The Cape became an ancient Greek sanctuary to Hera in the 7th c. BC and one of the most important sanctuaries of Magna Graecia. It was closely linked to the ancient Greek colony of
Kroton nearby.
The Roman colony of Lacinium In 194 BC after the
Second Punic War the Romans created a maritime
colony here, entrusted to the
triumvirs Cn. Octavius, L. Aemilius Paulus, C. Laetorius. The occupation was not limited to the settlement at Capo Lacinio as excavations have shown that the agricultural hinterland was occupied by at least 91 rural farms of various sizes and periods, presumably on land distributed to the settlers after 194 BC, and with occupation continuing to the late empire. Colonies usually received 300 men, generally veterans, each who would be assigned from 1 to 2.5 hectares of agricultural land from the
ager colonicus (state land), as well as free use of the
ager compascus scripturarius (common state land) for pasture and woodland. With their families, around 1500 Roman citizens in total can be assumed. The maritime role of the colony of Lacinium was highlighted as early as 190 BC when
Livy, as prefect of the Roman fleet, inspected the ships coming from the Tyrrhenian and Ionian seas there before they set off towards the Aegean against
Antiochus III. The settlement eventually occupied the entire northern end of the promontory and was organised with a rectangular street plan with three main streets oriented east-west and avoiding the Sanctuary of Hera and its immediate surroundings on a different alignment. From the second half of the 2nd century BC, town house construction increased which occupied a good part of the sectors between the central plateau and the northern edge of the cliff. Near the NE cliff two houses belonging to rich local people arose from the end of the 2nd century BC. The domus "DR" is the oldest (end of the 2nd century BC, of about 15 x 34 m) and had a residential part around the atrium and a sector for service and production which overlooked a courtyard. The
tablinum has a mosaic floor with animals (ducks, dolphins, fish). The baths were originally built for another public function (the first two phases are in
opus quadratum and
opus implectum). Between the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 1st century BC the building was remodeled and enlarged in
opus incertum to create a bath complex or
balneum (III phase,
Sullan era), by the
duumvirs Lucilius Macer and Annaeus Trasus in 80-70 BC, as attested by an inscription on the mosaic. A circular sweating room (
laconicum) and a furnace (praefurnium) were built to heat the water for the hot bath (solium) in a large room on whose floor is a mosaic with geometric motifs (meandering 3D polychrome swastikas, a wave motif) framing a central rhomboidal checkerboard with four dolphins at the corners. The later domus "CRr" (last 30 years of the 1st century BC) is exceptional both for its building techniques and its area of over 2100 m2. The entrance portico provided a sheltered public area for shops including a room for the sale of drinks (a
caupona) with a serving counter in calcarenite. The domus was entered via a large atrium, in the first phase Tuscan (i.e. without columns), and then tetrastyle (i.e. with four columns supporting the roof to collect rainwater). After abandonment and ruin at the beginning of the 2nd century AD, some of its rooms were rebuilt between the end of the 2nd and the beginning of the 3rd century with a pottery kiln for terracotta artefacts. The defensive walls in
opus reticulatum with a rectangular plan were reconstructed probably after the pirate raids of the second and third quarter of the 1st century BC and after the siege of
Sextus Pompeius in 36 BC. The sanctuary was renovated soon afterwards, as shown by tile stamps. A public L-shaped portico forming a public square or forum, aligned with the adjacent domus, is from the Augustan age. A major complex with an imposing monumental fountain near the sanctuary also dates from the late 1st century BC lasting until the 3rd/4th century AD. The decline and progressive abandonment of the town of Lacinium probably began after the Augustan era. The settlement became a
mansio or
statio marked as "Licenium" on the
Peutinger Map, and more and more concentrated around the sanctuary. Even after the abandonment of the town, the continuation of devotion to Hera Lacinia is still attested between 98 and 105 AD from an altar dedicated by Oecius imperial procurator (libertus procurator), in favour of Ulpia Marciana, sister of Trajan. ==Sights==