Our series of articles must necessarily start from Atri, which is the most ancient and important city of the area (Fig. 1) covered in our blog.
Fig.1 – La città di Atri indicata sulla carta IGM 100000
The origins of Atri are shrouded in legends about migrations from Dalmatia, probably around the twelfth century BC, by the Illyrians who, crossing the Adriatic, also settled on the coast of Piceno, moving into inland valleys and mixing with the less advanced indigenous populations.
This Illyrian-Sicilian imprint can be inferred even in the name of the city, whose ancient form, Hatria, is characterized by the same root Hatranus or Hadranus, a Sicilian deity later pictured with his sacred dog on the city coins that, according to many scholars, were minted before the first contact with Rome. Atri also contends with Adria in Veneto the honor of giving its name to the Adriatic Sea.
The land on which Atri was founded underwent the migration of Osco-Umbrian peoples, later supplanted by Piceni. The presence of the latter is well documented by the discovery and excavation, in early twentieth century, of two cemeteries, one in Pretara and another in Colle della Giustizia, whose funeral equipment can be traced back to the seventh century BC.
Etruscan artistic and commercial influence on Atri was great, a fact evidenced by the large number of furniture and objects found. Among them, the most representative is a mirror in relief depicting Hercules fighting with the Goddess Mlacuch (Fig.2), kept at London British Museum, which acquired it in 1977 from the Hamilton collection.
Fig.2
It is very likely that the Etruscans went into the southern Piceno (lands of Piceni) along the future Via Salaria track, or directly along the valley of the Vomano, along the way of the later Roman advance and Via Cecilia. Thereafter the town of Atri became a stronghold in the southern part of Piceno and joined Ascoli and Ancona in the Piceni Federation, pressed north by the Gauls.
But soon Atri left this federation and closely allied with Rome, which sought strongholds and access to the Adriatic Sea. In 289 BC Hatria became a Latin colony and continued to mint its own money thanks to the permission of Rome. The Ager Hatrianus extended north to the river Vomano and south to the Saline River, while the western border overlapped the slopes of the Gran Sasso.
Torre Cerrano all’alba [Foto di Francesco Verrocchio]
Atri was also subjected to Greek influence, since its port was one of the ports of call and trading points on the Adriatic trade route from Puglia to the Po river delta. Strabo and Ptolemy located the port at the Matrinus river mouth that, in reference to the current hydrography, has been variously identified with Vomano, Saline and Piomba.
Resti di strutture portuali [Foto di Mario Cipollone]
Recently, however, thanks to some archaeological research by Hatria Archeosub and the University of Chieti, the port has been located in the sea opposite the Tower of Cerrano (Fig. 3), in the AMP (Marine Protected Area) situated in the current territory of Pineto and Silvi, where large blocks of Istrian stone, with inverted L-shaped plant and port facilities, such as cleats for mooring ships, were found.