I found this page of a school book, arranged and framed on a wall. It is a fitting start for my Apulian photo series!
Apulian history goes back a long long time. Apulia was colonized by many different cultures, the Greeks, the Romans, the Arabs, the Normans, the Staufer with Kaiser Friedrich II... all left their mark on the land with their buildings, food and artisanship.
The old Greek city of Egnazia lies on the Italian adriatic coast north of Brindisi. It was first settled in the Bronze ages, colonized by the Greeks and in the 4th century BC became a Roman town with city walls, amphitheater, thermal baths and a large forum. Today, only ruins are left.
The Via Traiana was built around 100 AD from Beneventum to Brindisi - the latter was the major roman harbour for trade with the eastern mediterranean - as a coastal alternative to the Via Appia which led from Rome to Tarent. It leads right through the town centre of Egnazia and is paved with large lime slabs where the ruts left by chariot wheels can still be seen.
A "cryptoportico" was excavated: an underground corridor with four arms and light wells, possibly around a structure used for rainwater harvesting or cool storage of food supplies in the hot climate.
Part of the thermal baths with hypocaustic heating:
Behind this field, towards the sea, lies the old harbour, nowadays cut off by a new road and not accessible from the archaeological site. The town was gradually abandoned from the 6th century on, when the vandals roamed the country. The large harbour is now submerged - either due to rising water leves or the sinking of the land mass, I could not find out . The old city wall can still be seen leading into the water, and divers (my oldest son does scuba diving) can find remnant harbour structures overgrown by algae just off the coast in a depth of a few meters only - sorry, I hate to get my head underwater, so no pictures here!
There is still so much to be found and excavated and protected ... and who knows what lies beneath this mound and how many Roman or Greek slaves moved those stones through the centuries?
Apulian history goes back a long long time. Apulia was colonized by many different cultures, the Greeks, the Romans, the Arabs, the Normans, the Staufer with Kaiser Friedrich II... all left their mark on the land with their buildings, food and artisanship.
The old Greek city of Egnazia lies on the Italian adriatic coast north of Brindisi. It was first settled in the Bronze ages, colonized by the Greeks and in the 4th century BC became a Roman town with city walls, amphitheater, thermal baths and a large forum. Today, only ruins are left.
the amphitheatre
The Via Traiana was built around 100 AD from Beneventum to Brindisi - the latter was the major roman harbour for trade with the eastern mediterranean - as a coastal alternative to the Via Appia which led from Rome to Tarent. It leads right through the town centre of Egnazia and is paved with large lime slabs where the ruts left by chariot wheels can still be seen.
A "cryptoportico" was excavated: an underground corridor with four arms and light wells, possibly around a structure used for rainwater harvesting or cool storage of food supplies in the hot climate.
entrance to the cryptoportico
no one in there, just a lonely rat ...
Part of the thermal baths with hypocaustic heating:
Next to the thermal complex, to the left, was the Forum, a large open space, now used as a zucchini field ....
Behind this field, towards the sea, lies the old harbour, nowadays cut off by a new road and not accessible from the archaeological site. The town was gradually abandoned from the 6th century on, when the vandals roamed the country. The large harbour is now submerged - either due to rising water leves or the sinking of the land mass, I could not find out . The old city wall can still be seen leading into the water, and divers (my oldest son does scuba diving) can find remnant harbour structures overgrown by algae just off the coast in a depth of a few meters only - sorry, I hate to get my head underwater, so no pictures here!
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