For a more specific history of Hyria itself you may want to find a copy of Pasquale J. Simonelli's 'Hyria: A Lost City-State.
Hi folks,
I remember reading a book about the
history of Hyria a few years ago. I think this was the book. It is an excellent book.
The book explains why archaeologists have never found any ruins of Hyria, because they don't exist. According to a current theory widely accepted among modern scholars, in
antiquity, the cities of Hyria and Nola were located very close to one another. During one of the Punic Wars, Hyria sided with the Carthaginians, and Nola sided with the
Romans (who won the war). After the war ended, the
Romans punished the city of Hyria by revoking its city charter. They basically revoked Hyria's right to exist as a city. The
Romans forced Hyria to merge with Nola, and Nola essentially "gobbled up" Hyria when it grew in size over the years. That explains why archaeologists can't find any ruins of Hyria. They are looking for something that doesn't exist. It's only a theory, but it makes sense.
Those 2 cities have personal significance to me because both of my maternal grandparents came from the town of Maddaloni, which is located outside of Naples (
Neapolis). Maddaloni is only a few miles from Nola. It is right down the road. If the above theory is correct, then both cities (Hyria and Nola) are/were located only a few miles from Maddaloni, my maternal grandparents'
home town. That is why I am so interested in
Campania coins, and, more specifically, coins issued in Nola and Hyria. My ancestors may have minted and/or held those coins.
And I deliberately use the phrase "issued in Nola and Hyria" in the previous paragraph because many modern scholars feel that much of Campania's coinage, especially its silver coinage, was actually minted in
Neapolis (Naples) for the other Campanian cities. According to this theory, there was a centralization of the mints. At the very least, there was significant die sharing.
Meepzorp
