Stabiae
- a small town on the coast of Campania near Pompeii, celebrated for its medicinal springs. It was partially destroyed by Sylla during the Social War, and was finally overwhelmed at the same time with Herculaneum and Pompeii, Plin. 3, 5, 9, § 70; Ov. M. 15, 711; Col. poët. 10, 133; Plin. Ep. 6, 16, 12.
- —Hence, Stăbĭā-nus, a, um, adj., of or belonging to Stabiae, Stabian: litus, Sen. Q. N. 6, 1, 1.—Subst.: Stăbĭānum, i, n.
- 1 The Stabian territory: in Stabiano, Plin. 31, 2, 5, § 9.—
- 2 A villa of M. Marius near Stabiae, Cic. Fam. 7, 1, 1.
STA´BIAE (Στάβιαι: Eth. Stabianus; Ru. near Castell'a Mare), a city of Campania, situated at the foot of the Mons Lactarius, about 4 miles S. of Pompeii, and a mile from the sea. The first mention of it in history occurs during the Social War (B.C. 90), when it was taken by the Samnite general C. Papius (Appian, App. BC 1.42). But it was retaken by Sulla the following year (B.C. 89), and entirely destroyed (Plin. Nat. 3.5. s. 9). Nor was it ever restored, so as to resume the rank of a town; Pliny tells us that it was in his time a mere village, and the name is not mentioned by any of the other geographers. It is, however, incidentally noticed both by Ovid and Columella (Ovid. Met. 15.711; Colum. R. R. 10.133), and seems to have been, in common with the whole coast of the Bay of Naples, a favourite locality for villas. Among others Pomponianus, the friend of the elder Pliny, had a villa there, where the great naturalist sought refuge during the celebrated eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79, and where he perished, suffocated by the cinders and sulphureous fumes (Plin. Ep. 6.16). It is certain that Stabiae was on this occasion buried under the ashes and cinders of the volcano, though less completely than Pompeii and Herculaneum; but the site was again inhabited, and the name was retained throughout the period of the Roman Empire, though it appears to have never again risen into a place of any consideration. It was chiefly resorted to by invalids and others, on account of its neighbourhood to the Mons Lactarius, for the purpose of adopting a milk diet (Galen, de Meth. Med. 5.12; Cassiod. Var. 11.10; Symmach. Ep. 6.17). Its name is found also in the Tabula, and was preserved in that of Castell'a Mare di Stabia, borne by the modern town. The Stabiae of the Lower Empire seems to have been situated on the coast, in the bight of the Bay of Naples; and probably did not occupy the same site with the older town, which seems to have been situated about a mile inland at the foot of the hill of Gragnano. The exact spot was forgotten till the remains were accidentally brought to light about 1750; and since that time excavations have been frequently made on the site, but the results are far less interesting than those of Pompeii and Herculaneum. They confirm the account of Pliny, by showing that there was no town on the spot, but merely a row of straggling villas, and these for the most part of an inferior class. They seem to have suffered severely from the earthquake of A.D. 63, which did so much damage to Pompeii also. (Swinburne's Travels, vol. 1. p. 82.)
[E.H.B]Now Castellamare di Stabia; an ancient town in Campania, between Pompeii and Surrentum, which was destroyed by Sulla in the Social War, but which continued to exist down to the great eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79, when it was overwhelmed along with Pompeii and Herculaneum. It was at Stabiae that the elder Pliny perished. See Pompeii.
An early Oscan settlement that became part of the confederation of Nuceria. With a natural port in the SE corner of the Gulf of Naples, it had from its origin defensive and commercial purposes in connection with the Sannio river route. An important road led from Stabiae to Nuceria by the 8th-7th c. B.C.; and after the descent of the Samnites into Campania and the formation of the federation of Nuceria, Stabiae became the port of Nuceria, whose political and administrative structures it imitated. During the Samnite wars, Stabiae was the military port of the fleet until the fall of Nuceria and the alliance with Rome. Stabiae, together with Nola and Salerno, was occupied by Papius Mutilus during the social war in 90 B.C., and was destroyed by Sulla on April 30, 89 B.C. It was quickly transformed into a health resort. The town felt the effects of the earthquake of 62 only slightly.
The site of pre-Roman Stabiae, built as oppidum of the federation of Nuceria, is not known. The destruction by Sulla, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions have wiped out every trace. The remains of walls in opus reticulatum and of buildings similar to the hot baths of Pompeii in the area known as Fontana Grande, near the ancient coastline, suggest that the site may be sought there.
In any case, the town was transferred from the coast to the hill of Varano. It became an extravagant residential area, a town of country resorts. A complex of government buildings encompassed more than a kilometer. The builders of the villas tended to subordinate the architectural to the natural environment in an attempt to realize new forms. The villas are characterized by a long ambulatio set in the design of a porticus triplex and by the separation of residents' and servants' quarters in different levels of terraces. A series of winding ramps beneath arches gave access to the beach. The remains of the decorations provide noteworthy samples of painting of the Flavian period.
In the environs of Stabiae a spacious pre-Roman necropolis (8th-2d c. B.C.), beneath the road to Nuceria, contains rectangular graves (inhumations?) encased in limestone blocks or tufa slabs with abundant funerary furnishings. Other Roman and pre-Roman tombs have been discovered at Gragnano. Rectangular inhumation graves encased in tufa slabs from the Hellenistic period were placed along the road to Sorrento. Chamber tombs with sarcophagi of the Republican period have been discovered in the area known as Sant'Antonio Abate along the main route from Stabiae to Nuceria.
BIBLIOGRAPHYL. Cosenza, Stabia. Studi archeologici, topografici et storici (1907); L. D'Orsi, Gli scavi di Stabia (1954); id., Gli scavi archeologici di Stabia (1961); O. Elia, Le pitture di Stabia (1957); A. Maiuri, Pompei, Ercolano e Stabia (1961).
F. PARISE BADONI