XXII.—The Submerged Greek and Roman Foreshore near Naples

R. T. Günther

doi:10.1017/S0261340900009085

XXII.—The Submerged Greek and Roman Foreshore near Naples

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 November 2011

R. T. Günther

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‘Soleo eniin et in aliena castra transire, non tamquam transfuga, sed tamquam explorator.’ Seneca, Epistul. Mor. I., Ep. II.

Some years ago it occurred to the author that certain submerged ruins in the Bay of Naples were sufficiently well preserved to repay investigation with a view to supplementing the history of the post-Roman land-movements, as recorded upon the columns of the Macellum of Puteoli, commonly known as the “Temple of Serapis.”

Type: Research Article
Information: Archaeologia , Volume 58 , Issue 2 , 1903 , pp. 499 - 560

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261340900009085 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1903

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^{page 499 note a} The upper erosion-line upon Capri then etched is more deeply out than the present line, which has been some three and a half centuries in forming.

^{page 499 note b} For an account of the rise and fall of the land see the author's paper in the Geographical Journal for August and September, 1903.Google Scholar PubMed

^{page 502 note a} Near where the short modern sea wall shelters the landing place below the Villa Volpicellu

^{page 504 note a} Fig. 1 is taken from Le Pitture antiche d'Ercolano, ii. 285, which has also been copied by Roux ainé, iii. pl. 16. Compare also Roux ainé, iii. pls. 12, 23, and 28, and Mau, fig. 270. The buildings in our illustration show the covered galleries or cryptoporticoes of Pliny (Epist. II. 17), and the open terraces or hypaethra of Vitruvius (v. 31). On the rock to the left of the foreground are two tonsillae or posts for the mooring of boats, cf. Günther, , Geographical Journal, Sept., 1903, fig. 12 and footnote to p. 273Google Scholar.

^{page 505 note a} From Pilture antiche d'Ercolano, ii. 295. The original was found at Gragnano.

^{page 505 note b} Od. ii. 18; cf. Od. iii. 1 and 24, also Virgil, Aen. 9, 711.

^{page 506 note a} Le Pitture anticJie d'Urcolano, 1760, ii. pl. li, p. 277. The original was found ab Gragnano.Google Scholar

^{page 506 note b} Vol. lvii. 235.

^{page 506 note c} Register No. 99, 2, 15, 2. Compare also Roux ainé, iii. pl. 23.

^{page 509 note a} The Casa Cannonnate of Italian Admiralty charts. According to a tradition, Lady Hamilton lived here, and the Peschiera was designed by Prince Luigi.

^{page 509 note b} In the author's possession. It is dedicated to the Ohev. Destournelles, and was probably engraved by A. Cardon, after a drawing by Bracci.

^{page 509 note c} Wrongly named Zaffarana in the Garta topografica ed idrografica dei contorni di Napoli (1818)Google Scholar of the French engineers, in which the name C. Garofalo has got adrift.

^{page 509 note d} The southernmost is 16 feet high, 42 feet broad.

^{page 511 note a} Ashby, , Campania, 141, 160.Google Scholar

^{page 512 note a} A rough but accurate sketch has been used to illustrate the Gollina di Posilipo, pl. 26.

^{page 512 note b} Giustiniano, , Regist. 1317, C. fol. 211.Google Scholar

^{page 512 note c} Chiarito, , Gommento sulla constituzione di Federico II. par. 3, p. 2, pg. 173.Google Scholar

^{page 513 note a} Expédition scientifique de Morée, vol. ii. pl. 15, figs. 2 and 3.

^{page 513 note b} Roux ainé, iii. pl. 13.

^{page 513 note c} Wrongly named “Spiriti” in the Carta topografica of 1818.

^{page 513 note d} A slab of perforated marble was found here which was believed to be part of he apparatus for fish culture. I have not seen it, and can therefore express no opinion about its date.

^{page 513 note e} Les Buines de Pompéi, Paris, 1838.Google Scholar

^{page 514 note a} The floor is now submerged to a depth of 5 feet. An illustration is in Collina di Posilipo, pl. 27.

^{page 514 note b} Not the “Spiriti” of the Garta topografica

^{page 514 note c} The sentence within brackets is not an accurate description.

^{page 515 note a} Essay by Mr. Hamilton, M., in Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature, 1837.Google Scholar

^{page 518 note a} Formerly Proprieta Lancellotti, but now in possession of our popular countryman Mr. Walter K. Strickland.

^{page 518 note b} The plans of these buildings, which are shown in Map I. and Plan 6, have been copied from the plate in. Fusco, and Giampietri, , Giunta al Oomento critico-archeologico sul frammento iuedito di Fabio Giordano, 1842Google Scholar , which plate was again published by L. Lancellotti, Promenade a Mergellina Pausilype, and reproduced by Wieseler, , Theatergebäude (Göttingen, 1851), plate ii. fig. 9 A, BGoogle Scholar . The plan of the semicircular belvedere (?) over the cave in Plan 5 is original. Upon its semicircular wall stood pillars like those of the building shown in the fresco representing Dasdalus and Icarus. Of. Roux iii, pl. 2. Figs. 8, 9, and 10 have been redrawn from the plates in Collina di Posilipo.

^{page 519 note a} Beloch, , Campanien, 86.Google Scholar

^{page 519 note b} Mommsen, , Inscr. Neap. 2491Google Scholar ; Jordan, , Archseol. Zeit. 1868, pl. 11Google Scholar ; Rossi, , Bull. Nap. n. s. i. pl. ix.Google Scholar ; Bellori, , Fragmenta vestigia veteris Romx; Roux ainé, iii. pl. 21Google Scholar; Fazio, , Intorno al miglior modo di costruire i portiGoogle Scholar , and Fazio, , Nuove osservazioniGoogle Scholar ; Günther, , in Geographical Journal, 1903, 269–275CrossRef Google Scholar.

^{page 521 note a} Vitruv. v. 12

^{page 521 note b} Le Pitture antiche d'Ercolano, ii. 295. Also cf. iii. 47.

^{page 521 note c} Günther, , loc. cit. figs. 12 and 15.Google Scholar

^{page 521 note d} Case ed i Monumenti di Pompei, pl. iii. 1854-67.

^{page 523 note a} Seneca, Ep. 55.6.

^{page 523 note b} Societa della Pescicoltura del Regno d'ltalia nel mar di Posilipo.

^{page 524 note a} The drawing has been made from an early water-colour sketch in the author's possession. The mountain shown in the distance to the left is Monte Solaro, in Capri. Cf. St. Non, , Voyage, ii. pl. 63Google Scholar. A photograph of the Graiola in its present state appeared inThe Traveller for 13th July, 1901.

^{page 524 note b} The southern cave measures 65 feet long by 29 feet wide by 16 feet high.

^{page 525 note a} 6 feet broad by 6 feet deep by 4 feet high.

^{page 525 note b} From Le Pitture antiche d'Ercolano, v. 104.Google Scholar

^{page 525 note c} Arch. Zeit. pl. 2, fig. 1.

^{page 525 note d} In Statius, Sylv. iii. 1.68Google Scholar , there is a mention of a statue of Hercules by the harbour of Sorrento.

^{page 528 note a} Paoli, , Antiquitatum, Puteolis Cumis Baiis existentium reliquiae, 1768Google Scholar . D'Ancora, , Guida ragionata, 1792Google Scholar.

^{page 529 note a} The condition of things must have closely resembled the fresco depicted in Roux ainé, iii. pl. 28.

^{page 530 note a} The story about Virgil and the Posilipo tunnel has been reproduced by Leland in his ocollection of The Unpublished Legends of Virgil, 1899.Google Scholar

^{page 531 note a} For a photograph of the Scoglio di Virgilio and of the Grotta dei Tuoni showing this excavation, see Günther, , The Phlegrean Fields, p. 19Google Scholar;Geographical Journal, October, 1897Google Scholar PubMed.

^{page 531 note b} “Corogno” in some maps.

^{page 532 note a} Our reasons for regarding these caves as of artificial rather than of natural origin have been stated in the Geographical Journal for August, 1903.Google Scholar PubMed

^{page 533 note a} In the Carte du Oolfe de Pouzzoles “levée sur les lieux et dessinée par Mrs. de la Vega ingénieurs du Roi de Naples à Portici, 1778,” No. 96 in Non's, SaintVoyageGoogle Scholar , the Grotta di Silla is marked on the west of the Cavallo.

^{page 536 note a} Charter of Robert- (Regest. 1332. B. fol. 75.) Also charters of 25 May, 1333, and of 6 May, 1398, quoted in Collina di Posilipo.

^{page 536 note b} 31st December. 1888, at 12.15 a.m.

^{page 537 note a} This picture sometimes occurs as an appendix to Niccolini, , Fenomeni di Serapeo.Google Scholar

^{page 539 note a} This term seems to have originally designated the curved beach between Sannazzaro Barbaia and the Torretta di Chiaja, but now that the sea-wall of the Via Caracciolo has finished (circ. 1884) all that remains of the natural shore line is in the fishermen's harbour.

Works upon the foreshore were executed under the commands of th e Viceroy Toledo, and of Charles III. (1745), who laid out the Via Mergellina. (Storia del Reame di Napoli. Cf. Lancellotti, , Promenade à Mergellina Pausilype, Naples, 1842.)Google Scholar

PHILIPPO IIII. REGE.

ANTONIUS ALVARES TOLETUS

DVX ALBAE PROREX

UT HIC ETIAM OBLECTENTUR

QUIBUS INIMICA NAVIGATIO EST

MARGINEM HUNC ANPLIFICAVIT

AN. SAL. HUM. CIO IO C.XXVI.

Inscription in Sannazzaro's Church at Mergellina

The breakwater of the harbour has been still further extended in our own times.

^{page 539 note b} Now either part of or very near the Villa Guercia.

^{page 539 note c} Gollina di Posilipo, 76.

^{page 540 note a} Sirenum domicilium Dragonetti Bonifacii memoria celebre; a Ravascheriis instauratum; scopulus Regibus dignus, qui ad Stiliani Principem devenit. Capacoio Lib. ii.

^{page 540 note b} In an illustration (No. 60) to vol. i. of the Voyage pittoresque of Saint Non (1781)Google Scholar , the ruins of the palace are shown with a road passing between them and the sea. As this road is not shown n i contemporary drawings, we believe that the artist drew from his imagination, unless the tradition of an old road reached him.

^{page 541 note a} From Oollina di Posilipo, pl. 20.

^{page 542 note a} The reader of the paper was indebted to Mrs. Holcombe Ingleby for the loan for exhibition at the meeting of the Society of a painting in oils which shows this tunnel.

^{page 542 note b} 13 yards wide by 95 yards long.

^{page 543 note a} About 23 feet wide by 121 feet long by 11 feet high above water.

^{page 544 note a} Gampanien, p. 83.

^{page 545 note a} Seneca Ep. 57, 1, 2.

^{page 545 note b} Petronius Fragm. xvi.

^{page 545 note c} Strabo, Book V, c. iv, 7.

^{page 546 note a} Beloch, , Campanien, 87.Google Scholar

^{page 550 note a} Geographical Journal, September, 1903.Google Scholar PubMed

^{page 550 note b} Vit. Alex. Severi, 26.

^{page 550 note c} An early specimen of that topographical crockery, which visitors to seaside watering-places love to bring back to their relations. It was found at Piombino. Rossi, De, Bull. Nap. n. s. 1. Pl. ixGoogle Scholar . A similar vase is preserved in the Museo Borgiano de Propaganda.

^{page 550 note d} Pliny, 3, 5, 9, § 61; Tacitus, Ann. xiv. 4; Symmachus I. i.

^{page 552 note a} Belocli, , Campanien.Google Scholar

^{page 552 note b} Seneca, Ep. 51.

^{page 552 note c} Cic. Acad. pr. i, 1.

^{page 552 note d} C. Avianium fortasse in portion neptuni ambulantem. Cic. Acad. pr. ii, 25-80.

^{page 555 note a} Phædrus, ii, 5.

^{page 556 note a} Cp. Pliny, , Letters, vi, 16, 4.Google Scholar

^{page 558 note a} Plate XLIX.

^{page 560 note a} This property was given to the Margrave of Anspaeh by Ferdinand I.

^{page 560 note b} The Portiglione proper is really on the other side of the headland, within the harbour of Marechiano.

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