History and etymology of Tindari

The town of Tindari is mentioned by many authors and ancient geographers with different names; the most common was “Tyndaris”, while for Ptolemy [100-175 AD] was "Tyndarion", and for  Archestratus [mid 4th century BC] (quoted in Athenodorus (mid 3rd century BC   ) [VII, 302 a, fragment 34.7 in Brandt]) was “Tyndaris akté”(meaning “the promontory of Tindari”). The inhabitants of Tindari were called  “Tyndarìtai”, a Greek name  translated into Latin as  “Tyndaritani”. Tindari on ancient coins was indicated as the  “city of ‘Tyndarìdes’”. The Greek word "Tyndarìdes"  were given the male descendants of  Tindarus, that is Castor and Pollux. According to mythology, Tindarus, son of Ebalus, King  of  Sparta, after his expulsion from Sparta,  was the husband of Leda and father of Castor, Pollux, Helen and Clytemnestra (See Cicero (106-43 BC), “De Fato”, 34, and Ovid (43-18 BC), “Heroides”, 8, 31).

The etymology of Tyndaris is therefore clear; it is the “city dedicated to the Tyndarìdes”  and thus under the protection of the Dioscures, the “gemini fraters” (the “twins” protectors of the sea and sailors). It seems that, when the “Messeni” (together with the Locrensians and others) founded the Tindari, dedicated to the Dioscures, they did this choice "against" the hated Sparta. Apart from that Sparta, according to mythology,  banished Tindarus, then there was the fact that the “Messeni” from time immemorial   were the most bitter and irreconcilable enemies of the Spartans, and they fought hard to prevent the Spartan expansionism in the Peloponnese. Among other things, the “Messeni”, from a literary-mythological point of view always claimed their devotion to the cult of Castor  older than that of Sparta.

As we will see, beyond the purely  mythological and "literary" claim, in ancient times, as Pausanias [2nd century AD] tells us (III, 26.3), historically there were also a very strong friction between the Spartans and Messeni. Recent studies have suggested another reason about the fact that the  “Messeni”  dedicated the "new town" to the ‘Tyndarìdes’. In fact, Tindari was built in a place that was an important landing and reference point  for the navigation. The Cape also certainly had a name "before" the foundation of the city. According to  some scholars, this name could be “Tyndaris àkra” (“Cape [“àkra”] of Tindari”), because, for example, so it was defined by Zonaras [a Byzantine historian, 12th century ] (VIII, 12); and it is evident that a promontory so important for the safety of navigation was certainly dedicated to the "protectors of the sea", that is the Dioscures, and round there was almost certainly a shrine dedicated to them. Therefore, it is extremely likely that the name of the promontory was passed to the new town, built on it (See Giovanni Crisostomo Sciacca, “Fonti per una storia di Tindari e Patti”, [“Sources for a history of Tindari and Patti”], Rome, 2004:  161  seq. The above historical data  refer to the 'Appendix', which shows the translation from German of the article by Konrat Ziegler, "Tyndaris" in "Real-Enciclopaedie, VII, A2, 1943).

Who were the “Messeni”? The Messeni, as we said above, fought desperately in the Peloponnese against Spartan expansionism, but in the end they were severely beaten and forced to abandon their land; many of them went to Sicily, to "Messina" (Messena) , where they became the predominant ethnic, even changing the name of the city, which from "Zancle" became "Messena" ("Messina"), and some went to the service of Dionysus I as mercenary soldiers. When the Carthaginians with Himilcon (396 BC) partly destroyed "Messena", the tyrant of Syracuse Dionysius I the Elder (432-367 BC) founded the new colony of Tindari with six hundred mercenaries from Messena. The Messeni "[...] formed the aboriginal  nucleus of the new colony, with women, children and slaves. After their expulsion from 'Naupactos' and 'Kephallenia' by the Spartans, the Messeni came as mercenaries in the service of Dionysus, and it is obvious that they went to the Sicilian 'Messene' (pp. 162-164). Given the situation, it is clear that the city was under the influence of Syracuse.

The sources say almost nothing of the events of Tindari under Dionysus. However, it is estimated that the city was founded by Dionysius the Great, although he had its own administration, were still subject to its founder [...]" (p. 164). The ancient mercenaries certainly took part in the fight with  Dionysius  against the Carthaginian Magon (Carthaginian general during the Second Punic War [218–201 BC]), who had ravaged the territory of Messina, and also constituted a serious threat to them. Later the city was involved in major events of the war in Sicily, like the descent of Timoleon (411-337 BC), decided to eliminate the "tyrants" from Sicily, to whom  Tindari offered "ouk olìgous stratiòtas" ("not a few soldiers") [Diodorus (1st century BC  ), XVI, 69, 8]). In 310 BC the colony participated in the war against Carthage, as allied of Syracuse, led by the tyrant Agathocles (361-289 BC). And, for a period of about seven years, it was occupied by the Carthaginians.

Later, "Tyndaris" was threatened by the “Mamertines”, ex-mercenaries  of the Syracuse army, who took over "Messena" and tried to extend their control across the rest of Sicily. Messina in 271 BC was re-conquered by Hiero II (308-215 BC), tyrant of Syracuse, who, two years later, defeated the mercenaries. However, the Mamertines not surrendered and asked for help to the Romans, who arrived in Sicily under the command of the consul Appius Claudius (264 BC). Faced with the expansion of Rome, Syracuse and Carthage made an alliance. In 264 BC the First Punic War broke out and the Roman army landed to "Messana". The Carthaginians retreated to "Tyndaris" and used it as a defensive position. The local population tried to ally with Rome, but the Carthaginians were able to maintain control of the city until 260 BC, taking hostage and deporting to Lilibaeum  many citizens. In 260 BC the Roman fleet, led by the consul Caius Duilius [3rd century BC], defeated the Carthaginians. In 257 BC, right in the waters facing  “Tyndaris”, Hamilcar (275-228) suffered a second defeat, by  the consul Gaius Atilius Regulus (250 BC).

In 254 BC Tindari surrendered voluntarily to the Romans and remained allied with them for the rest of the Punic Wars. It was inserted by the Romans in the new land as  a  "decuman" town, that is it enjoyed a certain degree of administrative autonomy. The city under the dominion of Rome  enriched and developed, but  the arrival of  the propraetor Caius Licinius Verres (119-43 BC) in Sicily, from 73 to 71 BC, opened for "Tyndaris" a period of oppression. In fact, the main complaints of Tindari (as Cicero says in the "Verrine Orations") about the government of Verres were those relating to the theft of works of art stolen from the private residences, public buildings and temples. Around 42 BC, because of its strategic importance, "Tyndaris" became the stronghold of Sextus Pompey (67-35 BC) in the war against Octavian (63 BC-19 AD). But in 36 BC it was conquered by Agrippa (63-12 BC) and at the end of civil wars, the city was depopulated and impoverished. In 20-21 BC, the emperor repopulated it and gave it the name of “Colonia Augusta Tyndaritanorum”.

Although it has lost its autonomy, it was exempted from various taxes and experienced a second period of glory. It was built then, probably, one of the most monumental works, the Basilica. Around the first century AD "Tyndaris" was hit by a landslide. Since then, however, the city began a period of decline and depopulation. The inhabitants were scattered in the surrounding countryside and the town was abandoned, the public buildings went into disrepair and their materials were reused to reinforce the new walls. The town recovered gradually, although it never reached its ancient splendor. At the beginning of the Byzantine Empire, "Tyndaris" became a bishopric  seat and around the eighth century was presumably built the first shrine of the “Madonna Nera” ["Black Madonna"], on the ruins of the Temple of Ceres, the goddess of the harvest, at the top of the ancient acropolis . In 835-836 the town was almost completely destroyed by the Arabs, and the inhabitants took refuge in the area where Patti  was built in Norman  times (11th  century).

With the transfer of the bishopric seat to Patti,  the decline of Tindari stressed, which was a village with few inhabitants. At the end of the eighteenth century, during the reign of Ferdinand IV of Bourbon, first began the research of ancient monuments of "Tyndaris”. After World War II took away the first systematic excavations conducted by Luigi Bernabo Brea and Madeleine Cavalier. According to their studies, as many Greek cities, Tyndaris had a regular plan, with three long flat straight roads, the "plateiai" corresponding to the Roman “decumans”, which intersected with the "stenopoi" (the Roman "cardines") three meters wide, along which were located the "insulae" ("District") and "tabernae" ("workshops"). The Acropolis, or  the sacred area of the town, rose over the 'agorà';  among the temples, stood that dedicated to Demeter (or Ceres), goddess of grain and the harvest, while the cemeteries were located outside of walls, especially in the southern and south-east of the hill.