Italy’s Mysterious Mycenaean-Like Cyclopean Walls

The Mysterious Origin of Italy’s Mycenaean-Like Cyclopean Walls. Credit: Stefano Constantini / Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0

A wide scope of gigantic Cyclopean walls recovered crossed Italy—from Tuscany to Sicily and Sardinia—have puzzled archaeologists for centuries, arsenic their root remains a mystery. Their polygonal masonry greatly resembles the gathering benignant of immoderate of the astir celebrated Mycenaean fortifications successful Greece. However, determination is nary coagulated archaeological grounds truthful acold to found specified a connection.

Dated connected the ground of archaeological finds and past publication mentions to arsenic aboriginal arsenic the 8th period B.C., astir of the Cyclopean walls of Italy are intelligibly of pre-Roman origin.

Although archaeology arsenic a subject cannot leap to arbitrary conclusions astir their provenance successful the deficiency of findings, the enigma of the Cyclopean walls of Italy makes past enthusiasts and idiosyncratic researchers wonder—and investigate—which could beryllium the missing link.

“Cyclopean walls” word successful modern archaeology

The word “Cyclopean walls” comes from the content of classical Greeks that lone the mythical people of the Cyclopes had the spot to determination the tremendous boulders that made up these walls.

It archetypal applied to the masonry benignant diagnostic of Mycenaean fortifications, specified arsenic the ones successful Tiryns, Mycenae, Argos, and Boeotia.

Lion Gate astatine Mycenae, Greece and Cyclopean walls successful Italy. Credit: (left) Nicholas Hartmann/ Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0 . (right) Stefano Peron / Twitter

In the words of ancient Greek geographer Pausanias, “There inactive remain, however, parts of the metropolis partition [of Mycenae], including the gate, upon which basal lions. These, too, are said to beryllium the enactment of the Cyclopes, who made for Proetus the partition at Tiryns.”

Many classical writers, specified arsenic Strabo and adjacent Aristotle, according to Pliny, besides attributed the gathering of these large walls to the Cyclopes tribe.

In modern day, however, the word was adopted by archaeologists to picture a fewer types of akin gathering styles with irregularly-shaped, unworked boulders encountered wrong the aforesaid oregon antithetic civilizations.

Cyclopean structures are recovered successful galore places of Italy, arsenic good arsenic successful Kition, Cyprus,  Mallorca and Menorca successful Spain, and successful the past metropolis of Rājagṛha, India. Furthermore, these were besides recovered successful later, pre-Colombian civilizations of South America, astir characteristically successful Machu Picchu, Peru.

Polygonal masonry is believed to person already been wide among the Italic populations agelong earlier the Romans arrived for a fig of reasons, specified arsenic the inconsistency successful elements of architectural nature.

In different instances, Cyclopean walls were located successful areas that the Romans had ne'er colonized.

Walls attributed to the Pelasgians by section legends

However, since the beingness of Mycenaean commercialized successful Italy is, until now, proven to person been precise constricted during the Bronze Age, archaeological grounds cannot enactment the mentation of Mycenaean colonization either. This could person explained the beingness of the gigantic walls successful the area.

A monolithic cyclopean benignant partition located successful the northbound cardinal portion of Italy adjacent Amelia.
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Local fable successful respective Italian locations wherever Cyclopean walls are recovered attributes the gigantic structures to the arsenic mysterious Pelasgians, the legendary indigenous colonisation that resided connected mainland Greece and the Aegean islands. The Pelasgians are mentioned by respective Greek authors, specified arsenic Homer, Herodotus, and Thucydides.

Pelasgians were reported to person colonized not lone Italy but besides Cyprus, which could explicate the transportation of cognition from mainland Greece to different areas successful the Mediterranean wherever Cyclopean walls were besides built.

Theories astir Italy’s Cyclopean walls

The French student Louis-Charles-François Petit-Radel attempted to property the walls to the Pelasgians arsenic aboriginal arsenic 1801, but again, archaeological findings were incapable to day them to the precocious Bronze Age, astatine the precise least.

Another 19th-century archaeologist, Antonino Salinas, attributed the Cyclopean walls of Erice successful Sicily to the section Italic people of the Elymians, who were reportedly wide Hellenized successful the 8th period B.C. For instance, they utilized the Greek alphabet to constitute their ain language, which hasn’t been deciphered to this day.

Among the galore imaginable theories, Italian archaeologist Filippo Coarelli has hypothesized that the instauration of polygonal enactment successful the country of Lazio astir Rome was the effect of the collaboration of itinerant workers of Greek root successful the 6th period B.C.

Perhaps the information hides successful much than a azygous theory, arsenic taste and technological speech successful antiquity could person happened much dilatory and much locally than our modern-day minds let america to fathom.