Mamertium

MAMERTIUM

MAME´RTIUM (Μαμέρτιον: Eth. Μαμερτῖνος), a city in the interior of the Bruttian peninsula. It is noticed only by Strabo, who places it in the mountains above Locri, in the neighbourhood of the great forest of Sila, and by Stephanus of Byzantium, who calls it merely a city of Italy. (Strab. 6. p. 261; Steph. B. s. v.) There is no reason to reject these testimonies, though we have no other account of the existence of such a place; and its position cannot be determined with any greater precision. But the Mamertini who figure in history as the occupants of Messana are wholly distinct from the citizens of this obscure town. [MESSANA]

[E.H.B]