History of Naples

The history of Naples is long and varied, dating to Greek settlements established in the Naples area in the 2nd millennium BC. During the end of the Greek Dark Ages a larger mainland colony – initially known as Parthenope – developed on the Pizzofalcone hill in the 8th century BC, and was refounded as Neapolis in the 6th century BC: it held an important role in Magna Graecia. The Greek culture of Naples was important to later Roman society. When the city became part of the Roman Republic in the central province of the Empire, it was a major cultural centre.

It served as the capital of the Duchy of Naples (661–1139), of the Kingdom of Sicily, of the Kingdom of Naples (1282–1816) and finally of the Two Sicilies until the unification of Italy in 1861. The city has seen the rise and fall of several civilisations and cultures, each of which has left traces in its art and architecture, and during the Renaissance and the Enlightenment was a major centre of culture. It was also a capital of the Baroque, beginning with the artist Caravaggio's career in the 17th century, and the artistic revolution he inspired.

During the Neapolitan War, the city rebelled against the Bourbon monarchs, spurring the early push towards Italian unification.

Today, Naples is part of the Italian Republic, the third largest municipality (central area) by population after Rome and Milan, and has the second or third largest metropolitan area of Italy.

Greek birth, Roman acquisition

Parthenope

The Naples area has been inhabited since the Stone Age.

In the second millennium BC, a first Mycenaean settlement arose not far from the geographical position of the future city of Parthenope.

Parthenope was founded by Cumae, the earliest Greek city on mainland Italy, at the end of the 8th century BC. Parthenope was named after the siren in Greek mythology, said to have washed ashore at Megaride, having thrown herself into the sea after she failed to bewitch Ulysses with her song. The settlement was built on the Pizzofalcone promontory allowing control of sea traffic in the area.

Little archaeology for Parthenope has come to light, but a necropolis of the 7th century BC was discovered in via Nicotera. A ceramics waste dump dated to the Archaic Age was discovered in via Chiatamone where it had slid from the hill of Pizzofalcone. A tuff wall of the 6th c. BC was found in via S. Giacomo, near the town hall, which was a part of the port and may have had both boundary and defensive purposes.

When the colony began to be more frequented due to the abundance and amenity of the places, the Cumaens, worried that their city would be abandoned, decided to «destroy» it.

The refoundation as Neapolis

Neapolis (New City) was founded by the Cumaen aristocracy expelled by the tyrant Aristodemus after the victory of Aricia in 507 BC.

The oligarchs decided to establish Neapolis as a "second Cumae", similar to the city from which they came; for example, the continuation of cults such as that of Demeter and the faithful resumption of the organisation in ''phrenias'' confirm this. This chronology is confirmed by archaeological finds.

The original center of Parthenope on the Pizzofalcone hill was simply called '' Palaipolis '' (Latin: '' Palaepolis ''), the "old city", and survived as a second peripheral pole of Neapolis.

The new city complex was designed on a rectangular grid of streets. It was built on a plateau sloping from north to south which allowed space for a new city. Swamps made routes to the hinterland difficult and prevented its possession of extensive agricultural lands (''ager'') that most of Campania benefitted from, and made Neapolis focus on the sea and trade for its livelihood.

The city eventually became one of the foremost cities of Magna Graecia and long retained its Greek culture even after defeat by the Romans.

Neapolis had an acropolis (area of Sant'Aniello in Caponapoli), '' agora'' (area of Piazza San Gaetano ) and necropolis (various examples remain, the most famous of which is the necropolis of Castel Capuano). It also eventually had strong walls (5th century), an odeon, a theatre and the temple of the city's patron gods, the Dioscuri.

Athenian and Syracusan influence

Neapolis was soon able to replace Cumae in maritime trade and to take control of the stretch of sea from the Cumaean gulf to the Neapolitan gulf. Its commercial success was made possible thanks to the decline of the tyranny of the Deinomenids in Syracuse (466 BC) and the abandonment of Pithecusae (Ischia) by the Syracusan garrison, due to a violent earthquake (or more likely a volcanic eruption of Mount Epomeo). The immediate occupation of Ischia by Neapolis indicates the tensions between the city and the Syracusans.

The Athenians soon created a network of commercial relations in the Tyrrhenian sea. Their interest in Campania, but also in Sicily and the Adriatic, was due to the need for foodstuffs especially cereals to satisfy the needs of an increasing population. The results of the Attic presence in the city were numerous: the great development in the port area and even closer ties with centres located in flat areas suitable for the cultivation of wheat (Alifae, Capua, Nola, Cumae, Dicearchia).

One obstacle stood between Athens and the thriving Campanian market: the Syracusan attempts to dominate the Tyrrhenian Sea even after the end of tyrants. In 413 BC the Athenian expedition against Syracuse in the Peloponnesian War ended in disaster and together with the plague, which substantially undermined the economy of Attica, relations between Neapolis and Athens underwent an attenuation.

The Samnites

At the end of the 5th century BC the political and social equilibrium of Neapolis was severely threatened by the Samnites, an Oscan-speaking tribe expanding towards the more fertile plains.

In 423 BC Capua, the great Etruscan stronghold-granary, was conquered by the Samnites and the original Oscan-speaking citizens were given more freedom. In 421 BC Cumae also had to capitulate after a heavy and bloody siege. Many of its fleeing inhabitants found refuge within the walls of Neapolis who thus paid their debt of gratitude to the founders. Neapolis managed to safeguard its own safety and political sovereignty by admitting the Oscan elites to the main public offices of the city. However, due to this behaviour, Neapolis profoundly damaged its relations with Cumae.

In the second half of the 4th century, during the First Samnite War, Neapolis made an alliance with the Samnites against Rome, which had already taken Capua.

In 327 the Second Samnite War resulted from tensions which arose from Roman actions in Campania and partly from actions by Neapolis. Although Livy's history may be biased, he said that Neapolis attacked Romans who lived in Campania and, after Rome's request for redress was rebuffed, it declared war and the two consular armies headed for Campania.

In 326, after having devastated the '' Ager Campanus'', the Roman army led by the consul Publilius Philo marched on the city and besieged it. In the meantime, about four thousand Samnites and Nolan soldiers had arrived to defend Neapolis. The Romans set up camp between the old and new cities and after a year long siege, betrayal by the Greek citizens led surrender to the Romans. However, Rome left the city with wide autonomy and allowed its customs, its language and its traditions of Greek origin to survive, preferring rather to make a sort of solidarity pact and thus creating what was called ''foedus Neapolitanum'' with particular attention to its already strong and important maritime role.

Roman Era

In 280 after the battle of Eraclea when Pyrrhus realised that there was no possibility of an agreement with the Romans, he counter-attacked advancing his army towards the north. He diverted to Neapolis with the intent of capturing it or inducing it to rebel against Rome. The attempt failed wasted time to the advantage of the Romans; when he reached Capua he found it already garrisoned.

In 211 BC during the Second Punic War, Capua was severely punished by the Romans due to its alliance with Hannibal and its domination of Campania waned in favour of Neapolis.

From 199 BC its role as a maritime power began to diminish to the advantage of its nearby competitor Puteoli. The promotion of Neapolis to a Roman municipium meant the loss of part of its autonomy, although the administration of Greek tradition still remained in force.

Neapolis sided with Marius in the civil war of 82 BC, and was consequently devastated by the armies of his opponent Sulla. The war deprived Neapolis of its fleet and of the island of Ischia, and compromised its trade to the advantage of Puteoli. However, the city continued to function as a regional port, as evidenced by the abundant archaeological finds in Piazza del Municipio.

Then in 50 BC the city supported Pompey in the Civil war with Julius Caesar. Having again chosen the losing side the city declined economically. Misenum became the major naval base on the Tyrrhenian Sea and even Baiae was a strong competitor for tourism and thermal bathing.

Under Augustus the city began to recover and the city became a flourishing centre of Hellenistic culture that attracted Romans who wished to perfect their knowledge of Greek culture. The Neapolitan Isolympic Games (''Italika Romaia Sebasta Isolympia''), or ''Sebasta were initiated by Augustus in 2 AD as an equivalent to those at Olympia and became one of the most important games events in the west. As Italian archaeologist Amedeo Maiuri said:

:''Naples was the only city of the Western Roman world to host games in honour of Augustus. This was not so much due to the Emperor’s personal influence or for any political agenda, but rather to the city’s Greek culture. In fact, during the general decline of Hellenism in Magna Graecia and Sicily, Neapolis was still using the Greek language, institutions, cults, rites and customs. As such Neapolis could be considered the metropolis of Western Hellenism during the first period of the Roman Empire.''

The games were held every 5 years and attracted contestants from all over the empire. Augustus attended in 14 AD.

The pleasant climate made it a renowned resort, as recounted by Virgil and manifested in the numerous luxurious villas that lined the coast from the Gulf of Pozzuoli to the Sorrentine peninsula. Lucullus built a vast villa estate here covering large parts of what would become the later city. The famous district of Posillipo takes its name from the ruins of Villa ''Pausílypon'', meaning, in Greek, "a pause, or respite, from worry". Romans connected the city to the rest of Italy with their famous roads, excavated galleries to link Naples to Pozzuoli, enlarged the port, and added public baths and aqueducts to improve the quality of life in Naples. The city was also celebrated for its many feasts and spectacles.

Further set-backs occurred with the earthquakes of 62 and 64 AD and the eruption of Vesuvius in 79.

According to legend, the saints Peter and Paul came to the city to preach. Christians had a prominent role in the late years of the Roman Empire, and there are several notable catacombs, especially in the northern part of the city. The first palæo-Christian basilicas were built next to the entrances to the catacombs. The greatly popular patron of the city, San Gennaro (St. Januarius), was decapitated in nearby Pozzuoli in 305, and, since the 5th century, he has been commemorated by the basilica of San Gennaro extra Moenia. The Cathedral of Naples is also dedicated to St. Gennaro.

It was in Naples, in Lucullus's villa in what is now the Castel dell'Ovo, that Romulus Augustulus, the last nominal western emperor, was exiled after being deposed in 476.

Naples suffered much during the Gothic War (535–552) between the Ostrogoths and the Byzantines. In 536, it was garrisoned by Goths and decided to resist the Byzantine commander Belisarius's invasion. However in the resulting Siege of Naples (536), his troops captured the city by entering through its aqueduct. With the changing tide of the war in the 540s, it was starved into surrender by the Ostrogoth Totila, who then treated it leniently. During Narses's expedition during the 550s, it was captured by the Empire once again. When the Lombards invaded and conquered much of Italy in the following years, Naples remained loyal to the Eastern Roman Empire.

Sights

The Duchy of Naples

At the time of the Lombard invasion, Naples had a population of about 30,000-35,000. In 615, under Giovanni Consino, Naples rebelled for the first time against the Exarch of Ravenna, the emperor's plenipotentiary in Italy. In reply, the first form of duchy was created in 638 by the Exarch Isaac or Eleutherius (exarchic chronology is uncertain), but this official came from abroad and had to answer to the '' strategos'' of Sicily. At that time the Duchy of Naples controlled an area corresponding roughly to the present day Province of Naples, encompassing the area of Vesuvius, the Campi Flegrei, the Sorrentine peninsula, Giugliano

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