Back to 'work' for the team of Thurmond and Thurmond, though I'm a bit sheepish about calling it work when it's so much darned fun and we only do it for the love of it. The new project is an introductory history of the area known in antiquity as Lucania, what is today our Cilento—the southern part of Campania—and most of Basilicata to the east of us.
It's also more than a little embarrassing to admit that it is only after ten years of part-time living in the Cilento that I am starting to understand something of the complex history of this place. But in my defense, that history is very complex. There have been humans or their ancestors living in this blessed spot since the dawn of man. For example, remains of
Homo erectus were found in a cave along the coast at Marina di Camerota, about 40 miles south of Agropoli, and probably also in a famous inland cave about 25 miles northeast. Evidence of Neanderthal dates from some 100,000 years ago, and evidence of
Homo sapiens sapiens from 35,000, about the time Neanderthal disappeared. Lots of evidence for habitation in the middle and upper Paleolithic, and by the Neolithic, about 6,000 BC, this area was widely populated in villages, practicing agriculture and sheep and goat herding, with a thriving economy based on trade in textiles and with trade links as far afield as the Aegean over on the east coast of Italy and the Aeolian Islands off the north coast of Sicily. Then there were the Oenotrians, an Italic people who spoke a language distantly related to Latin, as well as Etruscan outposts and Greek colonies along the bottom of the boot and up the shin as far as the kneecap. Our Lucanians show up in the 5th century BC and flourish until the 2nd, when they were incorporated into the expanding Roman empire and pretty much cease to exist as a distinct culture.
So, obviously, that's a lot of ground to cover, much of it 'book research' to keep me out of trouble this winter. But then there are those archaeological sites and artifacts where eye-witness is absolutely essential. The upshot is that Dave and his tireless photographer have started their field trips which, with any luck, will take us to about 30 sites. We recently visited the National Archaeological Museum at Paestum, about 6 miles north of here, so Sandy could document some of the artifacts and especially the incredible frescoes with which the Lucanians of the area decorated their chamber tombs. There are a good sixty of these housed in a special collection in the museum as well as an incredible 200 plus in the depository, simply too many to display. The Lucanians ruled Paestum, the former Greek city of Poseidonia, for some 50 years, starting about 335 BC, although my buddy Fernando suggests that they should more generically be referred to as Samnites, not Lucanians, since the coastal Lucanians had been so thoroughly 'Greekified' by then. In any case the frescoes give a vivid picture of some important elements of aristocratic Lucanian life like funeral rites, hunting, warfare, gladiatorial combats, and chariot racing. Since the Lucanians left practically no literary evidence of their culture, these pictures really are worth a thousand words.
Tuesday we headed out early eastward to visit a gorgeous little town perched up on a spur of the Monti della Maddelena overlooking the Vallo di Diano, flood plain of the Tanagro River and a very important trade route to the Ionian Sea (the one south of Italy) and from there to Greece and the Near East. Little Atena Lucana was an important outpost as early as Mycenaean times, the era recounted by Homer in the
Iliad and
Odyssey, roughly 1250 BC, and the little museum in Atena houses some precious Mycenaean artifacts that prove she had trade links far afield. Sadly, the museum, housed in an old palazzo, was being renovated and we were unable to see them, but thanks to a kind woman named Maria we were able to get some panoramic shots of the Valley. So typical: we simply excused ourselves and asked if a narrow, circuitous lane led to the castle at the highest point of the town, and 45 minutes later she had not only conducted us to the ‘castle’ (which is now little more than some reproduction crenellations) but had taken us through her Nonna’s house next door for an even better photo, had called the local priest to open a famous church there and led us there to make introductions, then called the Commune, what we call the county seat, to arrange for a delightful gent named Signore Biasco to show us the outdoor archaeology of the town. We saw the remnants of the megalithic walls of the lower town, the seven towers that encircle the upper town, and a number of inscriptions and
bas reliefs from the Roman era.
Plus we had the pleasure of getting to know two incredibly kind and generous Italians who, like so many of their compatriots, are delighted to go far, far out of their way to help a couple of American vagabonds. So you can perhaps understand why I’m more than a little red-faced calling this ‘work’.
