Santicum
SANTICUM (Σιαντικόν, Ptol. 2.14.3), a town of Noricum, on the south-west of Virunum, on the road from this place to Aquileia (It. Ant. p. 276). The exact site of the place is utterly uncertain, but conjecture has fixed upon four or five different places that might be identified with Santicum with equal probability.
[L.S]An important junction of the road Aquileia, Santicum, Virunum, Ovilava and the road Santicum, Teurnia, Iuvavum, located at a favorable crossing over the Drau. It is mentioned by Ptolemy (Geog. 2.13.3) as among the poleis of Noricum, and is also found in the Antonine Itinerary (276.4).
The extensive settlement area has three centers: 1) building fragments in the old quarter near the Stadtpfarrkirche; 2) the hill of St. Martin's Church where numerous building fragments and reliefs were found, indicating a temple and large sepulchers; 3) the area of Warmbad Villach where a temple existed for the indigenous goddess Vibes, a fortified refuge from Late Classical times, and a villa to which an Early Christian cemetery chapel had been added. Here a long stretch of the remarkable Roman road can be observed; its tracks hewn into the rock are excellently preserved. The main necropolis was situated at the N bank of the Drau. Here was found a considerable coin hoard (162 aurei and 4 denarii), which had been buried about A.D. 197.
Most finds are in the Museum of Villach, some in the Museum der Kuranstalt of Warmbad Villach.
BIBLIOGRAPHYH. Dolenz, “Altstrassen und Altsiedlungen im Stadtgebiet von Villach,” Carinthia 148 (1958) 235ff.
R. NOLL