ENGLISH * POZZUOLI
WE
VEER SLIGHTLY NORTHWARDS. AFTER FLYING OVER THE ITALSIDER IRON AND STEEL WORKS,
WHICH UNFORTUNATELY HAVE NOT YET MOVED ELSEWHERE AND SO REMAIN TO POLLUTE
ONE OF THE MOST SERENE LANDSCAPES IN THE WORLD, HERE BELOW US IS THE SIGHT
OF THE SOLFATARA OF POZZUOLI, AS MENACING AS IT IS APPARENTLY TRANQUIL.
THE CRATER RISES ONLY A FEW METRES ABOVE SEA LEVEL, BUT MEASURES ALMOST A
KILOMETRE IN DIAMETER. THE SULPHUROUS VAPOURS WHICH ISSUE FROM IT RESEMBLE,
SEE N FROM ABOVE,THE STREAM FROM
BOILING SAUSEPAN. AND THAT IS INDEED HOW THE EARTH HERE BEHAVES, * ON THE
BOIL * , RISING AND SUBSIDING REGULARLY AS THE RESULT OF A SEISMIC PHENOMENON
KOWN AS BRADYSEISM. THIS HAS ALWAYS BEEN A CHARACTERISTIC OF THE AREA, BUT
THE REFUGEES FROM SAMOS WHO FOUNDED POZZUOLI IN THE SIXTH CENTURY B.C. TOOK
NO ACCOUNT OF IT; THEY ESTABLISHED THEIR SETTLEMENT AND OCCUPIED THEMSELVES
MAINLY WITH HELPING CUMA, THE NEARBY CITY WITH WHOM THEY WERE ASSOCIATED,TO
DEFEND GREEK CIVILISATION IN CAMPANIA AGAINST THE ETRUSCANS. IN THE FIFTH
CENTURY, AFTER CUMA HAD FALLEN TO THE SAMNITES, POZZUOLI FORMED PART OF THE
POLITICAL CONFEDERATION HEADED BY CAPUA AND THEREFORE CAME INTO CONFLICT WITH
NAPLES, AS CAPUA WAS ETRUSCAN AND NAPLES STILL GREEK. NONETHELESS, IT DID
NOT SUPPORT HANNIBAL WHEN HE AND HIS TROOPS WERE QUARTERED AT CAPUA DURING
THE SECOND PUNIC WAR. ROME, AFTER ITS DEFEAT OF CAPUA,REWARDED POZZUOLI FOR
ITS ABSTENTION,AND PROMOTED IT TO THE RANK OF
*CIVITAS
SINE SUFFRAGGIO * .
UNDER THE ROMANS,POZZUOLI,OR PUTEOLI AS IT WAS CALLED, FLOURISHED. THE ROMAN
AMPHITHEATRE WHICH WE CAN SEE BELOW WAS BUILT AT THE TOWN'S EXPENSE UNDER
THE EMPEROR VESPASIAN AND,WITH A SEATING CAPACITY OF 40.000,
WAS THE LARGEST AFTER THE COLOSSEUM AND THE AMPHITHEATRE OF CAPUA. HERE,MORE
THAN IN ANY OTHER AMPHITHEATRE, IT IS POSSIBLE TO GAIN AN IDEA OF THE COMPLICATED
AND SPECTACULAR PROCEDURE OF THE GLADIATORIAL COMBATS WITH WILD BEASTS,THE
HUNTS AND AQUATIC SPORTS.
THE MOST CURIOUS MONUMET IN POZZUOLI AND THE PHLEGREAN REGION,FASCINATING
BOTH FROM AN ARCHAELOGICAL AND GEOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW, IS STILL STANDING:THE
* MACELLUM * OR FOOD MARKET, BETTER KNOWN AS THE TEMPLE OF SARAPIS.
IT IS THE ONLY ROMAN MARKET TO SURVIVE AFTER THE DESTRUCTION OF THOSE IN ROME,
WE OWE ITS PRESERVATION TO BRADYSEISM. ONLY THREE COLUMNS AND SOME MASONRY
EMERGE FROM THE THERMAL WATERS WHICH HAVE INUNDATED IT, BUT FROM WHERE WE
ARE WE CAN ADMIRE THE WHOLE OF THE GREAT COMPLEX WHICH LIES UNDER WATER THE
SHOPS AND BOOTHS,THE EXTERNAL AMBULATORY,THE PORTICO,THE MARBLE LATRINES SUPPLIED
WITH RUNNING WATER,THE ROTUNDA LIKE A SMALL TEMPLE AND EVEN THE FLOORING.
