Lucius Cocceius Auctus

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Lucius Cocceius Auctus , Freedman , was a Roman architect who worked in the second half of the 1st century BC. Worked. As a specialist in underground tunnels, his field of activity was in the area of ​​the Phlegraean Fields in Campania .

Portus Iulius

Virgil recorded in his Georgica that Admiral Agrippa , the general of Octavian, the later Emperor Augustus , 37 BC. Chr. Had given the order to link two strategically important lakes, namely the Avernersee with the Lago di Lucrino . He intended to develop the lakes into a fleet port with shipyards . In honor of his adoptive father Gaius Iulius Caesar , Augustus named the port portus Iulius . According to Strabon, an architect named Cocceius was involved in this project , who connected Lake Avern and Cumae by means of a tunnel .

"Grotta di Cocceio" and "Crypta Cumana"

There is no evidence of the old port facility archaeologically today. The same applies to the almost one kilometer long underground road tunnel, the Grotta di Cocceio . It led from the northwestern shore of Lake d'Averno through the tuff of Monte Grillo and ended on the eastern edge of Cumae . Cocceius Auctus had the tunnel between 38 and 36 BC. Built. It was usable until the Second World War , when it was converted into an ammunition depot and has since been closed to the public as a result of several explosions. The tunnel system found its continuation to the sea as Crypta Cumana , which led about 180 meters through the Monte di Cuma. With this end section, a connection between the newly created naval port and the Tyrrhenian Sea was ultimately created.

The system was later connected to the fleet base of the classis praetoria Misenensis in Miseno .

"Crypta Neapolitana" and "Grotta di Seiano"

According to a corrupt passage in the tradition of the Greek historian and geographer Strabo, interpreted as an interpolation , the Cocceius he mentioned was also the architect of the Grotta di Pozzuoli ( Crypta Neapolitana ). It is an underground passage through the Posillipo that connected Naples with Pozzuoli .

For structural and archaeological reasons, one would also like to trace the Grotta di Seiano back to Cocceius Auctus, a road tunnel that connected the villa of Publius Vedius Pollio in Naples with Pozzuoli.

status

Generally associated with the Cocceius of Strabo is one of the few real architect's inscriptions from Roman times, which was placed on the temple dedicated to Augustus on the Acropolis of Pozzuoli and mentions the architect's full name: L (ucius) Cocceius L (uci) C (ai) Postumi l (ibertus) Auctus arc (h) itect (us) . Accordingly, Lucius Cocceius Auctus was a freedman of Gaius Postumius, whom one would like to identify with the architect Gaius Postumius Pollio. Postumius Pollio is known from inscriptions from the Augustus temple in Terracina and from a city gate in Formiae and is therefore also an architect from the Augustan period. In addition, his name suggests that Cocceius was previously released from a Lucius Cocceius, probably Lucius Cocceius Nerva , follower of Octavian and suffect consul of 39 BC Another inscription from Cumae names him as a redemptor , that is, as an entrepreneur who works at his own expense and risk. Pierre Gros therefore suspected that he ran a joint company with Gaius Postumius Pollio and that they took on construction contracts in Cumae and the surrounding area and were jointly responsible for the financial and technical-operational aspects.

literature

  • Herbert W. Benario: Cocceius and Cumae. In: The Classical Bulletin: Volume 35, 1959, pp. 40 f.
  • Ernst Fabricius : Cocceius 2. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume IV, 1, Stuttgart 1900, column 129 ( digitized version ).
  • Pierre Gros : Statute social et rôle culturel des architectes (période hellénistique et augustéenne). In: Architecture et société. De l'archaisme grec à la fin de la république Romaine. Actes du Colleque international organisé par le Center national de la recherche scientifique et l'École française de Rome. (Rome 2-4 December 1980) (= Collection de l'École Française de Rome. Volume 66). École Française de Rome, Rome 1983, pp. 425–452, here: pp. 436–438 ( online ).
  • Werner Müller: Architects in the ancient world . Koehler & Amelang, Leipzig 1989, ISBN 3-7338-0096-6

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ A Companion to Roman Architecture, edited by Roger B. Ulrich, Caroline K. Quenemoen
  2. ↑ Virgil, Georgica 2.161 to 4.
  3. ↑ Cf. Suetonius , Augustus 16.1.
  4. ↑ a b c d Werner Müller: Architects in the world of antiquity . Koehler & Amelang, Leipzig 1989, ISBN 3-7338-0096-6 , p. 150.
  5. ↑ Strabo, Geographika 5,4,5 (= 5,245).
  6. ^ Geotechnics and Heritage: Case Histories, edited by Emilio Bilotta, Alessandro Flora, Stefania Lirer, Carlo Viggiani
  7. ↑ Strabon, Geographika 5,245.
  8. ↑ CIL 10, 01614 .
  9. ↑ CIL 10, 06339 .
  10. ↑ CIL 10, 06126 .
  11. ^ Pierre Gros: Statut social et rôle culturel des architectes (période hellénistique et augustéenne). In: Architecture et société. De l'archaisme grec à la fin de la république Romaine. École Française de Rome, Rome 1983, p. 437.
  12. ↑ CIL 10, 03707 .
  13. ^ Pierre Gros: Statut social et rôle culturel des architectes (période hellénistique et augustéenne). In: Architecture et société. De l'archaisme grec à la fin de la république Romaine. École Française de Rome, Rome 1983, p. 438.
personal data
SURNAME Lucius Cocceius Auctus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION roman architect
DATE OF BIRTH 1st century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 1st century BC BC or 1st century