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If this is accurate news, it's pretty sensational.
Dated to the First Punic War, the article says.
Has anyone else heard about this?
Ben Kane, bestselling author of the Eagles of Rome, Spartacus and Hannibal novels.
Eagles in the Storm released in UK on March 23, 2017.
Aguilas en la tormenta saldra en 2017.
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Holy crap. That would be amazing if it is true.
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Wouldn't it?! My novelist's mind is spinning! :woot:
Ben Kane, bestselling author of the Eagles of Rome, Spartacus and Hannibal novels.
Eagles in the Storm released in UK on March 23, 2017.
Aguilas en la tormenta saldra en 2017.
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How amazing!
Also quite amazing that it seems to have gone completely unmentioned in Roman literature!
Later it was used as a shelter from natural phenomena and the bombings of World War II - this implies that these tunnels have been known about for some time... which is odd.
I can't quite determine from the article, though, whether anyone has actually traced the tunnel from one side of the strait to the other, or just found the two ends (?) at Torre Cavallo / Villa San Giovanni (on the mainland side) and Ganzirri (on the Sicily side, but not opposite San Giovanni). Does the last paragraph (Dopo la messa in sicurezza del tunnel, a giorni sarà organizzata una spedizione di speleologi che da Torre Cavallo arriverà fino a Ganzirri) mean that they're going to send an expedition right though the tunnel, or that they're hoping to find a connection between the two ends?
Edit - also, I understood that there had been substantial seismic activity in the Strait of Messina (including one major earthquake that levelled Messina itself and completely changed the flow of the current in the strait) - could a narrow underground tunnel really have survived this?
Nathan Ross
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Impressive most impressive!...Yeah I got this from Darth Vader actualy :-)
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Quote:Edit - also, I understood that there had been substantial seismic activity in the Strait of Messina (including one major earthquake that levelled Messina itself and completely changed the flow of the current in the strait) - could a narrow underground tunnel really have survived this?
Plate movement varies from fault to fault.
In theory, yes: it could have shifted several feet and left a wall of rock halfway through the tunnel.
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I always thought that was why nobody tried to dig a road tunnel under the strait (as people have been suggesting since the 19th century) and opted instead for this 2-mile bridge that never seems to approach being finished...
Nathan Ross
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No, it's simply impossible. Even today the tunnel is considered a very hard work, for innumerable reasons concerning the seabed in the Strait of Sicily.
It's Science Fiction tale.
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To quote Evan: Holy CRAP  ! Implying I think this is an absolute fairytale!!
As far as I know, there was no tunneling by the Romans for transportation means anywhere. OK, there were mines, but what would be the reason behind such a narrow tunnel, given the effort it would take to make it, even if it were technicly possible? Imagine transporting anything through it. Would this grand effort outway the efficiency of just loading a ship and sailing/padling/rowing across the straight?
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We know from the Baiae tunnels that the Romans were capable of remarkable feats of tunneling, but I agree that a tunnel to connect Italy and Sicily is absurd. "Seating" is mentioned in the article. These may have been for ritual purposes.
Pecunia non olet
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Seriously - it is really very interesting if true (ie the dating finds are accurate). Given the timeframe it may not have been the Romans at all (Carthaginian-backed rebels/insurgents - cf the tunnels into Gaza under Suez).
Not so seriously - it could indeed explain why Spartacus was never found - he and some of his disciples did escape and then founded the beginnings of La Cosa Nostra! 
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It did seem too good to be true. 
My Italian is poor, but apparently it says at the bottom of the article that material on the website may be satirical, or words to that effect.
Ben Kane, bestselling author of the Eagles of Rome, Spartacus and Hannibal novels.
Eagles in the Storm released in UK on March 23, 2017.
Aguilas en la tormenta saldra en 2017.
www.benkane.net
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Quote:My Italian is poor, but apparently it says at the bottom of the article that material on the website may be satirical, or words to that effect.
If you use the Translate facility on the top left-hand side, you can get it in English (of sorts). The bit at the bottom reads, "This is a satirical website, and some of the articles in it are the result of the imagination." Make of that what you will.
This may be the opportunity to remind ourselves of the story of Nonius Datus and the aqueduct. Nonius Datus was a veteran of Leg III Aug, who had designed an aqueduct for the town of Saldae. This was to pass through a mountain and the design entailed tunnels being dug from opposite sides of the mountain, meeting in the middle. After the work had been in progress for some time it was found, to the consternation of those involved, that the combined length of the tunnels was greater than the distance through the mountain. Nonius Datus had to be recalled to sort out the mess.
Michael King Macdona
And do as adversaries do in law, -
Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends.
(The Taming of the Shrew: Act 1, Scene 2)
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Building the a bridge in the strait has become a tragic joke. I was in Italy over the summer visiting family and I was watching a program where the bridge issue came up. Given the plates, currents, and span.....its not possible. A British engineer according to the program, built a small replica over a narrow area of the Thames and once too many people were on it, the bridge began to sway and almost went to pieces. So imagine the long distance with cars and trains.
So, IF this is a satirical site, its to slap the proponents of the bridge in the face by saying that the joining of mainland Italy to Sicily is an old and long story. In other words, its nothing new so why keep harping on the idea of building it.
"You have to laugh at life or else what are you going to laugh at?" (Joseph Rosen)
Paolo
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Quote: its to slap the proponents of the bridge in the face by saying that the joining of mainland Italy to Sicily is an old and long story.
I wondered if that might be it. A strangely over-subtle form of satire, if so!
When I lived in Sicily many years ago, I was told several times that the bridge would never be completed due to the influence of... a certain well-known Sicilian organisation... who found it far too lucrative as a source of endless EU and Italian government funds. However, I also heard this explanation given for all sort of stalled and incomplete projects in Sicily (the Catania metro, for example), so perhaps it was somewhat wishful thinking... (apologies for the digression!)
Nathan Ross
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