In a recent project reconstructing the historical and archaeological dynamics that affected the part of the via Appia included in Re- gio II Apulia et Calabria, and in particular the segment between the modern towns of Gravina in Puglia (BA) and Taranto, specific attention was paid to a more precise identification of stationes which are known from ancient and medieval geographical sources. The course of the Roman road in this segment has been reconstructed with reasonable certainty, but previous hypotheses for the identification of resting stations Blera and Sub Lupatia have been based only on toponomastic assumption without field evidence. In the course of this research, the data recovered in field surveys – involving almost a third of the stretch of the via Appia between Gravina and Taranto – has been integrated with data provided by the Itinerarium Antonini (121,3-7), the most comprehensive and reliable document on the segment in question. In order to identify the two stationes among more than twenty sites considered during field research, those characterized by sig- nificant occupation during the Roman Imperial age and the Late Antiquity have been taken into particular account. Attention has been particularly focused on the unpublished rural settlements located at Masseria Castello (Altamura, BA) and Masseria Caione (Laterza, TA). These two sites, of the same large size (over 15,000 square meters) and type of settlement, which can be categorized as ‘rural village’ according to models of classification used in other recent topographical research carried out in northern and southern Apulia, also share a remarkable quantity of ceramic finds. Both sites turned up a high amount of fragments of ceramic items imported primarily from North Africa, as well as various food carrying vessels and of volcanic millstones. Moreover, two pits have been identified in a rock cavity by the settlement of Masseria Castello; these are presumably facilities for the storage of food, in particular wheat. The next step has been to compare the distance between Masseria Castello and Masseria Caione and the distance noted in the Itinerarium Antonini between the resting stations of Blera and Sub Lupatia. To ensure a more effective reading of the available sources, the verification of the distance has been conducted from a starting point that appears relatively solid from a topographic point of view. Since reliable previous research locates the statio of Silvium, immediately preceding Blera in the Itinerarium, at the site of Santo Staso, a few hundred meters from the town of Gravina in Puglia, the cross calculation of the distance has there- fore been carried out from this site. The calculations show that there are approximately 19.6 kilometers between Santo Staso (Silvium?) and Masseria Castello (Blera?) following the likely course of the via Appia. The Itinerarium Antonini reports a distance of XIII miles between Silvium and Blera. Attributing to the Roman mile the traditional value of 1,480 m, the two stations, according to the late Roman source, were placed ca. 19.2 km from one another. The distance between Masseria Castello (Blera?) and Masseria Caione (Sub Lupatia?) is 20.1 km ca., which is not far from the ca. 20.7 km obtained converting into kilometers the XIV miles reported in the Itinerarium Antonini. Based on this evidence, and with due caution, the identification of the rural settlements located during the surface surveys as the two stationes seems plausible. Nevertheless these hypotheses can only be confirmed or disproved through a direct survey of the areas ad- joining the entire segment of the via Appia between Gravina in Puglia and Taranto.

Blera e Sub Lupatia (It. Ant. 121,4-5): proposte per l’identificazione di due stazioni itinerarie lungo il tratto apulo della via Appia

Luciano Piepoli
2016-01-01

Abstract

In a recent project reconstructing the historical and archaeological dynamics that affected the part of the via Appia included in Re- gio II Apulia et Calabria, and in particular the segment between the modern towns of Gravina in Puglia (BA) and Taranto, specific attention was paid to a more precise identification of stationes which are known from ancient and medieval geographical sources. The course of the Roman road in this segment has been reconstructed with reasonable certainty, but previous hypotheses for the identification of resting stations Blera and Sub Lupatia have been based only on toponomastic assumption without field evidence. In the course of this research, the data recovered in field surveys – involving almost a third of the stretch of the via Appia between Gravina and Taranto – has been integrated with data provided by the Itinerarium Antonini (121,3-7), the most comprehensive and reliable document on the segment in question. In order to identify the two stationes among more than twenty sites considered during field research, those characterized by sig- nificant occupation during the Roman Imperial age and the Late Antiquity have been taken into particular account. Attention has been particularly focused on the unpublished rural settlements located at Masseria Castello (Altamura, BA) and Masseria Caione (Laterza, TA). These two sites, of the same large size (over 15,000 square meters) and type of settlement, which can be categorized as ‘rural village’ according to models of classification used in other recent topographical research carried out in northern and southern Apulia, also share a remarkable quantity of ceramic finds. Both sites turned up a high amount of fragments of ceramic items imported primarily from North Africa, as well as various food carrying vessels and of volcanic millstones. Moreover, two pits have been identified in a rock cavity by the settlement of Masseria Castello; these are presumably facilities for the storage of food, in particular wheat. The next step has been to compare the distance between Masseria Castello and Masseria Caione and the distance noted in the Itinerarium Antonini between the resting stations of Blera and Sub Lupatia. To ensure a more effective reading of the available sources, the verification of the distance has been conducted from a starting point that appears relatively solid from a topographic point of view. Since reliable previous research locates the statio of Silvium, immediately preceding Blera in the Itinerarium, at the site of Santo Staso, a few hundred meters from the town of Gravina in Puglia, the cross calculation of the distance has there- fore been carried out from this site. The calculations show that there are approximately 19.6 kilometers between Santo Staso (Silvium?) and Masseria Castello (Blera?) following the likely course of the via Appia. The Itinerarium Antonini reports a distance of XIII miles between Silvium and Blera. Attributing to the Roman mile the traditional value of 1,480 m, the two stations, according to the late Roman source, were placed ca. 19.2 km from one another. The distance between Masseria Castello (Blera?) and Masseria Caione (Sub Lupatia?) is 20.1 km ca., which is not far from the ca. 20.7 km obtained converting into kilometers the XIV miles reported in the Itinerarium Antonini. Based on this evidence, and with due caution, the identification of the rural settlements located during the surface surveys as the two stationes seems plausible. Nevertheless these hypotheses can only be confirmed or disproved through a direct survey of the areas ad- joining the entire segment of the via Appia between Gravina in Puglia and Taranto.
2016
978-1-78491-498-1
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11586/356263
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