Caelia
or Coe'lia, the third wife of the dictator Sulla, whom he divorced on account of barrenness. (Plut. Sull. 6.)
or Coe'lia GENS, plebeian. In manuscripts the name is usually written Caelius, while on coins it generally occurs in the form of Coelius or Coilius, though we find on one coin L. Caelius Tax. (Eckhel, v. pp. 156, 175.) From the similarity of the names, Caelius is frequently confounded with Caecilius. The gens traced its origin to the Etruscan leader, Caeles Vibenna, in the time of the Roman kings, but no members of it obtained the higher offices of the state till the beginning of the first century B. C. : the first who obtained the consulship was C. Caelius Caldus in B. C. 94. There were only two family-names in this gens, Caldus and Rufus : the other cognomens are personal surnames, chiefly of freedmen. For those without a surname see Caelius.
CAE´LIA, CAE´LIUM, or CE´LIA (Καιλία or Κελία).
1.A town in the south of Apulia, mentioned both by Strabo and Ptolemy; of whom the former places it between Egnatia and Canusium, on the direct road from Brundusium to Rome; the latter enumerates it among the inland cities of the Peucetian Apulians. (Strab. 6. p. 282; Ptol. 3.1.73.) The Tab. Peut. confirms the account of Strabo, and places Celia 9 miles from Butuntum, on the road to Egnatia; a distance which coincides with the position of a village still called Ceglie, 5 miles S. of Bari. Here numerous ancient remains, tombs, vases, &c. have been discovered. (Romanelli, vol. 2. p. 177; Mommsen, Unter Ital. Dialekte, p. 62.)
2.Another town of the same name existed in Calabria, about 27 miles W. of Brundusium, and 20 miles NE. of Tarentum; this also still retains the name of Ceglie, and is now a considerable town of about 6,000 inhabitants, situated on a hill about 12miles from the Adriatic. Extensive portions of its ancient walls still remain, and excavations there have brought to light numerous vases, coins, and inscriptions in the Messapian dialect. (Mommsen, l. c.; Tomasi, in Bull. dell. Inst. 1834, pp. 54, 55.) It is evidently this Caelia that is enumerated by Pliny, together with Lupiae and Brundusium, among the cities of Calabria (3.11. s. 16), as well as the Caelinus agerm entioned by Frontinus among the civitates provinciae Calabriae( Lib. Colon. p. 262), though, from the confusion made by both writers in regard to the frontiers of Apulia and Calabria, these passages might have been readily referred to the Caelia in Peucetia. The evidence is, however, conclusive that there were two places of the same name, as above described. Numismatic writers are not agreed to which of the two belong the coins with the inscription ΚΑΙΛΙΝΩΝ, of which there are several varieties. These have been generally ascribed to the Calabrian city; but Mommsen (l. c.) is of opinion that they belong rather to the Caelia near Bari, being frequently found in that neighbourhood. (See also Millingen, Num. de l'Italie, p. 149.) The attempt to establish a distinction between the two places, founded on the orthography of the names, and to call the one Caelia or Caelium, the other Celia, is certainly untenable. COIN OF CAELIA.[E.H.B]
Strabo (6.282) places this city between Egnatia and Canusium, and Ptolemy (3.1.73) lists it among the cities of Peucetia. The Peutinger Table confirms the testimony of Strabo and locates it ca. 14 km from Butuntum on the Via Traiana, a distance corresponding to the position of modern Ceglie del Campo, 8 km S of Bari, where there are the ruins of the city walls. Coins with the legend Kailinon are attributed to the city. A Latin inscription indicates that Caelia was ascribed to the tribus Claudia (CIL VI, 2382b, 33); another records an Augustalis (CIL IX, 6197). Ager Caelinus also appears in the Libri Coloniarum. Archaeological finds from the site are in the museums at Bari and Taranto.
BIBLIOGRAPHYW. Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, I (1856) 464 (E. H. Bunbury); E. De Ruggiero, Dizionario epigrafico di antichità romane, II (1900) 5; K. Miller, Itineraria Romana (1916) 376; V. Roppo, Caeliae (1920).
F. G. LO PORTOAn ancient center of Messapia mentioned by Pliny (HN 3.101) together with Lupine and Brundisium. Its name is preserved in that of the modern town, where remains of megalithic walls break the surface of the ground. The inscriptions in the Messapian language from the necropoleis are notable and the rich funerary material from numerous tombs, dating for the most part from the 4th-3d c. B.C. The trozzella, a vase typical of the Messapian area, predominates. Archaeological material from the site is in the museums at Taranto and at Brindisi.
BIBLIOGRAPHYW. Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, I (1856) 465 (E. H. Bunbury); RE III.1 (1897) 1251 (Hülsen); M. Mayer, Apulien (1914) 75; O. Parlangeli, Studi di Messapici (1960) 77.
F. G. LO PORTO