Aeoliae Insulae

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    Vergil, Aeneid 1.50-57

    Tālia flammātō sēcum dea corde volūtāns

    nimbōrum in patriam, loca fēta furentibus Austrīs,

    Aeoliam venit. Hīc vāstō rēx Aeolus antrō

    luctantēs ventōs tempestātēsque sonōrās

    imperiō premit ac vinclīs et carcere frēnat.

    Illī indignantēs magnō cum murmure montis

    circum claustra fremunt; celsā sedet Aeolus arce

    scēptra tenēns mollitque animōs et temperat īrās.

     

    Aeoliam: identified by Virgil with Lipari, the volcanic islands north of Sicily (F-B). 

    Aeolia refers to seven volcanic islands north-east of  Sicily, modern Eolie or Lipari. In the early and middle Bronze Age (end of 3rd millennium to 1st half of 13th cent. BC), large fortified settlements were built there, outposts of the Aegean trade on the metal trade route. Hiera was uninhabitable, but the source of sulphur and alum for the Liparese which they exported as far as England (as shown by finds in amphoras). (Brill’s New Pauly)

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