L'ANTICO OPPIDUM DI PIRAE E IL PAESAGGIO CULTURALE DELLA BAIA DI SCAURI (LT).
Creators: name: Fedele, Pasquale
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024

description: L'articolo esplora l'antico oppidum di Pirae e il complesso paesaggio culturale della baia di Scauri, nel comune di Minturno, provincia di Latina. Attraverso un'analisi geoarcheologica e storica, si indaga l'integrazione tra le comunità umane e il loro ambiente lungo i millenni, evidenziando come le stratificazioni storiche abbiano modellato il territorio. Da Plinio il Vecchio alla scoperta di strutture portuali sommerse, l'articolo traccia le dinamiche culturali, sociali, e tecnologiche che hanno caratterizzato l'area, sottolineando il ruolo di Pirae come nodo significativo nel contesto mediterraneo antico. L'indagine si estende alle tecniche costruttive delle infrastrutture portuali, ai cambiamenti geomorfologici indotti dall'attività umana e alle pratiche religiose e simboliche, come testimoniato da monumenti megalitici e reperti archeologici. Questa analisi offre nuove prospettive sulla complessa interazione tra uomo, ambiente e cosmologia in un crocevia di civiltà, sottolineando l'importanza della baia di Scauri come chiave di lettura per comprendere le trasformazioni culturali e ambientali del Mediterraneo antico.
description: In the book I interpret and elaborate from a historical point of view the geoarchaeological data found following aerial and underwater investigations and surveys in the bay of Scauri (LT) which made it possible to identify the presumed traces of the pre-Roman oppidum of Pirae, mentioned only once by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia, but disappeared in the mists of time. This was founded along one of the maritime trade routes already active since the beginning of the Neolithic, around 9,000 BC, by Pelasgian populations who mixed with the local aborigines, giving rise to the Ausoni, one of the first Italic peoples. The rectangular planimetric shape of its rectangle-like outpost allows us to hypothesize that Pirae's name derives from the ancient Egyptian pr ꜥꜣ, pronounced approximately as "per-aa", and written with the two hieroglyphics: "pr" for "house" (pronounced "per") and "ꜥꜣ" for "column" or "pillar" (pronounced like "aa"), which here means "great, majestic". A strong planimetric similarity of the port can be seen with the closed Mycenaean port of Knidos (known in Latin as "Gnidus", a Greek city in Asia Minor), with which the Roman poet Postumius Rufius Festus Avienio, in 350 AD. approximately, suggests a kinship bond. In fact, the poet in the work "Ora Maritima" ("The Maritime Coasts") summarizes the mythical or semi-historical tales that have been passed down through the generations by writing: "...so the star called Gnidius gave the same to Auson. ..", alluding to a Cnidean origin of the Ausone people. In Cnidus the Greeks worshiped the goddess Aphrodite who was initially associated with the star Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, known as "the dog star" because it was part of the constellation Canis Major, and dogs were considered sacred animals associated with divinity. Before Greek culture, Sirius was deified by the ancient Egyptians as the goddess Sopdet (or Sothis in Greek), wife of Sah, the constellation Orion. Sirius' proximity to Orion in the night sky led to the association between the two stars. Later, Orion, due to his human form, was identified with the figure of Horus, the god of the sky and kingship. As a result, Sopdet, in addition to being the goddess of fertility, began to be seen as a manifestation of Isis, the mother of Horus. The importance in ancient times of associating a place with a stellar divinity was probably due to the regulatory role of the stars and constellations in the daily life of men, considering them essential for navigation, agriculture, the calendar and spirituality. Of this the ancient Greek poet Aratus of Soli (315 BC – 240 BC) writes in the first section of the poem Phenomena: “From Heaven we begin! What we, men, never fail to invoke; but all the streets and all the places where people gather are full of Heaven, and the sea and the ports are full of it; and in every circumstance everyone turns to Heaven...".