VERETUM
(Vereto) Apulia, Italy.
A Messapic city of ancient Calabria in the territory of the Salentini near Serra di Vereto and Madonna di Vereto, not
far from the village of Patù, where there are ruins of
ancient buildings. It was known to the geographers (
Strab.
6.281;
Plin. 3.105; Ptol. 3.1.76). It is 6 Roman miles
from the Iapygean promontory (Capo di Leuca) and 10
Roman miles from Uxentum. (
Tab. Peut.)
Tombs and Messapic inscriptions have come to light
in the zone. In the
Liber Coloniarum (p. 283) mention
is made of the ager Veretinus. Traces of the Roman
municipium are found in the remains of some buildings
with mosaics and in occasional funerary plaques.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
W. Smith,
Dictionary of Greek and
Roman Geography, II (1857) (E. H. Bunbury); K. Miller, Itineraria Romana (1916) 362;
RE 8.1 (1955) 1013;
O. Parlangeli,
Studi Messapici (1960) 222; G. Susini,
Fonti per la storia greca e romana del Salento, 75.
F. G. LO PORTO
