Strabo 5, 4, 7 C 246.

 

Editor: J.Piccinini

Text:

Μετὰ δὲ Δικαιαρχία ἐστὶ Νεάπολις Κυμαίων· ὕστερον δὲ καὶ Χαλκιδεῖς ἐπῴκησαν καὶ Πιθηκουσσαίων τινὲς καὶ Ἀθηναίων, ὥστε καὶ Νεάπολις ἐκλήθη διὰ τοῦτο· ὅπου δείκνυται μνῆμα τῶν Σειρήνων μιᾶς Παρθενόπης, καὶ ἀγὼν συντελεῖται γυμνικὸς κατὰ μαντείαν. ὕστερον δὲ Καμπανῶν τινας ἐδέξαντο συνοίκους διχοστατήσαντες, καὶ ἠναγκάσθησαν τοῖς ἐχθίστοις ὡς οἰκειοτάτοις χρήσασθαι, ἐπειδὴ τοὺς οἰκείους ἀλλοτρίους ἔσχον. μηνύει δὲ τὰ τῶν δημάρχων ὀνόματα, τὰ μὲν πρῶτα Ἑλληνικὰ ὄντα, τὰ δ’ ὕστερα τοῖς Ἑλληνικοῖς ἀναμὶξ τὰ Καμπανικά. πλεῖστα δ’ ἴχνη τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς ἀγωγῆς ἐνταῦθα σῴζεται, γυμνάσιά τε καὶ ἐφηβεῖα καὶ φρατρίαι καὶ ὀνόματα Ἑλληνικά, καίπερ ὄντων Ῥωμαίων. νυνὶ δὲ πεντετηρικὸς ἱερὸς ἀγὼν συντελεῖται παρ’ αὐτοῖς, μουσικός τε καὶ γυμνικὸς ἐπὶ πλείους ἡμέρας, ἐνάμιλλος τοῖς ἐπιφανεστάτοις τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα.
(BIFFI 1988)

Translation: “After Dicaearchia comes Neapolis, a city of the Cumaeans. At a later time it was re-colonised by Chalcidians, and also by some Pithecusseans and Athenians, and hence, for this reason, was called Neapolis. A monument of Parthenope, one of the Sirens, is pointed out in Neapolis, and in accordance with an oracle a gymnastic contest is celebrated there. But at a still later time, as the result of a dissension, they admitted some of the Campani as fellow-inhabitants, and thus they were forced to treat their worst enemies as their best friends, now that they had alienated their proper friends. This is disclosed by the names of their demarchs, for the earliest names are Greek only, whereas the later are Greek mixed with Campanian. And very many traces of Greek culture are preserved there – gymnasia, ephebeia, phratriae, and Greek names of things, although the people are Romans. And at the present time a sacred contest is celebrated among them every five years, in music as well as gymnastics; it lasts for several days, and vies with the most famous of those celebrated in Greece.” (H.L.JONES, Loeb, Cambridge Mass. 1969)

Dating: End of the 5^th century BC.

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