Expert: Maria - 12/10/2007

Question
QUESTION: I cannot find much out about the Messapian tribe down in the heel of Italy
and am developing an interest. I have read they were of Illyrian descent and
could have come to Italy as early as 3000 bc and as late 1300 bc, as fleeing
Trojans. There is also a possible Cretan origin theory as well, I think? I am
very interested in the Trozella style of pottery with the dramatic, angular
handles and the monochromatic decoration style, which seems to be so
different from all the other Southern Italian pottery. It seems sophisticated in
it's form and shape but the decoration seems more primitive than for the time
and area. It seems so different than the other southern Italian pieces I have
seen. Did these people have any Greek affiliation? Were they there before
Magna Graecia was colonized? Are there any online reference for the pottery,
and the people and culture? Is that one question? Probably not. Thank you in
advance.

ANSWER: Hello,

First of all the ancient Greek name “Messápioi”  (Latin “Messapii”) we read in some primary sources like Herodotus 7.170, Polybius 3,88, Pausanias 10.10.6,  is attributed to a non-Greek people settled along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea in the south eastern extremity of the Italian peninsula (the so called “heel” of Italy, i.e. the Salentine  peninsula).

As for their origin, Herodotus says that  they were Cretan and therefore a pre-Hellenic  people, Pausanias mentions them as “a non-Greek people bordering on the territory of Tarentum” and Polybius does not say where they were from.

Anyway, it seems that the Messapii, that in ancient Greek sources are often called “Iapyges” as they inhabited a south eastern Italian  region then named “Iapygia”,  represent an early migration ( ca.1500-1000 BC)  into Italy, maybe from Crete or more likely from the western part of today's Balkan Peninsula, where there were the Illyrians, an ancient people who spoke a non-Greek language, even if it was an  Indo-European language as well as the Greek, Latin, etc.
We have some remains of this Messapian/ Iapygian  language in few inscriptions which have the same stock as the Illyrians (Albanians).
In fact the Messapian language is believed to be related to the extinct Illyrian languages that were spoken on the east side of the Adriatic.

In short, firstly it is very likely that the Messapii were not of Greek origin; secondly they reached Italy about two centuries at least before  the arrival of the Greeks and their colonization of the so-called ‘Magna Graecia’, i.e. Southern Italy and Sicily, in the 8th- 7th century BC.

On the other hand it is obvious that they were influenced by the Greeks and their culture, when Southern Italy was colonized, though there was always hostility between the Messapii and the Greeks until they both were defeated  and subdued by the Romans in 275 BC.

Finally with regard to the Messapian Trozella, which in Italian is “trozzella”, a vernacular term meaning literally “little wheels ” as this pottery  vase has generally four little wheels at the summit and base of its  sharp angled handles, it is a typical Messapian  pottery dating back to the 7th.century BC.

This pottery which  has a  certain resemblance to the vases in the Geometric style,  that flourished towards the end of the Greek Dark Ages, circa 900 BC to 800 BC, appears however only in the Salentine peninsula (ancient Messapia/ Yapygia) or in Lucania (today Basilicata), a bordering region.

As for  some online reference for the pottery, the people and culture, I’m sorry, but there is none.

Hope however this outline can be helpful to you.
Best regards,
Maria
_________________________________________________
-Herodotus, The Histories , book 7, chapter 170 :
“Now Minos, it is said, went to Sicania, which is now called Sicily, in search for Daedalus, and perished there by a violent death. Presently all the Cretans except the men of Polichne and Praesus were bidden by a god to go with a great host to Sicania. Here they besieged the town of Camicus, where in my day the men of Acragas dwelt, for five years. [2] Presently, since they could neither take it nor remain there because of the famine which afflicted them, they departed. However, when they were at sea off Iapygia, a great storm caught and drove them ashore. Because their ships had been wrecked and there was no way left of returning to Crete, they founded there the town of Hyria, and made this their dwelling place, accordingly changing from Cretans to Messapians of Iapygia, and from islanders to dwellers on the mainland.”

-Polybius, The Histories, book 3, chapter 88:
“Hannibal started on his road to Iapygia. This district is divided among three peoples, each with a district name, Daunii [Peucetii], and Messapii.”

-Pausanias, Description of Greece, 10.10.6 :
“The bronze horses and captive women dedicated by the Tarentines were made from spoils taken from the Messapians, a non-Greek people bordering on the territory of Tarentum”.

Herodotus (historian, ca. 484 BC–ca. 425 BC)
Polybius (historian, ca. 203 BC–120 BC )
Pausanias (geographer, 2nd century A.D)


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Two quick follow-up questions: 1. Is "Trozella" specific to the Messapians, or
was this form created in other parts of the peninsula? And, 2. Polybius divided
the district in to three with one of them named Daunii. Is that where Daunian
pottery comes from?

Answer
Hello again,

first of all I’m glad  that you has been very satisfied by my previous  response and I thank you very much for your rating.
As for the two follow-up questions, here are my answers:

1-"Trozella" / “Trozzella” is specific to the Messapii in the Salentine peninsula (today Puglia) though this type of vase has been found also in Lucania  (today Basilicata), a region which borders on  the Puglia  on the west, where however this  vase has the little wheels in the middle of the handles.
In no other part of Italy  we find this type of vase with these characteristic unusual “trozzelle” ( plural of ‘trozzella’, i.e. little wheels).
Note that the Apulian term ‘trozzella’ seems to derive from Latin “trochlea” (pulley).


2. Yes, Daunian  pottery comes just from  the district in northern Apulia mentioned by Polybius.

Best regards,
Maria