Che un videogame, oltre all’aspetto ludico e ricreativo, possa rivelarsi un buon insegnante lo sappiamo già. Chi non ha imparato nulla sulla famiglia Medici, o su Leonardo da Vinci, o sui Vichinghi o su molti altri argomenti di storia grazie ad Assassin’s creed, non è stato un player attento! E se Lara Croft, in Tomb Rider ci ha portati nei siti archeologici di tutto il mondo, “Augustus” ci porterà alla scoperta dei siti archeologici più importanti della Sicilia.
Cos’è Augustus, il nuovo videogame che ha lo scopo di promuovere i luoghi della cultura italiana
Augustus è l’acronimo di AUgmented Game for Sicilian ToUrism marketing Solutions, un progetto finanziato attraverso l’Azione 1.1.5 del Pon fesr sicilia2014-2020. Augustus è anche il nome del protagonista del gioco. Stiamo parlando proprio del primo imperatore di Roma, Augusto, che, in veste di “cultore delle arti”, chiederà al giocatore di aiutarlo ad arricchire la propria collezione con pezzi di valore storico-artistico, attraverso una serie di minigiochi ed enigmi, basati su avvenimenti storici reali, nei quali verranno esplorati i siti archeologici di tutta la Sicilia.
La Valle dei Templi, Agrigento. Uno dei siti archeologici più famosi della Sicilia.
Quali siti ritroveremo nel videogame
Nel gioco saranno presenti luoghi appartenenti a diverse epoche storiche, con un particolare riguardo ai siti che hanno visto la frequentazione della cultura greca e quella romana. In particolare, i siti già in progetto sono: il Parco Archeologico e paesaggistico della Valle dei Templi (Agrigento), il Parco Archeologico di Morgantina e della Villa Romana del Casale – Piazza Armerina (Enna), il Parco Archeologico di Naxos – Taormina (Messina) e il Complesso monumentale di Santa Caterina d’Alessandria (Palermo).
Il teatro greco di Taormina, una delle location di “Augustus”
Lo scopo è quello della promozione culturale
Una grafica straordinaria ed effetti visivi di ultima generazione.
“L’ambientazione realistica, la dinamicità del 3D nonché il coinvolgimento emozionale permetteranno di approfondire la storia e conoscere e apprezzare più a fondo il prezioso patrimonio siciliano attraverso Augustus”.
Con queste parole gli ideatori del gioco sottolineano come sia proprio l’importanza della promozione del nostro territorio, il vero motore che anima il gioco.
Veleia Romana (460 m below sea level), in the Chero valley, an ancient city whose name derives from the Ligurian tribe called Veleiates, was founded in 158 BC, after the definitive submission of the Ligurians to Rome. A Prosperious Roman municipality and important administrative capital, it ruled over a vast hilly and mountain area located between Parma, Piacenza, Libarna (Serravalle Scrivia) and Lucca.
The territory and its resources
The presence of saline waters, which the Romans have always been able to exploit with ingenuity, undoubtedly helped urban development, in which it is possible to identify various baths. This natural resource, along with the tranquility of the place, made Veleia a favorite holiday destination for various consuls and proconsuls from Rome, who were under the illusion, perhaps, of being able to extend their lives. In fact, it was known that among the population of Veleia, as confirmed by the last census of the emperor Vespasian (72 AD), there lived six people aged 110 and four even 120.
Remains of the Bathes
The urban sector of the city of Veleia is spread over a series of terraces along the “boreal slope of the knoll” of the Moria and Rovinasso mountains. The toponyms of these two peaks, which in ancient times seem to have been a single mountain, allude to a catastrophic event whose memory has unfortunately been lost in the haze of the times. This Apennine area, like many others in the Apennines, is known geologically for its tendency to landslides: many experts claim, in fact, that the decline and end of Veleia was caused by a large landslide or a series of landslides along the coast of the mountain above.
The archaeological area of Veleia
View of the excavations of Veleia
The forum, dating from the Augustan-Julian-Claudian age, extends over a plane obtained artificially by means of a massive excavation, as revealed by the readable stratification under the staircase on the eastern side. The paving, with four rainers, drained by a perimeter gutter with settling wells at the corners is well preserved. It is surrounded on three sides by a portico, dilated in ancient illusionistically by murals, on which there are shops and rooms for public use, almost all equipped with heating systems.
The whole is completed by the lowest of the terraces, formed by the accumulation of materials coming from the excavation of the slope above, contained by robust substructures, still clearly visible in the eighteenth century. Connected to the upper one by an imposing entrance with double tetrastyle elevation, inserted in the colonnade of the forum, the terrace was perhaps reserved for religious functions.
The final destination of an upward path that comes from the valley floor is the basilica that closes the complex to the south: a building with a single nave, with rectangular exedras at the ends, was the seat of the imperial cult; in fact, the twelve large Luni marble statues depicting the members of the Julio-Claudian family rose against the back wall.
To the west of the forum, recent excavations have again brought to light the remains of buildings, recognized as prior to its creation, as well as traces of its original entrance, replaced after the middle of the 1st century. AD from the monumental one located on the northern side. Upstream of the forum there are residential quarters.
The terrace on which a parish church dedicated to S. Antonino has stood since the Middle Ages probably housed a building of worship already in antiquity. Higher is placed a building, identified, already at the time of its discovery, as a water reservoir, later mistakenly interpreted – and consequently rebuilt – as an amphitheatre.
Inside the archaeological area, an Antiquarium has been set up, where casts of the Trajan’s Tabula Alimentaria and the bronze table containing the lex de Gallia Cisalpina, as well as furnishings and architectural elements relating to Roman cremation burials, are kept.
The process of identification between Augustus and Mussolini and the reference to antiquity reached its apex with the great Augustan Exhibition of Roman times in 1937. Managed by Giulio Quirino Giglioli, it was launched at the Exhibition Palace to celebrate the two thousandth anniversary of the birth of Augustus.
Manifesto of the Augustan Exhibition of Romanity
The Exhibition Palace
The façade of the Palace, created by Alfredo Scalpelli, featured “writings along the entire façade, warning visitors and passers-by about the indestructible power of Rome, the talents of the Italic people and the universality of Roman politics, with the words of great classical writers and Christians “. It was decorated with copies of Roman statues of captive barbarians, the originals of which (2nd century AC) were found in the collections of the Conservative Palace.
The entire facade was a clear reference to the tripartite layout of the arch of Constantine, with the casts of the statues imitating the statues of the Trajan era placed on the top of the ancient monument. On the keystone of the central entrance of the exhibition there was a cast of the statue of the Victory of Metz, a reference to the Victories trophy placed in the median arch of the arch of Constantine. On the keystone of the central entrance of the exhibition there was a cast of the statue of the Victory of Metz, a reference to the Victories trophy placed in the median fornix of the arch of Constantine. Already from the mere realization of the façade, the desire to reuse classical elements and the desire to connect the Fascist empire with the Roman one was conceived.
The facade of the Exhibition Palace
The exhibition rooms of the Exhibit
Giglioli had set up twenty-six rooms dedicated to the history of Rome, from the first kings to the formation of the Empire, considered a space that the Romans had conquered because they were superior from a cultural point of view. Through the exhibition, visitors could learn about the uses, customs, techniques and economy of the entire Roman world.
Entrance to the Augustan Exhibition of Romanity
One of the most important rooms was certainly the Empire room, with the casts of triumphal monuments, such as the relief of a sacrifice probably made by Trajan, in front of a large temple. The shrine of the exhibition was the room dedicated to Augustus (room X), where, surmounted by the passage of Suetonius which exalted his birth, the statue of the Augustus of Prima Porta appeared.
Fragment of Suetonius’s piece
The glass cross in the Hall of Augustus
The mystical analogy between Augustus and Mussolini will find an iconographic translation in a glass cross bearing the words of St. Luke. The cross referred to the imperial census issued by Augustus and the birth of Christ. The identification between Augustus, “cooperator of Divine Providence” and Mussolini, who, after the Lateran Pacts, will be considered as the Man of Providence, became clear.
The Glass Cross
Giglioli recovered hundreds of casts, models of monuments, machines, models of cities, geographical and topographical maps that highlighted the power and grandeur of the Empire. Indeed, the exhibition was intended to “educate the masses”, to speak to the general public and enhance the similarities between the ancient empire of Augustus and the new empire of Mussolini.
The image of Constantine
In rooms XXIV and XXV the “fascistized” image of Constantine emerged. The rooms were placed in communication with each other by the architecture, which suggested the ideal continuity between the obelisks and the triumphal arches of the present and the past. Think about the triumphal arch of Constantine “erected to celebrate the victory over Maxentius on 28th October 312 AC, which marked the advent of Christianity […] reported at that same Milvian bridge, which the Black Shirts crossed on 28th October in 1922, starting the Era of Fasci ».
The peace savior
On his return from Munich, fresh from the closing of the Augustan Exhibition of Roman times, Mussolini, at least at home, was able to present himself in Rome as the “savior of peace”. If those garments did not mislead Pius XI, the same could not be said for the Catholic press. On 5th of November in 1938 The Catholic Civilization praised Mussolini as the new Augustus, who had returned from across the Alps with peace. A peace that wanted to resemble the Pax Augustea, which lasted for four centuries, but, when it left Europe, there was nothing but disorder and barbarism, which, within a year, destroyed the myth of Roman times.
Mussolini as Augustus and Constantine
The Duce personified the model of Constantine, the Christian emperor, and that of Augustus, the Princeps of the empire: a fusion of two imperial models. This happened through the recovery of the legend about the “Christianization” of Augustus, whose testimony emerged from the panels of the Augustan exhibition in which he was represented. An Augustus “Christianized” and aware of his earthly mission, illuminated by the light of providence, coinciding with the redemptive mission of Christ. Mussolini, therefore, claimed to fascism the merit of having restored the authority and prestige of the capital of Italy to Rome; moreover, he had used the myth of Rome and, in particular the classical elements, to provide historical legitimacy and ideological consistency to fascism. https://archeome.it/wp-admin/post.php?post=7956&action=edit
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Always active
L'archiviazione tecnica o l'accesso sono strettamente necessari al fine legittimo di consentire l'uso di un servizio specifico esplicitamente richiesto dall'abbonato o dall'utente, o al solo scopo di effettuare la trasmissione di una comunicazione su una rete di comunicazione elettronica.
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