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View of Cosa and Portus Cosanus……………………………………………..5 )ORULGD6WDWH8QLYHUVLW\/LEUDULHV 2019 Cosa and Portus Cosanus: Pirates, Politics, Vermin, or Vibrations? William Carter Jakeman III Follow this and additional works at DigiNole: FSU's Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES Cosa and Portus Cosanus: Pirates, Politics, Vermin, or Vibrations? By WILLIAM C. JAKEMAN III A Thesis submitted to the Department of Classics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation with Honors in the Major Degree Awarded: Spring, 2019 _______Associate____________________ Professor Andrea De Giorgi____ _______Associate____________________ Professor Ronald E. Doel____ _______Assistant____________________ Professor Elizabeth Murphy____ Table of Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………...1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………2 Historical Overview of Cosa and Portus Cosanus……………………………………………..5 Archaeology of Cosa and Portus Cosanus…………………………………………………….12 Roman Politics, Coups, and Civil Strife ……………………………………………………...17 Ancient Piracy and the Cilician Pirates……………………………………………………….23 Spartacus’ Cilician Pirates and Cosa………………………………………………………….30 Demise of the Cilicians and Piracy in the Mediterranean……………………………………36 Vibrations or Vermin?…………………………………………………………………………37 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………42 List of Figures…………………………………………………………………………………..48 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………50 1 Abstract In the years 70-60 B.C. the Roman colony of Cosa encountered a devastating event, the subject of which has been debated for centuries. Three theories have cropped up in an attempt to answer the question: What caused Cosa’s destruction? The first theory involves pirates of that era, perhaps a sacking and pillaging of the town by raiding brigands. The second theory suggests an earthquake destroyed the town, killing most of its inhabitants. The third theory suggests a plague of vermin struck the town, bringing disease along with it. The position herein presents the theory of pirates as most plausible. Historical accounts indicate the presence of Cilician pirates during the Third Slave War between 73-71 B.C. The gladiator Spartacus led his slave army to the southern region of Italy, Calabria, and paid a fleet of Cilician pirates to cross the Strait of Messina to Sicily. The Cilicians betrayed Spartacus and sailed away from Calabria instead. Ancient historians do not account for where these pirates sailed to. Logically, they sailed northwest to the islands of Corsica and Sardinia to distance between themselves from the Roman armies of Pompey, Crassus, and Lucullus. The political instability of the Roman Republic leading into the 1st century B.C. also contributed to Cosa’s vulnerability. Such instabilities were direct consequences of the disruption of law perpetrated by Roman politicians Sulla and Marius in the 80’s B.C., as well as the social incoherence due to Rome’s Social War against some of its former Italian allies. This social and political chaos inhibited communications to and from Cosa, and the reallocation of most of Rome’s relief forces to the southern regions to fight Spartacus compromised the coastal and inland security of Etruria. Thorough research on alternative theories such as earthquakes or a plague of vermin are deemed implausible due to archaeological evidence of the economic history of Cosa’s harbor or port, Portus Cosanus, and newly discovered archaeoseismological evidence of thrust faults located in the immediate area. 2 Introduction Cosa and Portus Cosanus both reside in the modern town of Ansedonia. This small town of one hundred residents is at the southern provincial line of the Province of Grosseto—one of many provinces which make up the region of Tuscany. Tuscan climate is arid, yet the soil is fertile enough for the production of grapes, olives, and grain. Due to the climate and geology of Tuscany, extreme weather does not plague this region of Italy, which is good for crops and trade goods, be they raw materials or processed goods (such as wine, oils, etc.). Much of the climate of Tuscany has not changed dramatically over the past two thousand years, and much of the same staples and goods made in Tuscany have remained untampered.1 Stretching far back to the dawn of the first Punic War, the ancient city of Cosa allows archaeologists to peer backwards through the window of time to 273 B.C. and analyze Roman society and methods of development during republican times. A “sister site” of Cosa, Portus Cosanus was established not long after the foundation of Cosa, however it grew tangentially to the hilltop city with evidence of independent periods of growth.2 Acting as the city’s harbor and fishery, Portus Cosanus gave the nearby populace of Cosa a substantial amount of fish and hub for trade.3 It also possessed fresh water which the surrounding area and settlement needed. Vice versa, the town of Cosa provided the port with manpower, building materials such as stone and wood, a reliable production of amphorae and pottery, and trade goods such as olive oil, wine, and grains to export.4 A relationship which boosted both sites and brought them into their prime 1 Frank Edward B R E H R L Cosa I, History and Topography, 1951, pg. 5 2 A M MC J B EK G JP O EL W The Roman Port and Fishery of Cosa: a Center of Ancient Trade 3 Frank Edward Brown, C M R T, 1980, pg. 50-51 4 Frank E. B Cosa, the Making of a Roman Town, 1980, pg. 71 3 respectfully. With this in mind, the rise and fall of Cosa during the days of the Roman Republic should coincide with the rise and fall of its port, Portus Cosanus. Surprisingly, they do not coincide. It is the town’s destruction which raises questions concerning the development and survival of Portus Cosanus. Why was the port excluded from Cosa’s fate? Was it pirates who destroyed Cosa? How did Portus Cosanus finally fall? Throughout the 1960’s and well into the mid 1970’s, Portus Cosanus was treated and excavated as a separate site.5 Growth between Portus Cosanus and Cosa are not as intertwined as one might think. Yet the fates of both are linked by the methods of men both fierce and cunning—from the Senate to the seas, the ultimate destruction and decline of both port and town originated in the early-1st century B.C. Stratigraphic analysis by archaeologist Dr. Frank Brown revealed a layer of carbon throughout many residential sites, indicative of a city-wide fire.6 Dr. Brown is a revered member of the American Academy in Rome and was a distinguished Mediterranean and Classical archaeologist of the 20th century. He started excavations on Cosa in the late 1940’s. Much of his research and publicized work is about Cosa stretching from his 1940’s excavations until his passing in the 1988. Excavation and analysis of these residences pinpoint the destruction to between 72 and 71 B.C.7 Concerning the exact date for Cosa’s first destruction, this window of time has been determined by Brown to be between 70 and 60’s B.C. By asserting this destruction was caused by pirates, and in connection with archaeological data of abandonment and layers of carbon indicating a city-wide burning, the window of possibility for Cosa’s destruction can be focused down to between 72 and 67 B.C. Regarding the upper 5 A M MC J B EK G JP O EL W The Roman Port and Fishery of Cosa: a Center of Ancient Trade -63 6 Frank Edward B E H R L R C III T B F C Municipium, and Village", 1993, pg. 186, 189. 7 Grose, David Frederick, R. T. Scott, Jennifer Price, Katherine A. Larson, and John Huffstot. "The Hellenistic, Roman, M G C 4 parameter of 72 B.C., Brown’s “Cosa: The Making of a Roman Town” mentions carbon-dating analysis of the carbon layers, specifically of a residential house near the Forum, which dates to 72 B.C.8 As for the lower parameter, 67. B.C., both Roman historian Livy in his History of Rome, and Dr. McCann in her “The Roman Port and Fishery of Cosa” mention that in 67 B.C. Pompey led an incursion into the province of Cilicia in southern Anatolia.9 He defeated many Cilician forces in his campaign and purged many pirate strongholds in the process.10 This purging wiped out most pirate havens and ports of origin. After this, Livy records a notable decrease in pirate activity throughout the Mediterranean as a direct consequence of Pompey’s actions. Therefore, 67 B.C would have to be the deadline parameter for when Cosa was destroyed by pirates. In conjunction with written documents by ancient historians Plutarch and Livy, the presence of unchecked maritime rogues known as Cilician pirates presents a highly plausible cause for this destruction via sacking. It is unlikely that Cosa experienced seismic activity during the Roman Republic.11 Such seismic activity in A.D. 51 was documented when excavating Portus Cosanus, coinciding with evidence found by Brown.12 Yet the port was not abandoned as was the town, so seismic activity being the leading cause appears unlikely. Civil unrest as a direct consequence of Lucius Cornelius Sulla’s dictatorship following an Italian “Social War” most likely affected the stability of Cosa’s region. Moreover, Cosa’s destruction can be linked to a pirate sacking through literary and contextual analysis of Plutarch and Livy accounts of an 8 David Grose, R. T. Scott, Jennifer P., Katherine L., John H., "The Hellenistic, Roman, and Medieval Glass from C 9 Nigel Pollard, R E 2016, pp. 16-17 10 Plutarch, Life of Pompey, Section 45 11 Maria Teresa Marabini M Cosa: The Italian Sigillata 12 David Grose, R. T. Scott, Jennifer P., Katherine L., John H., "The Hellenistic, Roman, and Medieval Glass from C 5 increase in pirate activity throughout the Tyrrhenian and Ligurian seas during the early 1st century B.C.
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