Amyclae, from Sparta to Terracina: Sources, Foundation Traditions, and the Problem of Localization

This study reconstructs the complete documentary dossier concerning Amyclae, distinguishing with philological precision between Laconian Amyklai — a historically attested settlement south of Sparta — and Italic Amyclae, a vanished toponym located between Terracina and the Plain of Fondi in southern Latium. The central thesis argues that onomastic affinity alone does not demonstrate historical continuity: any hypothesis of transfer, foundation, or cultural colonisation must be grounded in the surviving textual evidence. Through a four‑level historical‑critical method (textual evidence, material evidence, historical reconstruction, theoretical interpretation), the study analyses the entire corpus of ancient testimonia: Virgil, Pliny, Servius, Tacitus, Solinus, Silius Italicus for the Italic toponym; Homer, Pausanias, Polybius, Livy, Conon for the Laconian city. The work rejects two claims unsupported by the sources: the foundation of Italic Amyclae by the Dioscuri and its identification with Monte Pianara. It proposes instead a model of literary re‑territorialisation: a Laconian name reactivated by Augustan poetry to confer archaic depth on the epic landscape of southern Latium.