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These three entries related to Cuma appeared separately in the Around Naples Encyclopedia on the dates indicated and have been consolidtated here onto a single page. entry July
2003
Cuma plays a large role in many of the myths handed
down to us as part of our classical heritage: Ulysses
and Aeneas both landed here, the Cyclopes roamed here,
and here was the entrance to Hades through the Averno swamp. Cuma, of course,
is best known as the abode of the sibyl, the priestess
of Apollo, one of many in the Greek world, and the most
famous. In the fifth century, BC, she is said to have
offered to sell the Etruscan king of Rome, Tarquin, nine
books of prophecy. Twice, the king refused. Each time
the sibyl tossed three of the books into a fire and
doubled the price on those remaining. Tarquin bought the
last three books; they contained instructions for
gaining the favor of foreign gods. Perhaps Tarquin
sensed, rightly, that his Etruscans were about to need
all the help they could get in the face of the impending
revolt of their Roman subjects. The Sibylline books were
used to invoke divine help in 431 during an epidemic,
and thus did the foreign god, Apollo, make his way into
the Roman pantheon, the first of many Greek deities to
do so.
Fascination for the figure of the sibyl continued even into the Renaissance, where she puts in an appearance in Michelangelo's paintings in the Sistine Chapel. The Cumans came from from Eubea in Greece to settle on
the Italian mainland, although they apparently settled
first on the island of Ischia before moving across to
the mainland to displace an Italic people known as the
Opici. This happened sometime around 700 b.c., although
there are questions about the precise date. In any
event, the Cumans built themselves into a formidable
power in this part of the Mediterranean, contending over
the course of three centuries with other powers such as
the Etruscans from the north
and, later, with the Samnites
from the interior. [Also see Ancient
Ischia/Pithecusa] The city-state of Cuma was at its height roughly between the years 700-500 BC, ruling much of present-day Campania. The city, itself, spread out well beyond the simple site of the acropolis we see today into the surrounding area of Miseno and Baia. In 680 the Cumans helped to found modern Naples, in the sense that they moved in to displace settlers from Rhodes, who were then forced to desert their own original town of Parthenope and move inland to set up a new city, a neapolis—Naples. The two populations eventually mixed, as did the old and new cities. ("Parthenopean" still remains a common synonym for "Neapolitan" in local usage.) The Cumans also reached out farther south to found Zancle, modern-day Messina. At its height, Cuma was a bulwark against Etruscan expansion from the north and played a part in the defeat of the Etruscans in the waters off of Cuma, hastening the demise of Etruria. Then, in 420, the Cumans, themselves were annexed by another great early Italic power, the Samnites, fierce warriors from the rugged territory near Benevento, who later battled the Romans for two centuries for hegemony in southern Italy—a battle the Samnites ultimately lost. When the Romans annexed Cuma, it flourished once again, this time as a sort of an early version of the Riviera. Here is where the "beautiful people" of the Empire rubbed elbows. Cicero, Lucullus, Julius Caesar, and Pliny, among others, built villas and took the waters in the famous thermal baths of the Flegrean fields. Further growth took place when Caesar Augustus turned the entire area of Miseno into a mighty port for the Western imperial fleet. After the fall of Rome, Cuma was apparently used as a
base by the invader Goths. It then turned Greek again
for a brief period under the short-lived Byzantine
reunification of Italy, subsequently falling under the
dominion of the Duchy of Benevento. It was sacked a few
times during Saracen incursions and, finally, Cuma, this
first great city in Italy, was little more than a nest
for itinerant pirates when it was destroyed by Naples in
1207. Yet, fascination with Virgil's description held
sway over the centuries. In the Middle Ages they
searched for the Sibylline grotto and even thought they
had found it a few times. (Today there is still another
"grotto of the sibyl" at nearby Lake Averno. It was long
thought to be the
mythological cave but, apparently, is not. See link to
"The Pseudo-Grotto...", below). It wasn't until the middle of the 20th century that the
real thing was brought to light, uncovered through the
efforts of the great Neapolitan archaeologist, Amedeo Maiuri. The chamber in
question is strangely trapezoidal; the oddly tapered
walls are perhaps the influence of Etruscan
architecture. It is the closest thing yet found to the
chamber described by Virgil, but is it the real
"real thing"? Probably, but only one person knows for
sure, and she has been silent for many centuries. entry Sept. 2003
Cuma (2), oracles Deep
in a cave the Sibyl makes abode; The Aeneid book 6, 10-13, The cave of
the sibyl of Cuma In 1900, a scholar, Adolpe Paul Oppé, wrote that no such chasm or cleft existed at Delphi, and that, anyway, no gas could imitate the symptoms of spiritual possession. Since that time, modern science has sort of pooh-poohed the idea of pneuma-induced trances at Delphi, and, by extension, other such sites in the world of ancient Greece. Now, lo and behold, according to the August 2003 issue of Scientific American, "two geologic faults that intersect precisely under the site of the oracle [have been found]..." and "...the petrochemical-rich layers in the limestone formations of the region most likely produced ethylene, a gas that induces a trance-like state and that could have risen through fissures created by the faults." After inhaling a goodly quantity of ethylene, I am reminded of our local oracle, Cuma, the sibyl of which handed out prophecies just like her sisters in Greece. As far as I'm concerned, the sibyl of Cuma was even better; after all, her name has generalized to "sibylline," meaning "mysterious," obviously better than "delphic"— "obscure". I would rather be sibylline than delphic, any day, and I'm sure I speak for most ethylene breathers. Geologically, I wonder if investigators of Delphi might
like to come and have a look at Cuma, on the edge of the
infamous "Phlegrean Fields," one of the most
geologically active zones in Europe. We have clefts and
bubbling sulfur pits and caves with abundant
pneuma. Of one such place, Mark Twain wrote: "...but the Grotto of the Dog [at Lake Averno] claimed our chief attention, because we had heard and read so much about it. Everybody has written about the Grotto del Cane and its poisonous vapors, from Pliny down to Smith, and every tourist has held a dog over its floor by the legs to test the capabilities of the place. The dog dies in a minute and a half —a chicken instantly. As a general thing, strangers who crawl in there to sleep do not get up until they are called. And then they don’t, either. The stranger that ventures to sleep there takes a permanent contract. I longed to see this grotto. I resolved to take a dog and hold him myself; suffocate him a little, and time him; suffocate him some more, and then finish him. We reached the grotto about three in the afternoon, and proceeded at once to make the experiments. But now, an important difficulty presented itself. We had no dog..." Dangling a beautiful priestess over a pit of pneuma? Now, that's my idea of a good time.
entry Mar 2010 Pseudo-Sibyl still sells seashells... (photo
© courtesy of
NapoliUndergound)
...last survivor of the family that has been hauling people through Sybil's grotto at Averno since the 1800's, is about 80 and is like a character right of an Eduardo play. He takes a bus from Pozzouli to meet tourists who call ahead, then after his first step inside, supported by his walking cane, recites his spiel, as he has done since childhood... I
have that quote from Larry Ray, who has items in this encyclopedia
and who translates for NapoliUnderground, a
local band of ferocious spelunkers and
troglodytes. From their
website, there is this: We followed Carlo listening to his fascinating and fantastic accounts as we moved through the principal tunnels and galleries...we can still see ancient symbols etched on the walls (first a cross, and a palm and a bit further on a fish and more). About halfway into the exploration, on the right wall there is a small mysterious passageway that curves to the left continuing on with a long stairwell carved into the rock, ending in a flooded tunnel.
There was an ancient oracle connected to the cult of the dead and the gates of Averno, where a thermal water source led to the popular legend that here were the waters of the river Styx and the abode of the gods of the underworld. The belief was so persistent through the centuries that even Hannibal, when he lay waste the fields of Cuma and threatened Pozzuoli in 209 BC, felt compelled to perform ritual sacrifices to the powerful and mysterious gods in this place. Not even the grand transformations wrought by Agrippa and Augustus could eradicate the sense of religious terror inherent in the area. With the triumph of Christianity and the destruction of the vital force of empire, the Sibyllan cult at the acropolis of Cuma and the entire region with its connecting tunnels beneath the hills, fell into a state of total abandon, covered by earthslides and encroaching waters. Popular legend again turned Italic and placed the grotto of the Cumaean Sibyl on the slopes of Lake Averno...The main gallery is actually a path created for the purpose of joining Lake Averno to Lake Lucrino and was probably part of the same large body of construction undertaken by Agrippa in 37 BC. That is, besides the navigable channel from the inner lake to the sea, there was a need to provide a land passageway as well...[for various logistical needs]. That is now the prevailing opinion among scholars. The entrance is on the western slope of Lake Averno, still hidden in a stand of trees about 300 meters from the point where the access road in from the coast road meets the lake. You may not be getting the Sibyl of Cuma, herself, but you are getting some spectacular archaeology. I look forward to more news from our NapoliUnderground stalwarts, who, I hear, are breaking out the scuba gear (!) since much of the passageway is now submerged. (The last time I went anywhere with these people, I almost got myself killed. See Proud to be a Troglodyte.)
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Time has not been
kind to Cuma. In Rome, for example, it is no problem at
all to wander among Imperial relics and be awed by
antiquity. Indeed, even in Naples, itself, if you
criss-cross the historic center of town, you are still
very much in physical contact with downtown Neapolis of
400 b.c. Cuma, however, is different. Today, it is an
"archaeological park," where you get the impression
that, well, here is where the Greeks maybe built a
temple or something. There is little to remind the
average visitor that Cuma was one of the truly important
Greek city-states of the ancient world, just like its
more famous cousin, Athens. 
Not really, but there is a
kindly gentleman named Carlo who stills sells
tourists a post-