Cumae ( or or ; ) was the first ancient Greek colony of Magna Graecia on the mainland of Italy and was founded by settlers from Euboea in the 8th century BCE. It became a rich Roman city, the remains of which lie near the modern village of Cuma, a frazione of the comune Bacoli and Pozzuoli in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania, Italy. The archaeological museum of the Campi Flegrei in the Aragonese castle contains many finds from Cumae.
History
Early
thumb|The lower city of Cumae seen from the acropolis
The oldest archaeological finds by Emilio Stevens in 1896 date to 900–850 BC and more recent excavations have revealed a Bronze Age settlement of the ‘pit-culture’ people, and later dwellings of Iron Age Italic peoples whom the Greeks referred to by the names Ausones and Opici (whose land was called Opicia).
The Greek settlement was founded in the 8th century BCE by emigrants from cities of Eretria and Chalcis in Euboea, next to an Opician settlement. The Greeks were already established at nearby Pithecusae (modern Ischia) and were led to Cumae by the joint oecists (founders): Megasthenes of Chalcis and Hippocles of Cyme.