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  • Sant’Antoniello delle Monache a Portalba
  • Napoli
  • Neapolis
  • Italy
  • Campania
  • Naples
  • Naples

Credits

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  • AIAC_logo logo

Monuments

Periods

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Chronology

  • 450 BC - 320 BC
  • 1 AD - 100 AD
  • 400 AD - 600 AD

Season

    • During work undertaken on the architectural complex of Sant’Antoniello delle Monache at Portalba a further stretch of the fortified city wall came to light. This was 13.50 m long and on the same alignment as structures found in piazza Bellini in 1954 and 1984, at 10 m higher. Preserved to a height of three courses, it had a curtain of orthostats, with four tie courses of orthostats and blocks positioned in horizontal layers facing towards the hill, relating to the earliest phase. Stratigraphic investigation of the _emplekton_ confirmed the dating of the second half of the 5th century B.C. previously proposed for the stretch brought to light in 1997. This first curtain was abutted by three horizontal tie courses relating to the doubling of the fortifications, of which the facing was not visible as it was obliterated by another massive wall running parallel to the western wall of the cloister. The stratigraphic excavation of the _emplekton_ suggested a date of the end of the 4th century B.C. for this reinforcement. Lastly, the robbing and obliteration of the Greek structures by a Roman _opus reticulatum_ wall, as revealed in the 1997 excavation, dated to the 1st century A.D. The latter, preserved for a length of 12.60 m, had an “a sacco” foundation and was faced with reused blocks of yellow tufa, the core comprising irregular tufa blocks set into layers of mortar. Along the north side of the trench this wall formed a corner which suggested the presence of a gate. On the basis of the materials contained within the latest levels cut by the foundation the wall was dated to between the 5th-6th century A.D. and may be linked to the late antique phase of the city wall. Following this period the area was buried and levelled in the early medieval period and subsequently used for ditches for the emptying of tombs.

Bibliography

    • S. De Caro 2002, L’attività della Soprintendenza archeologica di Napoli e Caserta nel 2001, in Atti del XLI Convegno di Studi sulla Magna Grecia (Taranto 2001), Taranto: 635-675.