Oldest stone inscription of Magna Graecia said to have been discovered in Calabria

A stone inscription made on local granite dating back to the beginning of the 7th century BC was discovered in Cortale, in the Calabrian province of Catania, on the site of a former abbey destroyed by an earthquake in 1783.

Credit: AgCult

The find was brought to the headquarters of the Archaeological Superintendence for the provinces of Catanzaro, Cosenza and Crotone for further study.

"It is a discovery that will shed new light on the history of Magna Graecia," said Superintendent Mario Pagano.

"The inscription, which we are still deciphering, is in the Achaean alphabet and can therefore be dated around the beginning of the seventh century BC", says Pagano, "and it seems from a first reading to be a dedication to Hercules Boarius, associated with the worship Astarte. "The shape of the baetylus is an element that is well suited to this cult and is connected to the famous myth of the enterprise led by Hercules, who brought the cattle of Geryon from Erytheia, the "red island" of the sunset (located in the mythic Hesperides in the far west of the Mediterranean), to Greece, passing by the coasts of Calabria and Sicily."

"The shape of baetylus", Pagano adds "is in itself evidence of great antiquity and is an element of clear Phoenician influence. In fact, we know of a sanctuary from the Achaean world with a baetylic cult found in Metapontum and dating back to the first half of the 7th century BC, and which we know was dedicated to Apollo Lykaios thanks to the discovery during excavations in the 1960s of an inscription on a stone block."

"It seems," he continues, "that the baetylus dates back to even more remote times judging from an oil vase found in the same deposit. Clearly the sanctuary stood at a junction through which people and trade passed. Normally it is thought that Crotone controlled the isthmus in very ancient times, but there are elements that could suggest a hegemony of Sybaris, and it is this theory that needs to be investigated".

"It is precisely the shape of the letters," concluded Pagano, "and their use which indicates that they belonged to the Achaea period. Neither in Magna Graecia or Sicily have such ancient stone inscriptions been found.'

Source: AgCult [April 30, 2019]