A New Sixth Century BC Temple?

Good morning, readers:

Today's post will be a rather short one—I'm currently finishing up an article on a subject rather far away from ancient Roman archaeology and preservations.

This past week a joint excavation on the archaeological site beside (and under) the church of Sant'Omobono, conducted by a team from the Universities of Calabria and Michigan, brought to light a sixth century BC temple, the podium of which was made out of square blocks of stone (opus quadratum). The announcement made by Roma.Repubblica.it made it sound as if this were a sensational new find, but in fact, we've known about this temple for quite a while. Soundings made of the area in the 40s discovered its existence, and subsequent excavations in the 50s and 60s reached the podium level—but those trenches were backfilled. The modern archaeological team that reached the temple again had to conquer a rather difficult challenge: the archaic temple now lies just beneath the water table!

The temples of Sant'Omobono (number 6)
at the foot of the Capitoline Hill. Picture by author
from his own copy of Roma Urbs Imperatorum Aetate

One of the controversies surrounding the temple is its date. Scholarly consensus, based on stratigraphy, pottery, and architectural decoration, places it in the mid to late 6th c. BC, about the same time as the construction of the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus ("Jupiter Best and Greatest") on the Capitoline Hill, the biggest archaic temple of its type in Rome. If this dating is correct, we have further evidence of stone temple building (the columns, however, would have been wooden at this time) in the period ascribed to the last two kings of Rome (traditionally 578–509 BC). This period seems to have been an era of flourishing both in Rome and elsewhere, which was followed by a sharp decline in the fifth century. But there seems to have been an even earlier phase of the archaic temple that may well be early 6th c. BC.

The Temples of Mater Matuta
and Fortuna (A & B), with the archaic
temple (C). From Wikipedia Commons

Ancient sources inform us that the temples to Mater Matuta and Fortuna were built in the reign of Servius Tullius, but the temple remains that are visible from the street (A and B to the right) are from a later phase, the late third century BC after a fire destroyed the area in 213 BC. These later temples, however, probably follow the footprint of those built in the time of Camillus (4th c. BC). Note that the U-shaped altars face east, as traditional, even though the temples face south. The archaic temple also was richly adorned with terracotta decoration and statuary, which can be seen in the Capitoline Museum—see in particular the statue of Hercules and Minerva, which will remind Etruscophiles of the Apollo of Veii.

Apollo of Veii (Portonaccio Temple)

Statue of Hercules and Minerva from the Archaic temple at Sant'Omobono

 The site is incredibly complicated, not least because the earliest excavations were done in a rather scattershot fashion. For a full history of work on the site see the excellent work of N. Terrenato et al. here.

Daily Tidbit: 

Here is a good article on a classical temple excavated in Maryport, "the most north western temple in the Roman world."

Pompeii Update (Special Edition)

Special Wednesday Edition:

A UNESCO official's criticism of the lack of a realistic and aggressive plan to fix the numerous problems at Pompeii, in addition to the most recent collapse of a wall (see Aug. 14 post), has paid off, it seems. Massimo Bray, minister of Italy's cultural and artistic heritage, has made a series of announcements that have reassured UNESCO that the authorities in charge of the most important ancient site are taking the proper steps to use the considerable monies being invested by the European Union. By December, half of the EU's injection—nearly 50 million Euros—will be allocated. UNESCO made a show of support an backed off its implicit threat that it might take Pompeii off its prestigious list of World Heritage Sites.

Most crucially for tourists, Bray has announced that ten more houses (domus) will be opened to the public in the coming weeks, a welcome development made possible by additional personnel on site. For years Pompeii has suffered from a lack of qualified personnel and guards. Now, one hopes, Pompeii will return to its former glory, when some 50 domus were open to visitors. I haven't had a chance to find out which houses are to be opened, but I did note that last month, the Casa degli Amorini Dorati has already reopened to the public. If anyone can help me discover which of the houses will be reopened, I'd appreciate it! A more detailed article can be found in Italian here.

Daily Tidbit: 

Archaeologists excavating at Monasterace in Reggio Calabria have uncovered the largest Hellenic mosaic in Magna Graecia. The previous link is in Italian (and has a good picture). An English summary can be found here.

"That belongs in a Museum!" Tomb Raiders and Artifacts

Arch of Trajan in Benevento

Most everyone my age remembers the famous quote from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, "That belongs in a museum!" But the attempts to steal and sell archaeological items on the black market is as old as archaeology itself (well, much older when judging from the beginning of scientific archaeology). Last Friday (July 12), the Guardia di Finanza announced the seizure of 400 archaeological artifacts in Benevento (a delightful city to visit, incidentally), with an estimated black market value of 2 million Euros. The items had been collected from all over Italy and come from different time periods. Of particular interest were 4th century BC red-glaze vases from tombs in southern Italy, as well as a hut urn, bucchero ware, and Corinthian vases from Etruscan sites. One tombarolo (tomb-raider) was arrested.

The Carabinieri announce the seizure of objects

Is there any cooler word in any language than tombarolo? And yet, over the past three years we have seen a significant rise in clandestine sales of ancient artifacts. The day before the events in Benevento, a major operation by the Carabinieri in Bari and Naples arrested 21 tombaroli in Puglia and recovered hundreds of objects (548 to be exact), worth somewhere around 100,000 Euros. Here is an article from LaRepubblica.Bari, with excellent pictures of the seized effects. The methods used were the old spillone method (essentially, sticking a giant pin in the ground to search for open tombs) underground, metal detectors, and even ground-penetrating radar. Another more detailed report (in Italian) can be found here. 

My own personal favorite story about tombaroli is the events of January 11, 2011, when the Guardia di Finanza arrested two grave robbers in Ostia (the port of Rome) who were preparing to smuggle a rare statue of Caligula to Switzerland. The authorities demanded that the tombaroli shows them the find spot of the statue, and they led the GdF to the area of Lake Nemi, where the emperor was known to have had a villa and two enormous pleasure barges that floated blissfully on the lake between 37–41 AD, when he was emperor. Now, the statue has been cleaned and restored and is now to be housed in the infrequently visited (only some 6,500 a year) Museo delle Navi (Museum of the Ships) along the shore of the lake. Along with this rare statue, a number of other objects found in the vicinity of Nemi are part of the exhibition, as are a large number of items that were previously found in the area but had languished in storehouses of the Palazzo Massimo in Rome. The more fabulous bronze elements of the ships still remain in the museum at Rome.

Why so few visitors to the Museo delle Navi? Well, it was built in the 1930s to house those two pleasure barges that were finally recovered from the bottom of Lake Nemi. Under Mussolini's direction, archaeologists and conservators drained the lake, carefully protected the fragile wood, and moved the ships to the hangar-sized space built especially for them. There they remained until May 1944, when retreating Germans (the Italians had signed a peace treaty with the Allies in Sept. 1943) burned the ships. Now, all that remains are a few isolated pieces and small models of the ships. Hopefully, the new Caligula exhibition will bring more visitors to this museum. Plus, the area around Lake Nemi is beautiful and worth a half day visit (and make sure you have lunch overlooking the lake!).

Meanwhile, just a few weeks ago, the Carabinieri arrested five men charged with possession of thousands of stolen objects in Perugia. Of particular note are 23 Etruscan funeral urns from the 3rd-2nd century BC that belonged to a single family, the Canci. These urns depicted a great number of scenes from Greek myth, and some of the other objects were gold plated. Authorities were able to determine the point of origin of the urns, a single underground tomb, which was discovered by private construction workers—who saw a chance to profit. There are countless Etruscan tombs underground that have yet to be excavated. By Italian law, private individuals who unearth antiquities must surrender them to the state. But with so much money at stake—and given the disastrous Italian economy—I'm not surprised that few will actually follow the law. For an English version of the story, click here (with 4 pictures); for a more detailed Italian article, click here (with 9 excellent pictures).

For those who are interested in the shady antiquities collecting in general can see Paul Barford's excellent and thorough blog here. He also has a discussion of the tombaroli arrested in Puglia. Want a fun book to read on "stolen" antiquities? Go read Sharon Waxman's Loot. It's journalistic-y but an easy and informative read.

Weekly Tidbits:

In an archaeological dig run by the Archaeological Institute of America in Ostia Antica, excavations just outside of the archaeological park discovered a late Republican tomb and a 4th c. AD house with beautiful marble opus sectile (geometrically cut). See this article with pictures (pics 7 and 8 have the opus sectile).

The frescos at the Villa of the Mysteries are getting cleaned using laser technology, which is costly but non-damaging to the original frescos. The pictures on the website are pretty stunning.

The restoration of the Colosseum, funded by Diego della Valle, is set to begin immediately. The first operation is to clean the exterior. The building will be covered in scaffolding ten arches at a time until it is completed.

By accident I came across this short report of the research done on the materials found in the sewer beneath Herculaneum, but it reminded me of the successes that Herculaneum has enjoyed over the past ten years or so. The sewers that were preserved in the eruption of Vesuvius allow us to get a sense of the diet of people who lived in the area (more diverse than one might think). An outstanding, detailed, and accessible article (with full-color photos) can be found on the Herculaneum Conservation Project website. The HCP was established by a partnership between the local Soprintendenza and the Packard Humanities Institute—the same as that which brought the PHI Latin database to light—in 2001. This joint initiative, joined by the Bristish School at Rome in 2004, offers a blueprint how to maintain an ancient site while allowing for extremely important research to be conducted. Authorities in Pompeii should take note—80% of the buildings at risk in Herculaneum have been restored, and most buildings are completely open to the public. This YouTube video gives a good sense of the difference that the HCP has made (Italian subtitles, but side-by-side before and after pictures start at just after the three minute mark).

If you happen to find yourself in Bari in the near future (why not?), go see the new archaeological park that just opened. It's free for the time being.

Upheaval in Downtown Rome

Good morning, everyone. This is the maiden voyage of my new blog, and I welcome you all. I'm looking forward to the adventure with all of you. This is a work in progress, and I'm hopeful to have all the bells and whistles up in the sidebar to the right shortly!

It was announced yesterday by the Italian newspaper LaRepubblica that because of a meeting of the Flp (Federazione Lavoratori Pubblici, essentially a giant union of public workers) many Roman archaeological sites—including the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and the Palatine—will be closed to tourists today (July 14, 2013) from 5–7 pm and next Sunday (July 21, 2013) from 9–12. This comes on the heels of two strikes in June that closed the Colosseum for several hours as workers protested lack of pay. The same newspaper also released a report this week that suggested that the financial crisis in Italy is hitting ancient monuments and museums especially hard. I culled a few facts from that article:

The Mibac (Ministero per i beni artistici e culturali) reports a further decline in resources, 24% less than in 2008; more specifically, the funds for maintaining Italy's enormous amount of public works have dropped precipitously, from 276 million Euros to 115 million Euros—a reduction of 58% over the past year. Even more disturbing is that the monies reserved for cases of emergency went down over 10 million Euros in a single year. Finally, the amount designated for ordinary programs of public works

came in at 47.6 million Euros, down from 70.5 in 2012 and (shockingly) down from 201 million in 2004. In other words, we can expect further closures, protests, and degradation of ancient sites.

Even in cases where we have private funds, Roman bureaucracy often causes inordinate delays. Take, for instance, the 25 million Euros promised by a private individual, the shoe magnate Diego della Valle, back in August 2010 to renovate the Colosseum, have not yet been put into action because of holdups caused by protests and bureaucracy. The new mayor, Ignazio Marino, elected in June, has promised this week that "within ten days the restoration project will get underway." We'll see about that—he's up to his armpits in backlash since he's announced that the Via dei Fori Imperiali will become pedestrian only. Those of you familiar with the city will know that this is a major route through the center of town and that the closure will cause great headaches. Poor Via Labicana.

View of dirty Colosseum (my picture)

Meanwhile, in Pompeii, the UNESCO folks are back, demanding that the administrators of Pompeii act on their earlier report, else be removed from the list of UNESCO heritage sites. In 2011, after the collapse of the so-called  "House of the Gladiator" (Schola Armaturarum) the UN branch that oversees world heritage sites, visited the site and composed a full-scale report on the status of Pompeii—despite its technical nature, it's very readable. UNESCO gave the folks at Pompeii until January of this year to come up with a plan to shore up at-risk buildings and renovate many of the areas that have fallen into disrepair. And just yesterday, there was yet another collapse of a portion of the wall of the so-called Odeon, or "Small Theater." Fortunately, no one was struck by falling stone, and the damage was rather light, but the timing could not have been more fortuitous—perhaps the administration of Pompeii can get its act together to put a realistic and beneficial plan in motion. A fine English summary of the current call for action can be found here.

Side view of the Odeon in Pompeii (LaRepubblicaNapoli)

Weekly tidbits:

Emergency excavations on the Via Appia at the third mile (near the Villa of Maxentius) unearthed a substantial stretch of the original road, showing ruts where carriages and other vehicles bore into the considerably large basalt stones.

Excavations at Piazzale Ostiense (near the Pyramid of Cestius, which is also undergoing restoration to clean the smog-stained surface) unearthed a surprising find: a millstone of the Pompeian type. This find is not entirely surprising, given that the area was the location for off-loading grain transported up from Ostia by boat.

For those of you who saw the poorly titled "Pompeii: Life and Death in a Roman Town" (the whole show was about skeletons found in Oplontis—but that's show biz), where the bombshell was announced that two of the skeletons showed signs of congenital syphilis, here is a good scientific article on the whole debate on pre-Columbian syphilis.