nthe existence of the site as a permanent settlement and strategic centre already in the Greek world, and\nrepresents one of the oldest and most authoritative literary testimonies of historical Scilla.Alongside the account\nof Polybius, who in the second century BC, in his Histories, had already provided the earliest description\nof swordfish fishing beneath the Rock of Scilla, Strabo completes the picture by showing that the Scilla of myth\nwas already, in archaic times, a living and populated place\u2014a tangible community equipped with a harbour,\nwalls, and everyday life.The reference to Anaxilas of Rhegium also reveals Scilla\u2019s strategic role in controlling\nTyrrhenian sea routes and fostering maritime trade between Magna Graecia and Sicily.The isthmus, described\nby Strabo as a landing place \u201con both sides,\u201d suggests the existence of a double natural harbour, an ideal refuge\nfor vessels and a strategic junction between two seas.For these reasons, within the classical geographical\ntradition, Scilla appears as a place where geography becomes history: a rock shaped by sea and time, transformed\nfrom Homer\u2019s legendary cliff into, according to Strabo, a stable, living, documented, and ancient reality.\nStrabo\u2019s words confirm that more than two thousand five hundred years ago, in the fifth century BC, Scilla\nwas already known, inhabited, and fortified.Its central position within the Strait made it a natural stronghold\nagainst piracy and a strategic crossroads for commercial routes and cultural exchanges between East and\nWest.Thanks to Strabo\u2019s testimony, the Scilla of myth becomes the Scilla of history: a real place, with a precise\nname, a defined geography, and a thriving human community.Knowing that such an authoritative writer of antiquity\nmentioned it alongside the most important cities of the Mediterranean represents today the oldest and\nmost reliable proof of the continuous life of the city of Scilla, from the age of archaic Greece to the present day.<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-2\"><p style=\"text-align: right;\"><em>Giuseppe Ribuffo<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-2 fusion-flex-container has-pattern-background has-mask-background nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row fusion-flex-align-items-flex-start fusion-flex-content-wrap\" style=\"max-width:1331.2px;margin-left: calc(-4% \/ 2 );margin-right: calc(-4% \/ 2 );\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-1 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-flex-column\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-width-large:100%;--awb-margin-top-large:0px;--awb-spacing-right-large:1.92%;--awb-margin-bottom-large:20px;--awb-spacing-left-large:1.92%;--awb-width-medium:100%;--awb-order-medium:0;--awb-spacing-right-medium:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-medium:1.92%;--awb-width-small:100%;--awb-order-small:0;--awb-spacing-right-small:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-small:1.92%;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-column-has-shadow fusion-flex-justify-content-flex-start fusion-content-layout-column\"><div ><a class=\"fusion-button button-flat fusion-button-default-size button-custom fusion-button-default button-1 fusion-button-default-span\" style=\"--button_accent_color:#f20800;--button_border_color:#2038b2;--button_accent_hover_color:var(--awb-color1);--button_border_hover_color:var(--awb-color1);--button_gradient_top_color:var(--awb-color1);--button_gradient_bottom_color:var(--awb-color1);--button_gradient_top_color_hover:var(--awb-color4);--button_gradient_bottom_color_hover:var(--awb-color4);--button_text_transform:none;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/en\/alessandro-manzoni-il-cinque-maggio\/\"><i class=\"fa-angle-double-right fas awb-button__icon awb-button__icon--default button-icon-left\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><span class=\"fusion-button-text awb-button__text awb-button__text--default\">Next page: 54. Alessandro Manzoni, The Fifth of May, 1821<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1843,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1314","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Strabone - Discover Scilla<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/en\/strabone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Strabone - Discover Scilla\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/en\/strabone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Discover Scilla\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-19T07:38:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/53-Piazza-San-rocco-Chiesa-del-Rosario-1024x750.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.discoverscilla.com\\\/strabone\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.discoverscilla.com\\\/strabone\\\/\",\"name\":\"Strabone - 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