The depth of the woods. Landscape and nature
Itinerary 2
The depth of the woods. Landscape and nature
Imposing, majestic, wild: the Matese Massif rises vigorously behind the Roman town as a natural bulwark chosen to protect the plain and its inhabitants. These high mountains of karstic origin, among the most important reliefs of the southern Apennines, have extensive slopes covered by a luxuriant forest mantle that follows and defines the slopes while the steep peaks show the rocky nature of the mountains. The water draws the profiles, furrows the surface until it disappears between the gorges and the deep ravines, it nourishes the thick vegetation, the villages and the hamlets. This natural wealth has represented an indispensable resource for the local populations, a complex ecosystem that man has governed and managed by protecting its ecological importance and cultural value; a lasting anthropic action capable of maintaining the balance with the different animal and tree species despite the exploitation of the forest’s resources, useful for providing quality products necessary for the needs of the populations. The tall beech trees, the tenacious downy oaks, the robust turkey oaks, the generous chestnut trees and other tree species are the monumental part of an extraordinary ecosystem populated by sedentary and migratory wild animals, which find shelter, nourishment, and shade among the outstretched branches, deep roots and fragrant shrubs, animating the deep breath of the Matese forest with their presence.
Wood to build, to produce, to find comfort
Itinerary 2
Wood to build, to produce, to find comfort
The possibility of drawing on the varied forest resources of the Matese, composed of different qualities of wood, has benefited the construction practice, economic activities and the performance of daily actions. Wood is one of the most widely used materials in the ancient world, its characteristics make it flexible, versatile, adaptable to different contexts and easily replaceable. There were many possible uses of the material and its derivatives: the high trunks provided the beams for the floors and fences, the poles for the scaffolding and the formwork, the planks for the roofs and the floorings. furnishings, artistic works, accessories and ornaments were made from the precious woods, while the most tenacious ones were used to produce means of transport, agricultural and craft tools, doors and windows and toys. Large quantities of wood were then used in the furnaces of the baths, in the workshops and craft shops, in the temples during rituals or in the kitchens and heated rooms of the domus to draw heat in the long Apennine winters. A wide use that has left faint traces since the organic nature of the material is strongly vulnerable to decomposition, parasites and accidental combustion. Yet, the imprint of its presence remains in the hinges sculpted in the stone thresholds, in the voids of the putlog holes, in the recesses for the shutter closures of the monumental doors, in the grooves of the carts that have crossed the Decumanus, renewing ancient paths or tracing new destinations.
Among the ancient landscapes
Itinerary 2
Among the ancient landscapes
Walking through the Archaeological Park of Sepino it is possible to recognize many tree species that are grown near farmhouses, among grassy meadows or around rural hamlets. They are fruit trees, ornamental or for lumber, born spontaneously among the ancient structures or wanted by man to mark borders, obtain fruit and offer coolness while the flocks were grazing. Silent presences that represent the last arboreal generation of inherited landscapes that, replacing and alternating over time, have coexisted with ancient civilizations. Recent archaeobotanical research has made it possible to identify plant remains from which it is possible to reconstruct use practices and eating habits of the past. The organic traces indicate fruit trees (apple, pear and rowan), mixed forest trees (beech, hornbeam, chestnut, walnut, oak), now extinct species such as silver fir and yew, cereals and legumes. The first data indicate a rich variety of plant species present in the gardens of the domus, in urban allotments or in the spaces left uncultivated, but the continuation of the scientific study will provide us with further data on the types of trees and plants that were part of the ancient landscape.
The Cornel, from the legends
Itinerary 2
The Cornel, from the legends
Resistant, versatile, harmonious: the cornel or dogwood tree is a rustic plant that is easy to grow, it adapts to any climatic context and from its splendid yellow inflorescence the tasty carnelians are born. The name of the plant alludes to the extreme hardness of the wood which, when worked, becomes smooth, shiny, compact like a hard stone or a polished horn(cornus). The strength and durability of the timber made the cornel wood suitable for making wheels, ploughs, tools, decorated objects and weapons. These qualities were prized in the ancient world, so the tree has been linked to the originsof peoples and some legendary tales. Plutarch narrates that Romulus vigorously threw a dogwood pole to define the boundary of the eternal city, thus symbolizing the foundation and expansion of Rome. In the Aeneid it is described as a tree sacred to Apollo present on Mount Ida, near the plain of Troy. From this forest the Greeks took the wood necessary for the construction of the famous horse designed by Odysseus; after smoothing and modelling it, they gave life to the deception and, when the sculpture was introduced into the Trojan walls, only Cassandra managed not to give in to the splendour and magnificence of the artifact. A legendary wood full of symbolic and religious meanings, which has become part of mythology and human history.
The Walnut of children and newlyweds
Itinerary 2
The Walnut of children and newlyweds
Majestic, wise, solitary: the walnut tree is the tree with a solemn bearing, its wide foliage expands luxuriantly from the robust trunk, expressing its presence in the space that surrounds it. A plant cultivated since ancient times for the versatile value of its precious wood and for the nutrients contained in its fruits, in the past also used in medical practices as a remedy against infected wounds or to soothe pain. In the Roman tradition, walnuts were associated with the most important stages of an individual’s growth. Virgil recounts that in wedding processions the throwing of the fruit indicated that childhood was over for the bride and groom and they were entering adult life. The rituality of the gesture wishedblessings to the family that was about to be born and wisdom for the new time of existence. Roman children always carried a bag attached to their belt containing walnuts with which they played imaginative games. In the poem Nuces,attributed to Ovid, the competitions that the boys loved to practice, especially during the Saturnalia festivities, are described. Walnuts represented the time of children and of the playful-formative experience of youth, enshrined in the expression relinquere nuces: by “relinquishing the walnuts” the Romans accepted the responsibility of having grown up in the memory of their childhood.
The Oak sacred to Jupiter
Itinerary 2
The Oak sacred to Jupiter
Regal, powerful, centuries-old: the oak is the queen of the forest, solid, growing slowly and propagating its thick foliage until it becomes majestic. An imposing, long-lived presence, which alternates yellow leaves with masculine characteristics with female flowers dyed green and, like a guardian of time, takes root in the ground to withstand storms. It interprets the moral vigor and strength of peoples, an integrity that becomes divine in the ancient tradition. Pliny the Elder describes the ancestral sacredness of the woods and recalls the link between tree species and the cult of the deities to whom the plants were dedicated. The oak is the tree of the Mother Goddess, primordial and primigenial parent, but the plant was also sacred to Jupiter, father of gods and men, lord of lightning and storms, who dwelt among the high mountains covered with oaks from which he sent rain to make the earth bloom, thus expressing his fertilizing force. In the sanctuary of Jupiter, built by Romulus on the Capitoline Hill, near the sacred oak venerated by the shepherds it was possible to receive messages from the god. Through the sound of the leaves moved by the wind and the cooing of the doves that inhabited the branches of the tree, Jupiter pronounced his will by sending signals to the priests and vestal virgins, because in the centuries-old breath of the oak the faithful knew they found the divine presence.
AGRO-PASTORAL CIVILIZATION AND CULTURE
The story of peoples and communities
THE DEPTH OF THE WOODS
Landscape and nature
WATER AND SKY
The cult of Mefitis and the seasons
THE BEAUTY OF THE CONSTRUCTED
reconstructed and reconfigured
MOVEMENT AND EXCHANGE
Communication routes