Rhegium
Rhe'gium. (breach). An Italian town, situated on the Bruttian coast, just
at the southern entrance of the Straits of Messina. The name occurs in the
account of St. Paul's voyage from Syracuse to Puteoli, after the shipwreck at
Malta. Act_28:13. By a curious
coincidence, the figures on its coin are the very "twin brothers"
which gave the name to St. Paul's ship. It was originally a Greek colony; it
was miserably destroyed by Dionysius of Syracuse. From Augustus, it received
advantages which, combined with its geographical position, made it important
throughout the duration of the Roman empire. The modern Reggio is a town
of 10,000 inhabitants. Its distance across the straits from Messina is only
about six miles.
Source:
Smith’s Bible Dictionary
Rhegium
rē-ji-um: This city (Ῥήγιον,
Rhḗgion (Act_28:13),
the modern Reggio di Calabria) was a town situated on the east side of the
Sicilian Straits, about 6 miles South of a point opposite Messana (Messina).
Originally a colony of Chalcidian Greeks, the place enjoyed great prosperity in
the 5th century BC, but was captured and destroyed by Dionysius, tyrant of
Syracuse, in 387 BC, when all the surviving inhabitants were sold into slavery
(Diodorus xiv. 106-8, 111, 112). The city never entirely recovered from this
blow, althouah it was partially restored by the younaer Dionysius. On the
occasion of the invasion of Italy by Pyrrhus, the people of Rhegium had
recourse to an alliance with Rome (280 BC) and received 4,000 Campanian troops
within their walls, who turned out to be very unruly guests. For, in imitation
of a similar band of mercenaries across the strait in Messana, they massacred
the male inhabitants and reduced the women to slavery (Polybius i. 7; Orosius
iv. 3). They were not punished by the Romans until 270 BC, when the town was
restored to those of its former inhabitants who still survived. The people of
Rhegium were faithful to their alliance with Rome during the Second Punic War
(Livy xxiii. 30; xxiv. 1; xxvi. 12; xxix.6). At the time of the Social War they
were incorporated with the Roman state, Rhegium becoming a municipality (Cicero
Verr. v. 60; Pro Archia, 3).
The ship in which Paul sailed from Melita to Puteoli encountered
unfavorable winds after leaving Syracuse, and reached Rhegium by means of
tacking. It waited at Rhegium a day for a south wind which bore it to Puteoli (Act_28:13), about 180 miles distant, where it
probably arrived in about 26 hours.
Source:
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Rhegium
Breach, a town in the south of Italy, on the Strait of Messina, at which
Paul touched on his way to Rome (Act_28:13).
It is now called Rheggio.
Source:
Easton’s Bible Dictionary