entry Dec 2011
The Fèscina
There are
many tombs, crypts and catacombs from ancient times
in Naples. Such repositories of intact human remains may
give the impression that cremation was not practiced at
the time of the Greeks and Romans. That is not the case.
Cremation in the days of ancient Greece and Rome was
common and did not fall out of favor in Italy and
elsewhere in Europe until well into the Christian era. In
ancient Rome, both burial and cremation were common, and
the choice was apparently a social one; the upper classes
preferred cremation. [Related entry here.]
Cremated remains were stored in cinerary urns; these in turn were placed in a columbarium, a sepulchre having in its walls niches to hold the urns. Columbaria could be both below and above ground, or even have both an underground and a surface part. The name "columbarium" comes from the Latin word for "pigeon" since the structures, indeed, looked like dovecots, even down to the "pigeon holes" for the urns. A mausoleum, on the other hand, is an above-ground edifice built as a memorial to the deceased and containing the remains in whatever form—cremated, skeletal, mummified, etc. The word mausoleum comes from the grand tomb of Mausolus of Caria (a satrapy of ancient Persia); it was erected by his queen Aremesia in the middle of the 4th c. BC at Halicarnassus (the site of modern-day Bodrum in Turkey) and became known as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
I have seen the Fèscina (photo, above) called both a columbarium and a mausoleum. Dated to the 1st c. BC, it is a free-standing column topped by a pyramid-like hexagonal cusp; it is located in the necropolis of via Brindisi in the town of Quarto, near Naples. This type of architecture is particular; the Fèscina is the only example of it in the Campi Flegrei or the entire Campania region of Italy, at the very least. This kind of structure was, however, widespread in the Hellenic Age in the eastern Mediterranean, which has led to some speculation that the family that built this one was from Asia Minor. (There are a few other pyramid mausoleums in Italy, most notably the tomb of Gaius Cestius in Rome, built in c.15 BC. That one is large—37 meters high—and is a true pyramid; it was almost certainly modeled on Egyptian pyramid tombs during the so-called "Cleopatra craze" in ancient Rome. It seems to have little in common with the Fèscina. I am tempted to say that the Fèscina may be unique in all of Italy, but I would be happy for some clarification. (I am indebted to correspondent Suzanne Toll for the comment that [the Fèscina] "...brought to mind a similar looking monument I'd seen in the necropolis of Carsulae, a Roman town on the Via Flaminia in Umbria from the same time period.") That monument / mausoleum is dated to ca. 27 BC and is in the Carsulae Archeological Park (near Terni in Umbria).
The
term fèscina* is
from the local vocabulary of the grape harvest and is a
nickname hung on the monument by farmers in the area who
noticed its similarity to the conical basket (photo,
right), the fèscina,
carried by those picking grapes
from ladders along the higher vines in a vineyard. In any
event, it is
built in opus
reticulatum* brick-work and has two floors, one
of which is underground and the plastered walls of which
contain eleven niches for the cremation urns. There are
also three reclining couch-beds known as triclinia; they are
of brick and were intended for ritual banquets. Two slit
openings higher up allowed light and air to enter. The
part visible above ground appears to be about 6-7 meters
high. The area was excavated in the 1970s and 80s. The
Fèscina was part of a larger Necropolis.[update: Nov. 2012] A local archeology group has cleaned up the site such that it is now visible and visitable.]
*Opus reticulatum:
Roman brick-work that placed the pointed ends of
diamond-shaped bricks into cement such that the square
bases formed a diagonal pattern on the surface of a wall.
The pattern of mortar lines resembled a net or reticulatum in
Latin.- -fèscina etymology: The word is a dialect variation of fascina (accent on the second syllable). The English term is "fascine"—i.e., a cylindrical faggot of brush or small wood, bound together and used in construction for such things as filling in ditches. It is a cognate of fascio, a bundle or sheaf of grain, which then became a political symbol and has given us the term Fascism.
- photos: top photo of the fèscina from Museo Diffuso, provincia di Napoli.
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The Italian National Trust for the Environment (FAI)
Fondo Ambiente Italiano
FAI tells us that this site is now "cleaned and reopend after years of neglect." This was part of the 10th anniversary of their "Places of the Heart" (Luoghi del Cuore) census, which invited all-comers to submit favorite places in Italy, places worthy of saving. There are other organizations that have similar goals, such as UNESCO. At last count FAI is working on 64 "special places" in Italy, 31 of which are open to the public and can be visited individually or in groups.
FAI is headquartered in Milan and has regional offices throughout Italy. The organization was established in 1975 as the Fondo Ambiente Italiano based on the model of the National Trust of England, Wales, & Northern Ireland. It goes back to the initiative of Elena Croce, the daughter of Italian philosopher Benedetto Croce.
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