How "Roman" was Sicily? The first instances of romanisation during the Republician, i.e. the Late...

HOW “ROMAN” WAS SICILY?

THE FIRST INSTANCES OF ROMANISATION DURING THE REPUBLICAN,

I.E. THE LATE HELLENISTIC PERIOD IN SICILY.

Oil Painting of the Ruins of the Ancient Theatre of Taormina, Sicily. Made by American

painter William Stanley Haseltine (1835-1900) (www.artistclon.com).

BY MARTEN VAN NIEUWKOOP

http://www.artistclon.com/

How “Roman” was Sicily? | Marten van Nieuwkoop

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TITLE: HOW “ROMAN” WAS SICILY?

SUBTITLE: THE FIRST INSTANCES OF ROMANISATION IN DURING THE

REPUBLICAN, I.E. THE LATE HELLENISTIC PERIOD IN SIC-

ILY.

AUTHOR: MARTEN VAN NIEUWKOOP

STUDENT NUMBER: S1012762

COURSE: SICILY IN ANTIQUITY

COURSE CODE: 5570KEXC

SUPERVISOR: PROF. DR. N. SOJC

LEIDEN UNIVERSITY, FACULTY OF ARCHAEOLOGY

LEIDEN, APRIL 2013

VERSION 1.0


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction Page 4

1.1 Aim of this Essay Page 5

2. The Concept of Romanisation Page 6

2.1 A Brief History Page 6

2.2 Difficulties & Solutions Page 7

2.3 The Case of Sicily Page 8

3. Roman Sicily Page 9

3.1 The Roman Arrival Page 9

3.2 Case-Study: The Town of Soluntum Page 10

3.3 Case-Study: The Town of Monte Iato Page 12

3.4 Statuary & Epigraphy Page 14

4. Conclusion Page 15

Bibliography Page 16

List of Figures Page 18


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1. INTRODUCTION

Since the beginning of at least the Neolithic Era Sicily has been an important

factor regarding trade around the Mediterranean area (Holloway 1991, 18). Due to its

strategic location the island established networks of contact and soon flourished.

This network of cultural exchange intensified and became much larger through time.

Versluys (2012) provides us with a short but very useful history of this network

of cultural exchange. During the Age of Bronze many societies with their elites had

the same material culture, noticeable when looking at the vast amount of different

goods retrieved from the Uluburun shipwreck, found just from the shore of Anato-

lia. Around 1000 BC the so-called ‘commercial revolution’ occurred. By the hands of

the Phoenicians large-scale distribution of various goods took place and circularity

began to emerge and rise. Somewhere around the sixth century BC the Axial Age

started, which was only made possible by the presence of the previous phases. Dur-

ing this age of contact cultures started to define themselves. The Greeks defined

themselves with Homer, the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, for example. Dur-

ing the Hellenistic period universal traditions started to emerge. The Roman Period

marked the final element of this network of cultural exchange, with an unprece-

dented level of circularity.

It is this network of cultural exchange which makes Sicily a very interesting and

relevant case-study to investigate if we want to know for example how the Roman

Empire dealt with other cultures. Did the Roman colonizers bring light in the Barba-

rism? Did the local population adopt the Roman ways of life? Or is there more to it

than meets the eye?


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1.1. AIM OF THIS ESSAY

The ultimate aim of this essay is to understand the process of Romanisation on

the island of Sicily during the Early Republican, i.e. the Late Hellenistic period

(roughly between the third and first century BC). An attempt will be made to com-

prehend the hybridity of material culture by focusing on traces of cultural interaction

and connectivity.

To answer this research question this essay will first take a closer look at the

concept of Romanisation and the difficulties involved with it (chapter two). When

this is all sorted out the focus will shift to Roman Sicily and the material culture on

the island, including evidence from the towns of Soluntum and Monte Iato and from

the field of statuary and epigraphy (chapter three). The conclusion will deal with the

Greek cultural roots which were still apparent on the island during the Roman pe-

riod, followed by possible similarities with other part of the Roman Empire and the

answering of the research question.


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2. THE CONCEPT OF ROMANISATION

As mentioned before there are a few difficulties involved with the concept of

Romanisation and its use in the archaeology. To explore this concept this chapter will

first focus on the theoretical developments in the last decade, followed by a number

of existing difficulties and their (possible) solutions.

2.1 A BRIEF HISTORY

The idea of Romanisation started somewhere in the Renaissance, when a re-

newed interest in the classical period and corresponding art and material culture oc-

curred. This classical period was perceived as a prosperous period of great knowl-

edge, with its democracy, philosophy, literature and poetry, in contrast with the me-

dieval times. During this period of Renaissance the term ‘Roman’ was implicit used

as an indication of a military and morally superior Proto-European state which as

colonizer brought light in the Barbarism. In later periods, scholars assumed that the

local population adapted the Roman ways of life, as this life was seen as a better life

(becoming Roman). It was only in the 1960s that this conception started to change

and the idea of classical superiority was abandoned (Versluys 2008, 29-30).

So how did these major changes look like in archaeological practice? Versluys

(2008, 31) provides us with four (coherent) points with a shift in focus:

I. From the elite (palaces and villae) to the ‘people without history’.

II. From the centre (Rome and other cities) to the countryside. In

other words: from cityscape to landscape.

III. From visual material culture to material culture which is usually

not on display in museums.

IV. From classical language and art history as research method to so-

cial science and prehistory.

Due to this radical shift of paradigm the validity of the concept of ‘Roman’ is

disputed, and this has led to a number of difficulties regarding the current archaeo-

logical study of material culture.


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2.2 DIFFICULTIES & SOLUTIONS

A first difficulty for archaeologists is the concept of ‘style’: the use of cultural

designations as ‘Greek’ and ‘Roman’ to appoint material culture in a stylistic way and

thus place it in the cultural sentence. These cultural designations are etic[1] names

which often have a lot less to do with emic[2] perceptions (Versluys 2008, 31). ‘Style’

has to be detached from ethnic and cultural identity (Versluys 2009, 201).

A second difficulty for archaeologists is the study of Roman art, including statu-

ary. In the past this was mainly studied from ancient literary sources and then related

to the development of Greek art. This ‘Roman-copy-after-Greek-original’ viewpoint

is nowadays largely put aside and replaced by a point of view where the viewer can

understand an artefact from different perceptions and identities. Most modern schol-

ars agree that the Roman choice for Greek visual culture was part of their strategy

for a specific and successful ‘successor-culture’. This has led to a very different per-

spective on the relationship between ‘Greek’ and ‘Roman’ (Versluys 2008, 31-32).

A third difficulty for archaeologists is the fact that we cannot understand the

Roman world in term of ‘provinces’. We have to catch both local and global aspects

of a society in one framework to understand processes of coherence and identity

forming (Versluys 2009, 189). This point of view has led to a much clearer picture of

the Roman world as a whole, illustrated by Greg Woolf (2004). It is however very

difficult to study the Roman world as a whole with all these current issues in mind

(Versluys 2008, 32). This is one of the reasons why modern scholars still use terms

like ‘Greek’ and ‘Roman’, but only as concepts of modernisation which are strategi-

cally used in a local context (Versluys 2008, 29).

A fourth difficulty is the fact that people and material culture are two very dif-

ferent things, which are often too simplistically connected with each other. Due to

the already present network of cultural exchange material elements are no longer

connected with their original ethnical background and can only evoke associations

with it (Versluys 2009, 200).

1 Etic: The analytical descriptions and explanations of the researcher (abstract point of view) (Eriksen 1995, 40).

2 Emic: Life experienced and described by members of society itself (concrete point of view) (Eriksen 1995, 40).


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To overcome many of these difficulties the concept of Romanisation should be

considered as a process of mutual cultural interaction in which own long-term devel-

opments of different actors play an important role. Besides this it is very important

that we do not lose sight of the coherence between cultures (Versluys 2009, 200). It

is also important to use terms from different disciplines like philosophy, sociology

and anthropology to aid us in the study of material culture (Versluys 2008, 34).

2.3 THE CASE OF SICILY

The relationship between the Roman and the pre-existing cultures of Sicily was

very complex one. Not only because of the presence of cultural diversity but also

because of the relationship with Rome and the circumstance of its conquest (Lomas

2001, 162). As said before there was already a lot of cultural contact in the Mediter-

ranean before the Romans (fig. 1), and also between Sicily and the Italian mainland.

To create a thorough picture of Romanisation we have to look not only at the Ro-

man influence on Sicily, but also at the Sicilian influence on Rome. This Sicilian in-

fluence on Rome is however far too complex to fit in a short essay like this, so the

focus here will be mainly on material culture from Sicily itself.

Figure 1: Cultures in Sicily, c. 431 BC (commons.wikimedia.org).

http://commons.wikimedia.org/


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3. ROMAN SICILY

This chapter will focus on the material culture on the island of Sicily during the

Early Republican, i.e. the Late Hellenistic period (roughly between the third and first

century BC), including evidence from the towns of Soluntum and Monte Iato. It is

however first useful to give a brief history of how Sicily came in contact with Rome.

3.1 THE ROMAN ARRIVAL

After a tumulus period of power vacuums and political and military anarchies,

Hieron II (269-215 BC) rose to power in Syracuse and eventually became tyrant. He

battled the Mamertines[3] in 265 BC and, after defeating them, acclaimed himself as

king. Fearing a Syracusan siege the Mamertines appealed for help first to Punic Car-

thage, and later to Rome, marking the beginning of the First Punic War in 264 BC.

To retain his kingdom Hieron II concluded a treaty with the Romans, and the atten-

tion shifted to driving Carthage from Sicily. During this long war Hieron II had time

to bring Syracuse to an unprecedented level of prosperity. Due to the importance of

Sicily as both a source of food and a major point for trade- and supply routes both

the Punics and the Romans attempted to conquer the island. Eventually the Romans

sacked Syracuse and the Second Punic War in Sicily was essentially over (Serrati

2001, 109-112).

During these wars the Romans converted Sicily into their first Roman provin-

cial. The Romans adopted the old agricultural tithes on the island, used to feed both

Rome and the army. Cities on the island were in large part left to govern themselves,

and loyalties could lead to special privileges. Some hilltop towns were abandoned,

showing a shift from defence to trade and corresponding economic prosperity. De-

spite some large-scale slave revolts (one of them being the Slave War between 135

and 132 BC) and some unscrupulous governors, this economic prosperity lasted until

at least 42 BC, after Sextus (67-35 BC) took control of Sicily and blockaded the sup-

ply to Rome. Partly due to the supply from Egypt, Sicily’s importance to Rome never

reached former heights (Serrati 2001, 112-113).

3 The Mamertines of Campania were Agathocles’ (316-289 BC, former tyrant of Syracuse) former

mercenaries, plundering nearby cities including Syracuse (Serrati 2001, 110).


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3.2 CASE-STUDY: THE TOWN OF SOLUNTUM

Soluntum is located on the north coast of the island of Sicily, about 16 kilome-

tres east of modern Palermo. It lies 183 metres above sea level nearby Mount Catal-

fano. This hill town was a successor to an original Phoenician foundation which was

abandoned during the second half of the fourth century BC for security reasons (pi-

rates). During the second and early first centuries BC the town was not abandoned

(only some towns were due to a shift from defence to trade) but totally restructured,

visible in the material culture. The town of Soluntum (fig. 2) thus gives us not only a

idea of what a Late Hellenistic town in Sicily actually looked like, but also how

Greeks and Romans influenced the material culture (Wilson 2001, 140-141).

The not so well preserved theatre can be set in the context of other Sicilian thea-

tres built in the second century BC. It is characterised by a U/pi shape and probably

(if we look at the theatre of Tindari) consisted of both Ionic and Doric elements,

thus creating a characteristic Late Hellenistic Sicilian style (Wilson 2001, 143-144).

Located south of the theatre is the agora, which is not well preserved. It belongs

to a type paralleled elsewhere in second century BC Sicily. This two-storey agora is

lined with a portico of columns along the front and a long stoa with rooms opening

off the back. The now disappeared columns must have been made of stone rather

than of wood to support a two-storey building. Rooms at the rear of the stoa proba-

bly had a religious role as shrines, suggested by the presence of a block with inscrip-

tions dedicated to ‘Zeus Olympios and all the gods’. The agora was thus clearly used

for religious activities and perhaps also juridical ones (Wilson 2001, 141 & 146-147).

West of the agora the bouleuterion is located, a structure often connected with the

agora and with the deliberations of city communities. According to Cicero (Cic. Verr.

2.2.21.50) similar structures were called curiae, but the Syracusans called it bouleuteria –

a reminder that Greek terminology and language were ubiquitous in the first century

BC. These structures are found all over Sicily and are all of the same shape: basically

square with the seating arranged in a semi-circle (Wilson 2001, 141).

Soluntum contained many medium-sized houses with a central peristyles court-

yard and opus signinum decorated pavements, dating to the first century BC. The

‘House of the Harpocrates’ is one of them (Wilson 2001, 152).


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Figure 2: Plan of Late Hellenistic Soluntum with contours in metres above sea level (Wilson 2001, 142).

Key: 1 theatre; 2 bouleuterion; 3 Punic-style double sanctuary; 4 agora with stoa; 5 public cistern; 6 de-

cumanus maximus; 7 open-air altar with altar of Punic type; 8 cardo maximus; 9 modern edge of escarpment

(part of town has been lost over cliff); 10 ‘House of the Harpocrates’: 11 public baths (Wilson 2001, 142).


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3.3 CASE-STUDY: THE TOWN OF MONTE IATO

The hill town of Monte Iato lies some 30 kilometres southwest of Palermo. Five

buildings from this town are of particular interest: the agora, two bouleuteria, the thea-

tre and a peristyle house (fig. 3).

The main layout of the agora seems to correspond to the late third or early sec-

ond century BC. This is evident by the presence of stoai on the north, west and east

sides of the square. The north stoa consisted of a raised platform (a tribunal) at the

northwest corner, perhaps used by magistrates. This suggests that the stoa was used

for legal proceedings and other petitions (Wilson 2001, 147).

The first of the two bouleuteria is located west of the agora. This square building

with semi-circular rows of seats was built about 150 BC and could hold up to 70

people. Just 20 years later however, this bouleuterion was replaced with a second, big-

ger one north of the agora, capable of holding up to 200 people. This replacement has

probably something to do with the expanding populations, which desired greater

representation in affairs related to the city, and an increase in prosperity. Perhaps an

influx of new settlers after the Slave War of 135-132 BC played a role too (Wilson

2001, 147-148).

The theatre of Iaetas is located northwest of the agora. Due to early medieval oc-

cupation it is not so well preserved. Most scholars agree that this theatre went

through a major reconstruction around 200 BC. There is however still some debate

over whether the visible form is from 300 BC (Isler 1991, 42-52 in Wilson 2001, 149)

or from 200 BC (Wilson 1990, 69-71 & Wiegand 1997, 50-53). The layout, type of

stage building and sculpture are however similar with other second-century BC thea-

tres in Sicily, thus 200 BC sound more likely (Wilson 2001, 148-149).

The two-storey peristyle house has some 25 rooms on the ground alone, which

occupies some 830 m2, much bigger than the medium-sized houses from Soluntum.

The columns in its peristyle were of the Doric order at the lower level and of the

Ionic order above. Pavements were of opus signinum and mosaics. A bath-installation

was located on the west side of the house. Wilson (2001, 150) dates this structure to

after 260 BC when looking at the Ionic diagonal capitals and other architectural or-

naments suggest a date in the first half of the second century BC.


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Figure 3: Plan of the agora from Late Hellenistic Monte Iato (Wilson 2001, 150).

Key: 1 stage building of theatre; 2 earlier bouleuterion, c. 150 BC; 3 tribunal; 4 later bouleuterion, c. 130

BC, with west stoa in front of it; 5 temple; 6 north stoa; 7 paving of the agora itself (Wilson 2001, 150).


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3.4 STATUARY & EPIGRAPHY

To gain better insight in the process of Romanisation it is useful to take a closer

look at statues and inscriptions, as they show some clear patterns.

Although there is little evidence from the towns of Soluntum and Monte Iato,

many cities, both large and small, made use of statuary to give emperors and other

Roman dignitaries a very visible presence in the public space of the city. This trend

started somewhere during the Republican, i.e. the Late Hellenistic period in Sicily and

quickly became part of the urban landscape (Lomas 2001, 167). This is, among other

evidence, made clear by Cicero’s references (Cic. Verr. 2.2.3-4).

The other evidence comes from inscriptions, which show a trend towards Ro-

manisation of form, content and language in elite inscription and a persistence of

Greek in non-elite inscription. Also interesting is the fact that West-Sicily has more

Latin inscriptions than the closer-to-Italy East-Sicily. A possible explanation is that

before the arrival of the Romans West-Sicily was mainly Punic, while East-Sicily was

Greek (Lomas 2001, 168). It is however difficult to draw conclusions.


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4. CONCLUSION

The Greek cultural roots were still very apparent during the Roman period in

Sicily. The many public buildings built in the prosperous second century BC were

erected in the Sicilian Greek Hellenistic idiom, while Sicily was politically already a

Roman province. This is clearly visible in the towns of Soluntum and Monte Iato,

where bouleuteria and stoai in and around the agora were erected. This building phase

was in most cases clearly directed at monumentalising and enhancing the public areas

of the city. Sicilian elites made not only use of Hellenistic-type buildings and forms,

but also romanised theatres and agora’s (e.g. the introduction of the tribunal in Monte

Iato). Regarding statuary and epigraphy we do see a clear change. The many statues

erected in large and small cities for example show not only a boost of craftsmanship

and prosperity, but also a clear Roman presence on the Island, as they gave emperors

and other Roman dignitaries a very visible presence in the public space of the city.

Inscription show a trend towards Romanisation of form, content and language in

elite inscription and a persistence of Greek in non-elite inscription. A cultural shift to

Roman norms is thus visible, but Greek cultural roots still played an important role

in the daily life of citizen.

Sicily was thus not like any other part of the Roman Empire. We see a pattern of

cultural choice and identity which is dissimilar from other Italic and Greek provinces

were public building programmes were very Roman in character and material culture

was almost entirely italicised. This could have something to do with a strong regional

identity, which originated much earlier than the Roman period. It is therefore not

surprising that the Sicilian cultural choices show much diversity and differed from

other provinces.

The public/elite material culture in a Roman settlement was quite hybrid and

does show traces of cultural contact. Although mostly built in the Sicilian Greek Hel-

lenistic idiom, some buildings show Roman elements like statues and inscriptions.

Private material culture didn’t show much hybridity. Non-elite inscriptions were

mainly erected in the Greek language. This area of ‘people without history’ needs to

be studied more intensively however to create a more clear image of the Roman in-

fluence on the common people.


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BIBLIOGRAPHY

CLASSICAL LITERATURE

Marcus Tullius Cicero. Orationes Vol. III: Verrinae. W. Peterson (ed). Oxford:

Oxford Classical Texts.

MODERN LITERATURE

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sicily_cultures_431bc.jpg.

Eriksen, T.H., 1995. Small Places, Large Issues: An Introduction to Social and Cul-

tural Anthropology. London: Pluto Press.

Holloway, R.R., 1991. The Archaeology of Ancient Sicily. London: Routledge.

Lomas, K., 2001. Between Greece and Italy: an External Perspective on Cul-

ture in Roman Sicily, in C.J. Smith & J. Serrati (eds), Sicily from Aeneas to Au-

gustus: New Approaches in Archaeology and History, Edinburgh: Edinburgh Uni-

versity, 161-173.

Serrati, J., 2001. The Coming of the Romans: Sicily from the Forth to the

First Century BC, in C.J. Smith & J. Serrati (eds), Sicily from Aeneas to Augustus:

New Approaches in Archaeology and History, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University

Press, 109-114.

Versluys, M.J., 2008. Romeinse archeologie: Theoretische ontwikkelingen in

de laatste decennia. Tijdschrift voor Mediterrane Archeologie 40, 29-35.

Versluys, M.J., 2009. Lokaal en Globaal: Egypte in de Romeinse wereld.

Lampas 42, 186-203.

Versluys, M.J., 2012. Lectures Archaeology of the Mediterranean World. Leiden

University: Faculty of Archaeology.

Wiegand, A., 1997. Das Theater von Solunt: ein besonderer Skenentyp des Spät-

hellenismus auf Sizilien. Mainz: P. von Zabern.

Wilson, R.J.A., 1990. Roman Architecture in a Greek World: the Example

of Sicily, in M. Henig (ed), Architecture and Architectural Sculpture in the Ro-

man Empire, Oxford: Oxford University Committee of Archaeology, 67-

90.


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Wilson, R.J.A., 2001. Ciceronian Sicily: An Archaeological Perspective, in C.J.

Smith & J. Serrati (eds), Sicily from Aeneas to Augustus: New Approaches in Ar-

chaeology and History, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University, 134-160.

Woolf, G., 2004. The Present State and Future Scope of Roman Archae-

ology: a Comment. American Journal of Archaeology 108, 417-428.

www.artistclon.com/paintings/ruins-of-the-roman-theatre-at-taormina,-

sicily_15122.html.


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LIST OF FIGURES

FRONT PAGE: Oil Painting of the Ruins of the Ancient Theatre of Taormina,

Sicily; a theatre built with Roman bricks, but with a Greek

plan and arrangement. Made by American painter William

Stanley Haseltine (1835-1900) (www.artistclon.com).

FIGURE 1, PAGE 8: The existing cultures in Sicily in circa 431 BC, before the arri-

val of the Romans, showing the presence of complex cultural

interaction (commons.wikimedia.org).

FIGURE 2, PAGE 11: Plan of Late Hellenistic Soluntum with contours in metres

above sea level. Key: 1 theatre; 2 bouleuterion; 3 Punic-style

double sanctuary; 4 agora with stoa; 5 public cistern; 6 decumanus

maximus; 7 open-air altar with altar of Punic type; 8 cardo

maximus; 9 modern edge of escarpment (part of town has been

lost over cliff); 10 ‘House of the Harpocrates’: 11 public baths

(Wilson 2001, 142).

FIGURE 3, PAGE 13: Plan of the agora from Late Hellenistic Monte Iato. Key: 1

stage building of theatre; 2 earlier bouleuterion, c. 150 BC; 3 tri-

bunal; 4 later bouleuterion, c. 130 BC, with west stoa in front of

it; 5 temple; 6 north stoa; 7 paving of the agora itself (Wilson

2001, 150).

http://www.artistclon.com/

http://commons.wikimedia.org/

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