Herakleia di Lucania tra III e I secolo a.C. Edilizia domestica e attività produttive

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to define the impact that the prope singulare foedus with Rome triggered in the economic life
of Herakleia, through the examination of domestic architecture and main production activities between the 3rd and 1st
centuries BC. Building works and ceramic workshops describe an intensely inhabited and economically active settlement
throughout the 3rd century BC., unaffected by the negative events that affected nearby Metapontum and Taranto,
both engaged in military conflict with Rome.
After the Hannibalic War, the rapid economic recovery of Herakleia in the 2nd century BC brought significant innovations
compared to the previous period. Textile production and trade activities are now predominant industries,
enabling the inhabitants of Herakleia to achieve a considerable level of wealth, thanks to the integration of the city into
a Mediterranean economic system promoted and facilitated by Rome: the wool industry in central-southern Italy and
mercantile enterprises in the East.
A new type of house emerges within the settlement, which takes up some architectural characteristics of the “Roman
atrium house” and seems to be reserved to a middle social class. Social War and Spartacus’ passage mark the initial
moments of an irreversible crisis that affects Herakleia throughout the 1st century BC., leading to the progressive
abandonment of a significant part of the settlement.