Corsica in antiquity

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The history of Corsica in antiquity , although the island was never considered rich, is marked by struggles for supremacy by foreign powers. The successors of the Neolithic cultures were able to keep their traditions well into Roman times, but the Etruscans , Carthaginians , Phoenicians , Greeks and, after the Romans, Vandals , Byzantines and Saracens were interested in the island.

research

The sources and research on the island are sparse and related scientific publications are available in small quantities. This is due on the one hand to the subordinate importance of Corsica in antiquity and on the other hand to the lack of interest in French research on the island. Unlike in neighboring Sardinia , which has been better explored and documented by Italian researchers, the exploration of Corsica is in the early stages. In addition to the poverty of sources, Corsica's archeology is also in its infancy.

In the 19th century, Inspector General Prosper Mérimée was sent to Corsica to survey the historical monuments. He published his work Notes d'un voyage en Corse in 1840 , in which he summarized his knowledge of Corsican history. Intensive research into the early history of Corsica began in the 20th century with Roger Grosjean .

Lately long held views of scientific research have to be put into perspective. It has been found - especially in research on Sardinia - that the Romanization , which was thought to have only affected the coastal areas already inhabited by the Greeks and Carthaginians, had to some extent spread to the inhabitants of the island relatively early .

It is indicative of the level of knowledge about the island that, for example, the Lexicon of the Old World , published in 1965, has no article on Corsica, but is devoted to the Mediterranean islands of Crete, Sicily and Sardinia.

Island studies and naming

In Roman times the waters surrounding Corsica were called Mare Ligusticum in the north and west , Mare Tyrrhenum in the east and Fretum Gallicum in the south towards Sardinia . The position between the Italian mainland in the east, the Gallic mainland in the north and Sardinia in the south made Corsica a strategically important point for the control of the western Mediterranean . In addition, the island was important as a transshipment point for Mediterranean trade. Corsica was described by Theophrastus of Eresus as heavily forested and mountainous. Only a limited area was suitable for growing grain - especially on the east coast in the area of ​​the city of Aléria , but the island mainly supplied timber and raw materials such as copper, iron ore, silver, lead, pitch, wax and honey. Overall, the island products, apart from the ones listed, were considered to be quite worthless, the climate, especially in summer, was unhealthy ( malaria ) and all in all, rough and unfriendly.

The name Kyrnos (Greek Κύρνως) is possibly the Greek or Roman renaming of a native, Corsican toponym . In research, an origin of kors- - according to Eustathios Baumkrone - but rather of * krsa , head from the language of the pre-Roman Corsicans, is discussed. The Romans gave the word the suffix -îqa , the Phocaeans with -nos . Another possibility is that the name goes back to the Phoenician term Korsai , which means something like "covered with forests".

Early settlement

Area enlargement of Corsica (blue) due to the lower sea level at the time of the settlement of the island from the direction of Elba in the north
The rows of stones of Palaggiu also known as Campu dei Morti (cemetery)
Period of Corsican megaliths

Corsica has been colonized since the 8th millennium BC. Documented. The Corsican indigenous people, hunters and gatherers from Liguria , who immigrated over a land bridge near the present-day islands of Elba and Capraia , were killed around 6000 BC. Ousted by immigrants of the Neolithic cardial or imprint culture . For example, the name of the Potanos river speaks for its Ligurian origin . The island was due to the Worm Ice Age low water (about 100 m lower) closer to the mainland and was until about 5000 BC. Connected with Sardinia. In the south of the island about 3000 BC developed. A multi-phase megalithic culture ( Filitosa ). Contacts to Sardinia, Etruria and Liguria are documented in the Neolithic period . Terrina near Aléria is a testament to the height of the Aeneolithic . At this time (around 1600 BC) the Torre culture arose on the island , which is passed down through dolmens , menhirs and statue menhirs . As in the interior of the Iberian Peninsula , on the Balearic Islands , on Sardinia and Malta , the megalithic culture still prevailed at the time when the metal age had already set in in parts of Europe. Fortified settlements and circular towers called Torren emerged on Corsica during the Bronze Age . Cultural contacts were mainly maintained with Sardinia and the Italian mainland. Despite the contacts, developments during the Iron Age did not lead to urbanization . The first permanent settlements arose in the 9th century BC (Capula, Cuccuruzzu, Modria and Araguina-Sennola near Bonifacio ).

According to Diodorus , the island's inhabitants lived mainly as shepherds. The interior of the island was able to more or less maintain its independence until Roman times. In Roman times, for example, there were customs such as the man 's child's bed , which was supposed to distract evil spirits.

Greeks, Etruscans and Carthaginians

Urbanization only began with the settlement of Carthaginians around 565 BC. BC Herodotus counted the Corsicans among the mercenaries of the Carthaginians. Around 545 BC Founded Greek settlers from Phokaia , Mythological source: who left their homeland, a town in the area of Alalia , because of the siege of their hometown by the Persians under Harpagos . Settlers from the Greek city had probably already maintained a trading post there some time before, possibly a colony, which the Etruscans did not like so close to their territory. Since the Phocean Greeks, both as traders and as pirates, permanently disrupted the trade and economic power of the Etruscans and Carthaginians in the area of ​​southern France, Sardinia and Etruria and even attacked the Italian mainland, the two great powers of the western Mediterranean, which are in theirs, prepared themselves The Etruscans under the leadership of the city of Caere and the Carthaginians for a blow against the Greek city saw hegemony threatened . But came 530 BC. BC apparently the Phoenicians preceded the Allies with a surprising action. Their victory in the sea ​​battle at Alalia ensured that the Greeks had to leave their city again and settled in the Campanian Elea , one of 540 BC. Founded daughter city in BC, settled down. One of the most important Greek schools of philosophy, that of the Eleates , was later built in Elea . From now on Sardinia belonged to the rulership of the Carthaginians, Corsica to that of the Etruscans. The colonization of the Greeks in the western Mediterranean came to a complete standstill with the defeat of Alalias . Diodorus named tar, wax and honey as tribute gifts that the natives had to deliver to the Etruscans.

Beginning of the 6th century BC Alalia was Etruscan. A military expedition led by the Tarquinian Velthus Spurinna may have been sent for this purpose. At the beginning of the 4th century, Corsica was the last destination of a Greek expedition when the tyrant Dionysius I of Syracuse attacked the island. On the southern tip of the island, possibly near Porto-Vecchio , troops from Syracuse were able to establish themselves for some time.

Even Rome was interested very early for Corsica. A first attempt to found a Roman city around 425 BC BC still failed. Early on, as in the case of Galerius Torquatus in 296 BC. BC, the island was used as a place for exiled Romans.

Roman Republic

Corsica in Roman times. The governor's seat was in the Praetorium, and Aléria was the largest and most important city.

The Roman conquest of Corsica began in 259 BC. When Lucius Cornelius Scipio subjugated Aléria (the Greek Alalia ) and several Corsican tribes in the course of the First Punic War . The Roman invasion of the island meant the expansion of the war from the scene of Sicily to the whole of the western Mediterranean. In the later peace treaty between the Romans and the defeated Carthaginians, there was no mention of the two large islands in western Italy falling under the Romans' sphere of influence. But since the Carthaginians, weakened by a mercenary uprising, had no chance of counter-reaction - and the unrest spread to the Carthaginian island of Sardinia - the Romans finally annexed both islands. It is not entirely certain whether this was as early as 241 BC. It is certain that in 238/37 the consul Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus extended the rule, at least in theory, to all of Corsica and Sardinia.

Both islands were initially united into a military district and administered by a military government. An uprising in 231 BC Was put down by Papirius Maso , for which he got the first triumph in monte Albano . 227 BC The two large islands in western Italy were combined to form the colony Sardinia et Corsica . The taking over of the two islands was supposed to serve as a protective shield that protected the Italian mainland from attacks from the west. Along with Sicilia, Sardinia et Corsica was one of the first two provinces that the Roman Empire set up and thus finally changed its character from a city-state to a great power. In contrast to their expansion in Italy, they did not include the three large islands in their alliance system, but instead installed a lieutenant governor with civil and military rights in the rank of praetor . For the administration of the two new colonies, two new praetor posts were created, which the Roman system had not provided for until now and the administrative system was adapted to the growth of the empire. Originally, a military government was only set up on the island during wartime, but for the new form of administration of the colony, the military administration, which also took over civil administration, now became a permanent institution. The administrator of the province had his official seat in the Sardinian Cagliari . The first governor was Marcus Valerius Laevinus . The establishment of the province was enforced against the express wish of the local population, who until then had been able to maintain their independence from both the Greeks and the Carthaginians. In the period that followed, there were several uprisings and the conquest of the interior of the island took up a lot of Roman time and strength. The first colony - Colonia Mariana - was founded by Gaius Marius around the year 104 BC. BC, other colonies followed in the course of the first century BC. Marius founded the colony in the northeast of the island, in the settlement area of ​​the Vanacini tribe . Between December 82 and January 1, 80 BC In BC Sulla also settled colonists on the island. His colony was founded in Aléria and was called colonia Veneria Alaria .

Denarius of Sextus Pompey, struck on the occasion of his victory over Octavian's fleet in 37 BC. In the battle of Messina . On the front is the Pharus of Messina , on the back the monster Scylla , who is said to have defeated Octavian.

During the civil war, the island initially belonged to the sphere of influence of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus , but then joined Gaius Iulius Caesar . Between 40 and 38 BC BC occupied. Sextus Pompey , son of Pompey and his legacy Menas the island and terrorized from here Sardinia and Sicily and the Italic mainland with a large pirate fleet. In addition to the three triumviruses , he became the fourth important factor in the struggle for the succession of Caesar. His fleet, which consisted for the most part of thousands of slaves who had fled and also had several bases on Corsica, severely impaired the grain supply of Rome, so that Octavian , since it was not possible for him at that time to hold his own against Pompey, had to make concessions. In the Treaty of Misenum (39 BC) Pompey was awarded the three islands and Achaia was promised, but he renounced the further blockade of the mainland and remained neutral in conflicts between Antony and Octavian. But Octavian could not be satisfied with the loss of the territories he was actually entitled to and ensured that Corsica and Sardinia fell back into his hands through betrayal he initiated. The fighting with Pompey broke out in 38 BC. BC again, which again blocked the Italian mainland, which led to a famine there. It was not until later in the same year that Octavian had such a strong fleet that he militarily stood up to Pompey and regained control of the situation. Corsica remained until the reorganization of the provinces in 27 BC. In the private possession of Octavian.

The Romans built only one paved road on the island, which was on the east coast and in the south from Piantarella via the headquarters ( Praetorium ), Aléria to Mariana .

Roman Imperial Era

When the empire was reorganized, Sardinia et Corsica became a senatorial province. The province was administered by a proconsul with the rank of praetor . In 6 AD the independent province of Corsica was constituted when Emperor Augustus made the island of Sardinia, on which a citizen militia was under arms, one of his provinces. Even after Sardinia was returned to the Senate in 67, the separation was maintained. Apparently since 69 Sardinia was administered by a procurator.

According to Caesar's designs, Aléria was under Octavian between 36 and 27 BC. It was rebuilt and was called from now on Colonia Veneria Iulia Pacensis Restituta Tertianorum Aléria . Since the establishment of Corsica as an independent province, the city has been the seat of the Legatus Augusti . Aléria became an important naval base. In the heyday, 20,000 people are said to have lived in the city; remains of Roman settlement can still be found, for example, from the amphitheater .

Portrait of Seneca with inscription on a double boiler ( Antikensammlung , Berlin)

Between 41 and 49, Seneca was probably the most famous Roman exiled to Corsica on the island. At Messalina's instigation , he was accused of adultery in 41 and was relegated to the island by Claudius . Seneca spent eight rather bleak years here.

In the four-emperor year 69 the island stopped at Otho . Corsica's procurator Decumus Pacarius , an opponent of Otho, tried to take Vitellius's side with the island's fleet and the Roman dignitaries . But he met resistance, which he tried to break with the execution of the Trierarch of the Liburnian ships, Claudius Pyrrichus, and the knight Quintius Certus. Thereupon the Corsicans swore, albeit unwillingly, the oath on Vitellius. But when Decumus Pacarius began to recruit soldiers, a rebellion broke out that cost him and his followers their lives. None of this had any effect on the civil war. Otho, Vitellius, and then Vespasian neither reacted to Decumus Pacarius' betrayal nor to his murder.

Almost no news from the island has come down to us for the next 200 years. It was apparently one of the most peaceful and economically successful epochs in Corsican history. It is possible that Corsica has been administered by imperial officials again since 73. Under Trajan (98-117) the province was handed back to the Senate for administration and administered by a proconsul. Under Commodus (176–192) or possibly only under Septimius Severus (193–211), Corsica again became an imperial province, administered by a procurator Augusti et praefectus .

Even today one can discover some remains from Roman times scattered on the island. For example, there are the remains of thermal baths in Pietrapola , Guagno-les-Bains and Urbalacone .

Late antiquity and early Middle Ages

With the reorganization of the provinces by Diocletian at the beginning of late antiquity (end of the 3rd century), the status of Corsica remained unchanged. It was administered by a praeses and assigned to the Diocese of Italia Suburbicaria . As in the entire Roman Empire, tax pressure increased steadily at this time. As in many other parts of the empire, invaders and peoples immigrated to Corsica, which led to the western Roman central power giving up the island. In 410 the Visigoths conquered the island, in 455 the Vandals under their King Geiseric , who used the island as a base to plunder the Italian mainland every year. In addition, Corsica, which, unlike the North African vandal empire, was administered by a vandal and not by a Roman official, was used alongside Sardinia and Sicily to protect the now vandalized North Africa from attacks from the north. In 500, the Ostrogoths finally conquered Corsica. In 536, Eastern Roman troops of Emperor Justinian I under the command of Cyril, an officer of Belisarius , were able to use the island as well as Sardinia and the Balearic Islands for the Eastern Roman Empire in the course of a military operation lasting several years in the western Mediterranean, which was primarily aimed at the reconquest of North Africa from the Vandals had to win back. The emperor's building activity, which was very active elsewhere, left no traces on Corsica. In 575 the Lombards landed on the island and occupied several strategically important coastal places. The interior remained in Eastern Roman or Byzantine hands.

Pope Gregor I dictates Gregorian chant , which is said to have been inspired by the Holy Spirit, to a scribe ( Antiphonary des Hartker von St. Gallen , around 1000).

The tax pressure and the various invasions shook the island deeply and caused its ruin. The only thing that held the island together was the church, which was already very firmly anchored in the country. Not surprisingly, a new chapter in the history of the island was opened by the church. Pope Gregory I claimed the island as a mission area during his pontificate (590–604). On his behalf, the Christian faith in the population was deepened, the church organization was renewed and canon law was introduced. Episcopal seats that had remained vacant for a long time were permanently filled and an administration was established that at least partially penetrated the interior of the country. Where the crumbling Byzantine rule exacerbated the social antagonisms, the church became a stabilizing and continuity-guaranteeing element and the bishops became the real and recognized heads of the population.

In the early 7th century the island developed a new problem with the Saracens , who now repeatedly devastated the island's coast. The Lombards also came back to the island to fight the Saracens there. The conflict with the Saracens, in which other foreign powers also participated in some cases, and which then often claimed Corsica or parts of it, determined the fate of the island for several centuries. Apart from the chronicles of Giovanni della Grossa (1388–1464) , which were written much later and are interspersed with legends, this period has remained almost without surviving sources.

In the further course of the Middle Ages, Corsica was to become the plaything of several powers in the Mediterranean, which repeatedly threw the island back and made Corsica a poor house in Europe. It is only in the last few years, not least because of tourism and the associated income, that Corsica has caught up with the development of other parts of Western and Southern Europe.

With the rise of public interest in Corsica as a holiday destination, scientists began to take an interest in the history and legacies of the Corsicans of antiquity. It is to be expected that in the next few decades the knowledge of early and ancient history as well as the culture and archeology of early Corsica will multiply and that Corsica's past may appear in a different or new guise.

literature

Web links

credentials

  1. ^ Wolfgang Kathe: Korsika , Reise Know-How Verlag Peter Rump, ISBN 3-8317-1448-7
  2. ↑ For the current state of research see Bechert: Die Provinzen des Roman Empire , p. 62.
  3. ↑ Historia plantarum 5.8
  4. ^ Bechert: The Provinces of the Roman Empire , p. 61f.
  5. ↑ For the naming see Gerhard Radke: Corsica , in: Der Kleine Pauly , Vol. 1 (1964), Col. 1324.
  6. ↑ Richard Pittioni in: Propylaea World History , Volume 1, p. 275.
  7. ↑ See also the cultural history of antiquity . Volume 2: Rome , Berlin 1982.
  8. ↑ Histories 7,165.
  9. ↑ also Massillia , Emporion , Nikaia , Athenopolis and Antipolis had founded
  10. ↑ See The New Pauly . - in earlier literature there is always written about a fight between Greeks and Carthaginians / Etruscans. Also in 540 BC BC ( Wolfgang Schuller : Greek History , p. 14) and 535 BC Chr. ( Propylaea World History. Vol. 3, p. 678.) given as the year of the battle. There are various statements about the outcome of the fight. Jochen Bleicken ( Propylaea World History. Vol. 4, p. 45.) speaks of a crushing victory for the Carthaginian-Etruscan coalition, elsewhere a narrow victory by the Greeks is reported, which weakened the city so much that it had to be abandoned ( Hermann Bengtson : Roman History. Munich 1973, p. 17.). Alfred Heuss ( Propylaen Weltgeschichte. Vol. 3, p. 201,) speaks of an " ambiguous decision ".
  11. ↑ Diodorus 5,13,4; 11.88.5.
  12. ^ Alfred Heuss, in: Propylaea world history. Vol. 3, p. 387.
  13. ↑ Bengtson: Roman History , p. 39.
  14. ^ Theophrastus of Eresos : historia plantarum. 5,8,2 and an inscription of Claudius ( Klautie ) on an Attic kylix from the year 425 v. From a Casabiad necropolis.
  15. ^ Theophilos I. FGrH .
  16. ↑ Valerius Maximus 3,6,5 - because the Senate refused him the triumph, he held it more or less arbitrarily on the Mons Albanus .
  17. ^ Bechert: The Provinces of the Roman Empire , p. 61.
  18. ↑ CIL 10, 8038
  19. ↑ CIL 12, 2455 .
  20. ^ Manfred Fuhrmann : Seneca and Emperor Nero. A biography. A. Fest, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-8286-0012-3 , p. 185 (on Seneca's influence on Nero).
  21. ↑ Tacitus , Historien 2,16.
  22. ↑ CIL 10, 8023 and 8024.
  23. ↑ CIL 3, 6813 and CIL 10, 7580 .
  24. ↑ The lexicon of the Middle Ages names the year 455, Moses I. Finley in Das antike Sizilien 445, Jochen Martin in Spatantike und Völkerwanderung : " after 455 ".
  25. ↑ On the role of the church see Lexicon of the Middle Ages .
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on August 20, 2006 .