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Eastern materials with the modesty typical of their forefathers? The Roman upper classes
had conquered a world which, in turn, threatened to conquer them. 229 The only way to
preserve Roman tradition was to mount a fierce resistance, and the battle against luxury
began as soon as the first eastern marble items entered the city.
It is quite curious that the first recorded import of marble items to Rome did not
come from the East, nor from North Africa or Greece, but, unexpectedly, from Croton
itself. According to Livy, the Roman censor Quintus Fulvius Flaccus attempted to reuse
half of the marble roof tiles from the temple of Hera Lacinia to erect his own temple to
Fortuna Equestris in Rome. 230 It was the year 173 B.C., only a decade and a half after the
battle of Magnesia had been fought. Ships were used to carry the tiles from Croton to
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Rome. 231 When Roman citizens noticed these unusual artifacts and started asking questions
about their provenience, Flaccus’ robbery could not be concealed. He was summoned and
entered the senate house, accused of destroying one of the most venerable shrines of
Magna Graecia. The Senate gave the order to make expiatory sacrifices to Hera and to
return the tiles to her temple in Capo Colonna. Apparently the tiles were abandoned at the
temple because there were no craftsmen who remembered the techniques required to
replace them. Some of these artifacts, made of Parian and Pentelic marbles, were found
buried close to the sanctuary at the end of the 19 th century (Fig. 46). 232
229 Horace 2.1.156.
230 Livy, 42.3.1-11.
231 Livy, 42.3.3.
232 The Marquis Berlingieri discovered the tiles during the construction of his summer residence in Capo
Colonna, and they were all crushed to make new mosaic floors in his palace in Croton. The Marquis
Lucifero was able to retrieve some tiles though, and offered them to the Archaeological Museum of the city,
where they are still visible at present. (Lenormant 1976, 222, n. 25; Ruga 1996, 100-1).