Dovecote-like, brick gabled Columbaria niches for low-status cremation urn interments line interior walls of a necropolis building in ancient Velia at Marina di Ascea, Campania, southern Italy. Beyond it, modern flat roofs protect excavated remains of an insula, an apartment block probably built in Hellenistic times, then restored by the Romans.
Velia, Marina di Ascea, Campania, Italy: columbaria, brick-gabled, dovecote-like niches for cremation urn burials, pierce a wall in the ruins of the Roman-era Porta Marina necropolis amid the remains of this ancient Graeco-Roman city on the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Columbaria were usually reserved for the ashes of low-status family members, or for those of slaves, freedmen and other dependents. Beyond the necropolis, modern flat roofing supported by scaffolding protects the excavated remains of an insula, an apartment block probably founded in the Hellenistic era, then restored after Velia came under Roman control. Velia was founded around 538 to 535 BC by Ionian Greeks displaced by Persians from Phocaea, now in modern Turkey. They called it Hyele, but the name then changed to Ele, Elea, and finally to Velia. The Romans took control in 273 BC and in 88 BC, it became a Roman municipality. The city retained the right to mint coins and its citizens kept the right to speak Greek. Due to silting, Velia’s two ports are now far from the sea. The city also declined because it was bypassed by new overland trade routes. In the 9th century, most citizens left to escape malaria and raiding Saracen pirates, but some stayed to live on the acropolis. The settlement lasted until the late-1600s, when the acropolis was finally abandoned and the ruins below it vanished under soil and vegetation. The ruins were rediscovered in 1833. More recent excavations by archeologist Amedeo Maiuri found fortifications, a sea wall, gateways, frescoed houses and thermal baths. The acropolis retains a medieval tower built over a Greek temple, a medieval chapel and a 2,000-seat Roman theatre. Velia, in southern Italy’s Cilento region, is now protected as an archaeological park and as part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Size: 4129px × 2748px
Location: Velia, Marina di Ascea, Campania, Italy.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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