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Food for Thought - Part II: The Heritage of Rome
The story of the Italian colonies begins before 1200 BC, when ancient Greeks, the Mycenaeans sailed the “wine dark seas” and traded with the indigenous Italians of the southern coast. Homer tells us of a Mycenaean named Odysseus, who, when lost on his way home from the Trojan War, wandered in Sicily and along the western Italian coast. The monsters Scylla and Charybdis threatened his ship in the Straits of Messina, the Cyclops threw bolders at him from the top of Mt. Etna, and he escaped when the Sirens called from off the coast of Sorrento. He sought the entrance to Hades, amid the sulphurous gases of the Phlegrean Fields, outside Naples, and was sped toward home by Aeollus, keeper of winds. During the time of these legends the Greek world lay in a dark age, the Mycenaean civilization fell into turmoil, and trade with the Italian coastal settlements dwindled.
Gore, 1994, tells us that as the dark age ended, the Greeks sailed west again, first as traders and then to remain as colonists. Our journey should also begin in Greece, where as early as the 8th century, the Greeks were beginning a great age of westward emigration and exploration which would leave an indelible presence in Italy. Gore states that the westward expansion “invigorated the Greek spirit”. Great art works of antiquity were commissioned, many of the great philosophers before Socrates emerged, and Archimedes, the most famous mathematician and inventor of ancient Greece, lived in Sicily. Even after the Greeks were overtaken by Roman armies around 210 BC, a Greek presence remained in Italy.
The first of the Italian colonies, later known as Magna Graecia, was Pithekoussai, founded twenty-seven centuries ago, in 770 B.C., on what is now known as the Island of Ischia in the Bay of Naples. The early settlers recited the legends of their heros and transmitted traditions of shrewdness and endurance to those who shared the new land. They introduced a culture which valued good manners, politics, piety, and good food, and which had its roots in shipbuilding, seamanship, and scholarly pursuits (Hall, 1992).
Until recently, only the ancient writings linked us to the traditions and culture of southern Italy, but now, archaeologists are able to piece together fragments of the lives of the people themselves, and we are able to speak more directly to the ancients of Magna Graecia. Legend and science tell us that our journey should begin in Delphi, where the leader of each band of settlers went to learn the will of the god Apollo from the famous oracle, and to receive guidance for the coming voyage.
Today, we can walk up Delphi’s Sacred Way to the Temple of Apollo, and stand next to the seat of the oracle. The past does live here. As we climb the mountain path, we recall the ancient belief that Delphi was the ‘omphalos’ or navel of the world, established at the place where two eagles sent by Zeus from the ends of the earth met one another (Baedeker’s Greece, 3rd ed). And we remember the early Greeks who, like those eagles, set off toward unknown lands.
From Delphi we go to Piraeus, the port of Athens, where for centuries, Hellenic traders and settlers have set sail. We stroll along the ancient harbor of Mirkrolimano to visit the archeological museum, walk along the walls built by Konon in 394-391 BC, and, at Zea, see the underwater remains of historic boatsheds. We remember the oracle at Delphi; tomorrow, we set sail for the coast of southern Italy. Albeit, in a modern ship that will pass through the narrow walls of the Corinth Canal...but, at this moment, we sit in a taverna, drink white wine, eat fresh fish, reflect on the blessing of Apollo, and think of our coming voyage.
As we experience Greece, we begin to understand that the Hellenic people who settled in Ischia, and later throughout the southern Italian peninsula “...were cultivated. They knew the Homeric poems perhaps at the same time they were being written down.” pg. 11 (Gore). They also had immense political sophistication, for the immigrants brought with them a most radical concept, the idea of demokratia, or rule of the people. Gore notes that current discoveries along the southern coast may document the emergence of democratic ideas many years before being introduced in Athens in 507 BC. As a result, a multiplicity of mini-states emerged in southern Italy, providing a political lesson for both Romans and later civilizations (Salmon, 1982).
One of the democratic ideas which greatly influenced Rome can be seen in the new kind of settlements which the Greeks began to construct throughout southern Italy. Even in the earliest 8th Century settlements, colonies were built using a rational plan which divided cities into blocks and lots of roughly the same size. Paola Pelagatti, an Italian archaeologist says that “Everyone was equal in the colonies in the beginning, so that’s how they laid out their cities.” pg.16 (Gore). Conversations with Dieter Mertens, an architectural scholar at the German Archaeological Institute in Rome help us understand that this democratic, independent spirit was also reflected in the temples of Magna Graecia and Sicily, where within one century they constructed the greatest number of temples in all the Greek world...Athens included” (Gore). As we stand within the Temple of Neptune in Paestum, south of Naples, we see evidence of the philosophical and mathematical concepts which would later appear in Roman settlements throughout the world. Discovered by accident around 1750, by road builders, this ancient Greek colony known as Poseidonia, was founded around 600 BC. Today, the temple is one of the best preserved examples of the Doric style and it is often the site of wedding celebrations and summer picnics.
The philosopher Pythagoras, whose statue we see in the Capitoline Museum in Rome, had great influence upon the development of Roman thought and practice. A citizen of the city of Kroton, in the Gulf of Taranto, Pythagoras, known as the father of science, “...believed that all aspects of nature, from the notes of the musical scale to the sides of triangles, were governed by the relationships between numbers. Mathematics, science, architecture, and engineering revolve around that concept” pg.18 (Gore). Historian E. T. Salmon notes that cultural hegemony was influenced not only by Pythagoras and his disciples, but also by other philosophers, poets, athletes, physicians and engineer architects. He suggests that it was the sophisticated southerners who introduced the alphabet and literature to Italy. Their superior abilities in warfare, commerce, and the use of coinage gradually were adopted throughout Italy.
Joseph Carter, head of a multi-disciplinary archaeological survey team from Texas is directing research in Metaponto, formerly the Greek settlement of Metapontion, where nearly 700 ancient skeletons have been unearthed. One of these, a man known as “The Musician”, was buried with his lyre and may have been one of the early poets who told the tales of Odysseus and other heros. A lifelike plastic reconstruction of his head, which can ben seen in the small archeological museum, gives visitors a glimpse at one of the few examples of an early Western Greek man. Other skeletal remains, not on view, tell anthropologists about diseases of the era , dental practices, surgical procedures, and eating habits (Gore).
Carter and his team have learned that early Greeks refined the tasks of farming by introducing more efficient ways of growing the indigenous plants. They now know that barley, wheat, olives and grapes were grown throughout the peninsula before the arrival of the Greeks, but that the settlers brought new tools, and deeper plowing, they rotated the crops, used cattle dung to fertilize the fields, and introduced chickens and sheep that provided fine wool. (Gore). Both peasants and city dwellers profited from these advancements, and even today, the modern traveler eats many of the same foods that the Greeks refined centuries ago.
The second culture which greatly influenced the development of Roman civilization was was Etruscan. As we stand once more on the Roman Palatine hill, we remember that the Hut of Romulas, the traditional founder of the city, was thought to be Etruscan in origin and once sat on this very hill. (Macnamara, 1987). Etruscan kings ruled Rome during the seventh and sixth centuries BC leaving a lasting legacy of urban development and aesthetic appreciation. Yet, we know little about the Etruscans or ancient Eutria which lay in the beautiful terraced hillsides between Rome and Florence. We have few written records from which to interpret daily life, because the vast majority of of Etruscan writings have disappeared. Our information comes primarily from Greek and Roman authors who wrote long after events occurred.
The mysterious Etruscan neighbors began as the Villanovans, appearing as Balkan immigrants in the north of Italy and in Romania, and on the west coast at Tarquinii, perhaps in the tenth century BC. The Villanovans were warriors with fine armor and horses; they were also farmers and had wheeled vehicles. They exploited the metal resources of the region and were very skilled bronzesmiths; they were sailors who traded with Sardinia and probably sailed as far as Sicily. Gravesites show examples of pottery imports from Greek settlements in Ischia.
Around 700 BC, the Villanovans were reinforced by new immigrants thought to have been displaced from Asia Minor. These new arrivals brought with them sophisticated Greek and Phoenician artistic concepts, new techniques for working metals, experience building proper cities, and a complex non-Indo-European language which is still not fully understood; called Etruscan. The new immigrants transformed the simple agrarian Villanovans into Etruscans, an urban nation of craftsmen and traders, with a network of cities that stretched from the Po River in the north to the Tiber in Latium.
Macnamara reminds us that it is important to remember the ‘fragility’ of the evidence concerning the origin of the Etruscans. In part, scholars have made interpretations deduced from the archaeological material, but they have also looked to historical and linguistic evidence and to the mythology of these early people for explanations of the achievements that had a long and deep effect upon the history of Italy. Essentially, however, their origins are still a mystery, and our imagination is aroused as we travel through the countryside asking, “ Who were they.. where did they come from...and, why were their life-stories destroyed?”
Ancient stories tell us of “oriental” origins. Herodotus in the fifth century BC recounted a tale set during the time of the Trojan War:
Historians tell us that it is impossible to suggest how the stories may conform with the legendary flight to the west of the Trojan hero Aeneas and of the founding of the Roman state. But, modern museums house examples of representations of Aeneas, including a statuette of him carrying his father, dating to the fifth century BC, found at the Etruscan city of Veii. Behind each story lies a memory of a non-Greek speaking people, who, once widely settled around the shores of the Aegean, were forced to leave their land and wander in search of a home (Macnamara).
Few standing remains are present to provide insights into the remarkable Etruscan civilization. We motor to Tarquinia, a town sitting atop a rocky platform, facing the sea, dating from the ninth century BC A visit to the National Museum introduces us to a remarkable collection of Etruscan antiquities originating from the nearby Necropolis or burial ground. We see gold jewelry and striking black pottery with figures in relief, as well as sculptures of striking stylized people who have large prominent eyes and enigmatic smiles. On the second floor we are awed by two magnificent terra-cotta winged horses and several reconstructed tombs. After a visit to the Necropolis, we continue on to Tuscania, 2500 years ago a powerful Etruscan town. Tomorrow, we will hike through valley pastures to explore hidden burial chambers with funerary platforms or ‘beds’ carved from the soft tufa stone. Surviving murals with their delicate colors, remind us of the pleasures of everyday life: banquets, games and plays, music, dancing and hunting. Each glimpse is a beautiful enticement to know more about these mysterious people.
The echoes from the past are faint. We do know however, that trade, not immigration caused the Etruscan civilization to grow and change. Macnamara states that a highly complicated development of trade, involving people and goods from throughout the eastern Mediterranean, lasted for over a century. The evolution of the Etruscian culture paralleled the diffusion of political and artistic influences from the Mediterranean civilizations to the less developed world.
Etruscan and Greek cultures met on the rich plain of Campania, when the Etruscans encroached into Magna Graecia, perhaps as far south as Salerno and Paestum. The interplay of Greek and Etruscan cultures molded the concept of a new form of government and created the Republic of Rome.
Even after the Romans expelled the last Etruscan king of Rome, in 509 BC, they continued to assimilate ideas from the neighboring culture. Romans refined Etruscan rites and ceremonies, adapted engineering techniques to build tunnels and aqueducts, expanded the Forum area, built town and military camp sites with a strict grid plan, and continued a tradition of urbanization. The Romans built sports arenas after the model of the Etruscans, and continued to hold chariot races and athletic contests.
Macnamara notes that down to 364 BC, Rome had no public entertainments except the games held in the arena. But, in that year there was a plague and performers were brought in from Etruria. The Etruscans danced to the music of their favorite instrument, the flute. Young Romans began to imitate them and, from the Etruscan word ister meaning ‘player’, they came to be known as histriones, a Latin word from which the English ‘histrionics’ is derived. It was only much later, in the middle of the third century BC that Romans, after campaigning in southern Italy, began to develop theatrical performances in the tradition of the Greeks.
Etruscan agricultural traditions also strongly influenced the development of Roman daily life. Kessler (1995) states that Etruscan settlements probably supplied corn to Rome as early as the Fifth Century BC, and also grew olives, pomegranates, apples, blackberries, artichokes, peas, beans, poppies and laurel. Tomb paintings show utensils for making pasta, including a jug for the water, a knife, a rolling pin, a large board with a raised edge for keeping the water in when mixing it with the flour.
The Etruscans are thought to have introduced herbs to food preparation, eventhough the “Romans” are credited (Davis, 1954). The use of wine in Italian cooking also dates from Roman days, and this may be attributable to the Etruscan epicures. Posidonius, in writing about the Etruscans, said, “Twice a day, the Etruscans have their tables sumptuously laid with everything that contributes to delicate living; they have prepared for them bed covers embroidered with flowers, and they are served from quantities of silver plate; they have also at their beck and call a considerable number of slaves” (Heurgon, 1964).
Modern Italians have preserved the ancient traditions for more than 2,000 years, bound securely to the richness of two mingled heritages. And, as our travel through Italy nears an end, we are able at last to make connections between ourselves the two great cultures which shaped Rome and thus the Western world. As we sit at table, wander through narrow streets, look out over fertile landscapes and spend quiet moments by the sea, we are conscious of the Greek and Etruscan foundations. The seeds of democracy, engineering expertise, art appreciation; we cannot truly know which way the cultural currents flowed. But, we catch glimpses, we hear voices...Etruscan visions...Greek traditions...the inspirations of civilization ...the vitality of life.
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