|
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.
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. |
Ulysses in the seas of the West