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The wise men tell that a certain
Italòs became king of the Oenotrians and that
it is from him that the Peninsula of Europe took its name,Italìa.The
first "Italy" is therefore that extreme and narrow part of the
Italian peninsula which is bordered to the north by the isthmus
between the gulfs of Squillace and S.Eufemia.Here, East and West
meet on a bridge of land,open on the Ionian to the routes of the
Aegean and Euxine Seas and on the Tyrrhenian to the seas of the
West,to the ends of the known world.
Ulysses in the seas of the West
The origins of the cities of the
Magna Graecia(Greater Greece!)on Calabrian soil cast
their roots back to the very heart of the mythical
tradition.Gods and heroes partecipate in their founding,guide
the path of the warriors on the routes of the
Mediterranean,decide the outcome of battles and disputes.For
centuries, sailors and men of adventure crossed the seas
carrying not only goods but also their art and conception of the
world.
Homer's
Odyssey was one of the first to give poetic expression
to the Greeks' exploration of the western Mediterranean,the very
first canto of Odyssey includes the name of a Greek city in
Calabria: Temesa.
The legendary colonisation on the coasts of the Ionian and
Tyrrhenian Seas is narrated by the nostoi,literally
those returning home,the tales and poems of the adventures of
Greek and Trojan heroes who sailed the seas after the fall of
Troy in search of a landing place,a new land,a homeland.
Iliade,Odyssey,the tales of the nostoi,the
myths of
Hercules,the Argonauts allow one to retrace
the stages of the very history of mankind and identify the
elements of historical truth which each myth conceals.
MANY OF THE EVENTS TOOK PLACE BETWEEN THE CALABRIAN IONIAN AND TYRRHENIAN
in those cities which archaeologists are now slowly bringing to
light.
Travelling along the coasts of Calabria,between the remains
of ancient buildings,the hollows of the theaters,the podia of
the temples,one can be possessed,just like the first Greeks,by
the beauty of the landscape.The mouths of the rivers, the
towering cliffs of Capo Spartivento and the Lacinian
Promontory,the famous Rock of Scilla,all speak the ancient
language of a majestic and strong nature and invite the
traveller to take a more leisurely look around. |
