RUBI (Ruvo di Puglia) Ban, Apulia, Italy.
A city 8 km SE of Corato and in antiquity an ancient center of great importance, to judge by the wealth of archaeological evidence. Almost all of it comes from its necropolis, which extends along the base of the hill below the mediaeval and modern city. That the settlement dates to the 7th c. B.C. is suggested by geometric pottery and imported Corinthian vases. It is certain that between the end of the 6th c. and the mid 4th c. B.C. the city witnessed a period of great prosperity, documented by imported Attic and Tarentine vases, by tomb paintings, such as the dance scene now in the Naples Museum, and by exceptionally beautiful jewelry produced in Italy. During the 3d c. B.C., the city began to coin its own money in silver and bronze of the Tarentine type. These coins indicate that the inhabitants were called Rubasteinoi, similar to the name Rubustini mentioned by Pliny (HN 3.105) and to ager Rubustinus mentioned in the Liber Coloniarum (p. 262). Horace (Sat. 1.5.94) stopped there on his journey from Rome to Brindisi. In the Roman period Rubi had a certain importance, particularly after the opening of the Via Traiana of which it became a statio (It. Ant. 116; Hier. It. 610). An inscription with a dedication to Gordian III attests that the city was a municipium and had its own group of Augustales (CIL IX, 312).The Museo Jatta preserves a rich collection of pottery coming from the necropolis.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
EAA 6 (1965) 1039 (A. M. Martini); H. Sichtermann, Griechische Vasen in Unteritalien aus der Sammlung Jatta in Ruvo (1966).F. G. LO PORTO