ENGLISH * SANTA
MARIA CAPUA VETERE
AS
WE WERE FLYING OVER THE PHLEGREAN REGION, WE OFTEN HEARD THE ETRUSCANS MENTIONED,
AND OUR CURIOSITY HAS BEEN AROUSED. WE LEARNT THAT THEY WERE CONTINUALLY AT
WAR WITH THE ITALIC PEOPLES OF CAMPANIA AND WITH THE PHLEGREAN GREEKS IN PARTICULAR,
WHOSE HARBOURS THEY WISHED TO GAIN POSSESSION OF IN ORDER TO HAVE ACCESS TO
THE SEA. SINCE THE ETRUSCAN SETTLEMENT WAS AT CAPUA (PRESENT DAY SANTA MARIA
CAPUA VETERE), WE HAVE DECIDED TO HEAD NORTH-EAST FROM ISCHIA TO GO THERE.
AFTER A JOURNEY OF 45 KILOMETRES, OVER THRIVING URBAN CENTRES AND RICH, WELL-CULTIVATED
AGRICULTURAL LAND, HERE WE ARE AT LAST WITHIN SIGHT OF SANTA MARIA CAPUA VETERE,
ANCIENT CAPUA, WHICH IN THE FOURTH CENTURY B.C. WAS THE LARGEST CITY IN ITALY
AFTER ROME, AND THE EIGHTH LARGEST CITY IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
IN THE SECOND CENTURY
B.C. IT EVEN SURPASSED ROME. THIS HELPS TO EXPLAIN THE SPIRIT OF EMULATION
AND THE NATURAL HOSTILITY IT NURSED TOWARS THE CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE.
FOUNDED BY THE ETRUSCANS
IN THE SIXTH CENTURY B.C. ON THE SITE OF A FORMER OSCAN AND SAMNITE SETTLEMENT,
IT WAS IMMEDIATELY FORTIFIED BY A ENCLOSING WALL AND ADOPTED A FIRM CIVIC
ORGANIZATION. A HUNDRED YEARS LATER, FEARING THE CONFEDERATION OF THE SAMNITE
LEAGUE WHICH WISHED TO UNITE ALL THE ITALIC PEOPLES AGAINST THE ROMANS, IT
ENTERED INTO AN ALLIANCE WITH ROME NOT A WISE DECISION, AS IT TURNED OUT.
ROME TREATED IT AS A VASSAL CITY AND EXACTED HEAVY TRIBUTES FROM IT. IN AN
ATTEMPT TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE ROMANS' DISASTROUS DEFEAT BY THE CARTHAGINIANS
AT CANNAE, CAPUA DECIDED TO REGAIN ITS INDEPENDENCE AND WELCOMED HANNIBAL
AND HIS TROOPS. ALSO THIS MOVE WAS A MISTAKE. HANNIBAL SUFFERED A HUMILIATING
DEFEAT; CAPUA WAS RETAKEN AND ITS STATUS REDUCED TO THAT OF "CIVITAS
SINE SUFFRAGIO". DESPITE THIS SETBACK, IT CONTINUED TO PROSPER, SO MUCH
SO INDEED THAT, UNDER AUGUSTUS, IT ACQUIRED THE TITLE OF "COLONIA JULIA
AUGUSTA FELIX". IN THE FIFTH CENTURY IT WAS PLUNDERED AND DEVASTATED
BY THE BARBARIANS UNDER GENSERIC, AND IN THE NINTH CENTURY THE SARACENS WIPED
IT OUT.
THE INHABITANTS ABANDONED
THE TOWN AND TRANSFERRED FOUR KILOMETRES AWAY TO CASILINUM, WHERE TODAY WE
FIND THE NEW CAPUA. WITH THE PASSAGE OF TIME, A SMALL CENTRE BEGAN TO GROW
UP AGAIN ROUND THE ANCIENT CHURCH DEDICATED TO SANTA MARIA MAGGIORE, AND SUBSEQUENTLY
THE TOWN TOOK THE NAME OF SANTA MARIA CAPUA VETERE. THE HOUSES KEEP A RESPECTFUL
DISTANCE FROM THE AMPHITHEATRE, AND SO, FROM ABOVE, THIS EDIFICE STANDS OUT
CLEARLY IN THE MIDST OF LARGE AND ABUNDANT MARKET GARDENS. IN THE COURSE OF
EIGHT CENTURIES, IT HAS BEEN STRIPPED OF ITS MARBLE AND ITS WORKS OF ART THE
FATE OF ALL CLASSICAL MONUMENTS BUT ONCE THIS GRANDIOSE BUILDING RIVALLED
THE COLOSSEUM IN SPLENDOUR AND SIZE. LIKE THE COLOSSEUM, THERE WERE FOUR LEVELS:
THE LOWER THREE WERE IN TRAVERTINE, AND EACH CONSISTED OF 80 ARCHES; THE UPPER
LEVEL WAS A CONTINUOS WALL ADORNED WITH PILASTERS. THE KEYSTONES OF THE ARCHES
WITH THEIR IMPRESSIVE BUSTS OF GODS "TWO SURVIVE" GIVE SOME IDEA
OF ITS ORIGINAL SPLENDOUR, AS DO ONLY EVEN MORE SO THE MARBLE STATUES OF VENUS,
ADONIS AND PSYCHE (NOW IN THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM IN NAPLES). WE CANNOT
SEE THE UNDERGROUND CORRIDORS AND THE GIGANT MACHINERY FOR THE SPECTACLES
WHICH TOOK PLACE IN THE ARENA: THE "NAUMACHIA" (ARTIFICIAL SEA FIGHTS),
THE GLADIATORIAL COMBATS, THE HUNTING OF WILD ANIMALS.
THE AMPHITHEATRE WAS BUILT
IN THE FIRST CENTURY B.C. AND WAS ADORNED WITH STATUES BY THE EMPEROR HADRIAN,
WHO ALSO HAD A LOGGIA CONSTRUCTED WHICH CONSISTED OF A MARBLE COLONNADE.
SANTA MARIA CAPUA VETERE
ALSO HAS ANOTHER MONUMENT DATING FROM CLASSICAL TIMES THE MITHRAEUM BUT SINCE
THIS IS UNDERGROUND NOTHING IS VISIBLE TO US. IT IS A SAD OMISSION TO HAVE
TO MAKE, BECAUSE THE MITHRAEUM IS WELL PRESERVED, IN CONTRAST TO THE AMPHITHEATRE.
BUILT IN HONOUR OF THE PERSIAN GOD MITHRAS, IT CONSISTS OF A LONG RECTANGULAR
CHAMBER SURMOUNTED BY A BARREL-VAULT DECORATED WITH STARS. ON THE END WALL
THERE IS A FRESCO DEPICTING THE GOD HIMSELF AND THE SIDE WALLS SHOW SCENES
OF INITATION INTO THE MITHRAIC MYSTERIES. TWO ROMAN TOMBS IN THE VICINITY
ARE OF GREAT INTEREST; THE CHURCH OF S.MARIA DELLA LIBERA OCCUPIES THE BASE
OF ONE.
THE DEPRETATIONS CARRIED
OUT ON THE COLOSSUS (THE AMPHITHEATRE), AS ON THE MANY TEMPLES AND OTHER RICHLY
DECORATED EDIFICES IN THE TOWN, FURNISHED MATERIAL FOR THE FOURTH CENTURY
CATHEDRAL, THE NAVE OF WHICH INCORPORATES ANCIENT MARBLE COLUMNS IN ITS FABRIC.
