Surrentum
- a maritime town of Campania, now Sorrento, Mel. 2, 4, 9; Sil. 8, 544; Plin. 3, 5, 9, § 62.
- —Hence, Surren-tīnus, a, um, adj., of or belonging to Surrentum, Surrentine: montes, Plin. 3, 5, 9, § 60: litus, Sen. Q. N. 6, 1, 1: vina (of excellent quality), Plin. 14, 6, 8, § 64; 23, 1, 20, § 35; 23, 1, 21, § 36: palmes, Ov. M. 15, 710.—Plur. absol.: Surrentina bibis, Surrentine wine, Mart. 13, 110, 1.
- —Surrentīni, ōrum, m., the inhabitants of Surrentum, Liv. 22, 61, 12.
SURRENTUM (Συρρεντόν, Strab.; Σούρεντον, Ptol.: Eth. Surrentinus: Sorrento), a city on the coast of Campania, on the southern side of the beautiful gulf called the Crater or Bay of Naples, about 7 miles from the headland called Minervae Promontorium, which forms the southern boundary of that bay. We have very little information as to its early history: its name is never mentioned till after the Roman conquest of Campania. Tradition indeed ascribed the foundation of Surrentum to the Greeks, but whether it was a colony from Cumae, or an earlier Greek settlement, we have no account: and there does not appear any evidence that it had, like many places in this part of Italy, a distinctly Greek character in historical times. Strabo calls it a Campanian city (Strab. 5. p. 247), but this may very probably refer to its not being one of those occupied by the Picentines. According to the Liber Coloniarum a great part of its territory, and perhaps the town itself, was considered in a certain sense as consecrated to Minerva, on account of its proximity to her celebrated temple on the adjoining promontory, and was for that reason occupied by Greek settlers (Lib. Col. p. 236). It nevertheless received a partial colony under Augustus (Ib. ), but without attaining the rank or character of a Colonia. Numerous inscriptions record its existence as a municipal town under the Roman Empire, and it is noticed by all the geographers: but its name is rarely mentioned in history (Strab. l. c.;Plin. Nat. 3.5. s. 9; Mel. 2.4.9; Ptol. 3.1.7; Orell. Inscr. 3742; Mommsen, Inscr. R. N. 2111--2125). It was, however, resorted to by wealthy Romans on account of its beautiful scenery and delightful climate; among others Pollius Felix, the friend of Statius, had a villa there, which the poet has celebrated at considerable length in one of his miner poems (Silv. 2.2). We are told also that Agrippa Postumus, when he first incurred the displeasure of Augustus, was ordered to retire to Surrentum, before he was consigned to more complete banishment in the island of Planasia (Suet. Aug. 65).
But the chief celebrity of Surrentum was derived from its wine, which enjoyed a high reputation at Rome, and is repeatedly alluded to by the poets of the Empire. It was considered very wholesome, and was in consequence recommended by physicians to convalescents and invalids. Tiberius indeed is said to have declared that it owed its reputation entirely to the physicians, and was in reality no better than vinegar. It did not attain its maturity till it had been kept 25 years (Plin. Nat. 14.6. s. 8; Athenae. 1. p. 126; Ovid. Met. 15.710; Martial (Mart. 13.110; Stat. Silv. 3.5. 102; Strab. 5. p. 243; Colum. R. R. 3.2.10). We learn from Martial also (13.110, 14.102) that Surrentum was noted for its pottery. The hills which produced the celebrated wine were those which encircle the plain in which the city was situated ( Surrentini colles,O vid. Met. l. c. ), and separate it from the gulf of Posidonia on the other side These hills form a part of the ridge which descends from the lofty mountain group of the Monte S. Angelo between Castellamare and Amalfi, and is continued as far as the headland opposite Capri This point, now called the Punta della Campanella, the ancient Promontorium Minervae, was known also by the name of Surrentinum Promontorium, from its close connection with the town of Surrentum (Tac. Ann. 4.67; Stat. Silv. 5.3. 165). The celebrated sanctuary of the Sirens, from which Surrentum itself was supposed to have derived its name, seems to have been situated (though the expressions of Strabo are not very clear) between this headland and the town (Strab. 5. p. 247). But the islands of the Sirens (Sirenusae Insulae) were certainly the rocks now called Li Galli, on the opposite side of the promontory. The villa of Pollius, which is described by Statius as looking down upon the deep Gulf of Puteoli, stood upon the headland now called Capo di Sorrento, on the W. of the town, separating the Bay of Sorrento from that of Massa: extensive ruins of it are still visible, and attest the accuracy of the poet's description. (Stat. Silv. 2.2; Swinburne's Travels, vol. i. pp. 88--90.)
The other ruins still visible at Sorrento and in its neighbourhood are of no great interest: they present numerous fragments of buildings of imperial times, to some of which the names of a temple of Hercules, temple of Neptune, &c. have been applied by local antiquarians, with no other foundation than the fact that we learn from Statius the existence of temples to those divinities at Surrentum. The most considerable relic of antiquity is a Piscina of large dimensions, which is in such good preservation that it still serves to supply the inhabitants with water. The modern town of Sorrento is a flourishing and populous place with a population of above 6000 souls: it is much resorted to by strangers on account of its mild and delicious climate, for which it is already extolled by Silius Italicus ( Zephyro Surrentum molle salubri,Sil. Ital..)
[E.H.B]Now Sorrento; an ancient town of Campania, opposite Capreae, and situated on the promontory ( Minervae) separating the Sinus Paestanus from the Sinus Puteolanus. It was subsequently a Roman colony; and on the hills (Surrentini Colles) in its neighbourhood was grown one of the best wines in Italy, which was strongly recommended to convalescents, on account of its thinness and wholesomeness.
A Greek colony, as attested by an inscription in Doric dialect and dated by the epigraphic characters to the 4th c. B.C. This indicates that the city remained at least culturally Greek, even after an Etruscan domination, probably brief, at the beginning of the 5th c. B.C., and after a stable Oscan occupation from 420 B.C. on. Surrentum was probably part of the Nucerian League, together with Stabiae, Pompeii, and Herculaneum. Nothing is known of its political relations with Rome, but it appears almost certain that the city did not join Hannibal after the battle of Cannae. During the social war Surrentum accommodated the insurgents and as a consequence had a settlement of Sullan colonists, followed by the stationing of some of Augustus' veterans there. Later, but before the time of Hadrian, the population had Roman citizenship as a municipium. Surrentum became a vacation spot for rich Romans, particularly in the 1st c. B.C. and A.D.
The few vestiges of Greek and Oscan Surrentum consist almost exclusively of meager remnants of statues from the 4th c. B.C., and of a necropolis in use from the end of the 7th to the middle of the 3d c. B.C. (with a gap in the 5th). The necropolis was discovered at Vico Equense, a settlement which was certainly part of Surrentum. The only visible remains of the pre-Roman city is the remnant of a gate, and it is uncertain whether this dates to the late 5th–early 4th c. B.C. when the city was still Greek and had to defend itself from Etruscan and Oscan expansion, or whether it is from the beginning of the 1st c. B.C. when the social war was imminent. In any case, even if the more recent date is correct, there is no doubt that the gate, together with a second gate and a section of the W screening wall, occupied about the same position as the primitive Greek city walls. The same may be said of the paved road, now Punta della Campanella, which led to the famous Temple of Athena. Nothing remains of the temple. Only a few votive objects confirm that it stood where the unanimous testimony of the historians and the Peutinger Table place it. Apparently the city, which suffered neither devastating fire nor sack in ancient times, has preserved in general the plan of the Greek city, with streets intersecting at right angles. Even the modern market corresponds to the Greek agora.
There are abundant remains of the Roman city, however, particularly from the Early Imperial period. They include: the villa of Agrippa Postumus, which seems to have existed on the site of the modern Albergo delle Sirene and the adjacent area; the villa of Punta di Sorrento, the so-called Bagno della Regina Giovanna; the villa of Punta di Massa, separated from the Puolo beach by the Villa di Pollius, of which almost nothing remains; the villa near Punta della Campanella, probably a pied-à-terre for those, including originally the Emperor, in transit for Capri; and other minor villas scattered on the coast of the Gulf of Naples and on one of the Sirenusan Islands. Together these villas are notable for their beauty and architectural individuality, especially the installations on the sea, which are fairly well preserved and of great variety.
BIBLIOGRAPHYP. Mingazzini & F. Pfister, Forma Italiae di Surrentum (1946) IP(il testo illustra ogni notizie anteriore); Athenaeum (1947) 108-12 (recensione di Fraccaro con osservazioni di carattere storico e topografico); Sartori, Problemi di costituzione italiota (1953) 75-77 (questioni storiche); FA (1963-64) n. 7508 (tomba a camera di età claudia); FA (1966) n. 2342 (necropoli di Vico Equense); Archeologia 6 (1967) 418-22.
P. MINGAZZINI