CANUSIUM, an ancient city of Apulia (Gr. Kavba-nov, mod. Canosa), on the right bank of the Aufidus (Ofanto), about 12 m. from its mouth, and situated upon the Via Traiana, 85 m. E.N.E. of Beneventum. It was said to have been founded by Diomede, and even at the time of Horace (Sat. i. io, 3o) both Greek and Latin were spoken there. The legends on the coins are Greek, and a very large number of vases have been found in the necropolis, fine polychrome vases being actually made there (3rd. century B.c.). The town came voluntarily under Roman sovereignty in 318 B.C., afforded a refuge to the Roman fugitives after Cannae, and remained faithful for the rest of the war. It revolted in the Social War, in which it would appear to have suffered, inasmuch as Strabo (vi. 283) speaks of Canusium and Arpi as having shrunk considerably in his day. It had a trade in agricultural products and in Apulian wool (there dyed and cleaned) ; its position on the high-road was important. It was a municipium under the early empire, but was converted into a colonia under Antoninus Pius by Herodes Atticus, who provided it with a water-supply. In the 6th century it was still the most important city of Apulia. A few buildings are still preserved.
See T. Ashby and R. Gardner in Papers of the British School at Rome, viii., 154 seq. and reff.