69-631: Matera ( Italian pronunciation: [maˈtɛːra] , locally [maˈteːra] ; Materano : Matàrë [maˈtæːrə] ) is a city and the capital of the Province of Matera in the region of Basilicata , in Southern Italy . With a history of continuous occupation dating back to the Palaeolithic (10th millennium BC), it is renowned for its rock-cut urban core, whose twin cliffside zones are known collectively as
138-489: A in Napoli Naples ieri. List of oldest continuously inhabited cities This is a list of present-day cities by the time period over which they have been continuously inhabited as a city. The age claims listed are generally disputed. Differences in opinion can result from different definitions of " city " as well as "continuous habitation" and historical evidence is often disputed. Caveats (and sources) to
207-770: A ; masc. "long", fem. "long"), whereas in Italian it is expressed by a change in the final vowel. These and other morpho-syntactic differences distinguish the Neapolitan language from the Italian language and the Neapolitan accent. Neapolitan has had a significant influence on the intonation of Rioplatense Spanish spoken in Buenos Aires and the surrounding region of Argentina and in the entire country of Uruguay . While there are only five graphic vowels in Neapolitan, phonemically, there are eight. Stressed vowels e and o can be either " closed " or " open " and
276-410: A or an , are presented in the following table: In Neapolitan there are four finite moods: indicative , subjunctive , conditional and imperative , and three non-finite modes: infinitive , gerund and participle . Each mood has an active and a passive form. The only auxiliary verbs used in the active form is (h)avé (Eng. "to have", It. avere ), which contrasts with Italian, in which
345-540: A border area between the two regions. Some specialties are " peperoni cruschi ", a sweet and dry pepper variety very popular in Basilicata, and "Pane di Matera", a type of bread recognizable for its intense flavour and conical shape, granted Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status. Matera produces an eponymous wine which bears the Denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) designation. Some dishes from
414-747: A deal with the invaders. In retaliation for this, the next katepano Georgios Maniakes , dispatched to Italy with special powers in April 1042, carried out mass executions in Matera in June, only to launch a rebellion of his own in September. After his departure Matera elected William Iron Arm as its count (1042), but like other towns it remained in Byzantine hands despite the Norman advances – in 1054 died Sico ,
483-518: A destruction of the wagon: Saracens besiege Matera and the citizens, to protect the painting of Madonna, hid it on a little wagon. They then destroyed the wagon to keep the Saracens from taking the painting. Different hypotheses are attributed to the name of Madonna della Bruna : the first says that the noun derives from the Lombard high-medieval term brùnja (armor/protection of knights). So
552-467: A farmer to go up on his wagon to accompany her to Matera. When she arrived to the periphery of the city, she got off the wagon and asked farmer to take her message to the bishop. In this message she said she was Christ's mother. The bishop, the clergy and the folk rushed to receive the Virgin, but they found a statue. So the statue of Madonna entered in the city on a triumphal wagon. Another legend talks about
621-600: A large and diverse collection of buildings related to the Christian faith, including a large number of rupestrian churches carved from the calcarenite rock of the region. These churches, which are also found in the neighbouring region of Apulia , were listed in the 1998 World Monuments Watch by the World Monuments Fund . Matera Cathedral (1268–1270) has been dedicated to Santa Maria della Bruna since 1389. Built in an Apulian Romanesque architectural style,
690-472: A mere difference in Italian pronunciation. Therefore, while pronunciation presents the strongest barrier to comprehension, the grammar of Neapolitan is what sets it apart from Italian. In Neapolitan, for example, the gender and number of a word is expressed by a change in the accented vowel because it no longer distinguishes final unstressed / a / , / e / and / o / (e.g. l uo ngo [ˈlwoŋɡə] , l o nga [ˈloŋɡə] ; Italian lung o , lung
759-546: A period of association with the Byzantine metropolis of Otranto from 968, the episcopal see of Matera was reclaimed by the archbishopric of Acerenza. A new cathedral church of St Eustace was consecrated in May 1082. After a short communal phase and a series of pestilences and earthquakes, the city became an Aragonese possession in the 15th century, and was given in fief to the barons of the Tramontano family . In 1514, however,
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#1732771773239828-464: A triumphal wagon ( ships on wheels richly designed). The Madonna's sculpture is located in a case in the transept of the cathedral dedicated to her, where there is also a fresco that portrays her. It dates back to the 13th century and it belongs to the Byzantine school. Matera is the terminal station of the Bari–Matera, a narrow gauge railroad managed by Ferrovie Appulo Lucane . The nearest airport
897-406: A word beginning with a consonant: "C:" = the initial consonant of the following word is geminated if followed by a vowel. These definite articles are always pronounced distinctly. Before a word beginning with a vowel, l’ or ll’ are used for both masculine and feminine, singular and plural. Although both forms can be found, the ll’ form is by far the most common. In Neapolitan,
966-540: A word or between two vowels: e.g. doje (feminine) or duje (masculine), meaning "two", is pronounced, and often spelled, as roje / ruje ; vedé ("to see") as veré , and often spelled so; also cadé / caré ("to fall") and Madonna / Maronna . Another purported Oscan influence is the historical assimilation of the consonant cluster /nd/ as /nn/ , pronounced [nː] (this is generally reflected in spelling more consistently: munno vs Italian mondo "world"; quanno vs Italian quando "when"), along with
1035-580: Is Bari Airport . Matera is connected to the A14 Bologna-Taranto motorway through the SS99 national road. It is also served by the SS407, SS665 and SS106 national road. Bus connection to Italy's main cities is provided by private firms. Matera is twinned with: Neapolitan language Neapolitan ( autonym : ('o n)napulitano [(o n)napuliˈtɑːnə] ; Italian : napoletano )
1104-660: Is a Romance language of the Italo-Romance group spoken in Naples and most of continental Southern Italy . It is named after the Kingdom of Naples , which once covered most of the area, and the city of Naples was its capital. On 14 October 2008, a law by the Region of Campania stated that Neapolitan was to be protected. While this article mostly addresses the language group native to much of continental Southern Italy or
1173-593: Is a veritable water cathedral, which is navigable by boat. Like other cisterns in the town, it collected rainwater that was filtered and flowed in a controlled way to the Sassi. There were also a large number of little superficial canals that fed pools and hanging gardens. Moreover, many bell-shaped cisterns in dug houses were filled up by seepage. Later, when the population increased, many of these cisterns were turned into houses and other kinds of water-harvesting systems were realised. Some of these more recent facilities have
1242-407: Is characteristic of Basilicata and Apulia . Many of them are really little more than small caverns, and in some parts of the Sassi a street lies on top of another group of dwellings. The ancient town grew up on one slope of the rocky ravine created by a river that is now a small stream, and this ravine is known locally as "la Gravina". In the 1950s, as part of a policy to clear the extreme poverty of
1311-495: Is only to demonstrate where the stress, or accent, falls in some words. Also, the circumflex is used to mark a long vowel where it would not normally occur (e.g. sî "you are"). The following clusters are always geminated if vowel-following. The Neapolitan classical definite articles (corresponding to the English word "the") are a (feminine singular), o (masculine singular) and i (plural for both). Before
1380-856: The Last Judgement has been discovered. Two other important churches in Matera, both dedicated to the Apostle Peter, are San Pietro Caveoso (in the Sasso Caveoso ) and San Pietro Barisano (in the Sasso Barisano ). San Pietro Barisano was recently restored in a project by the World Monuments Fund , funded by American Express . The main altar and the interior frescoes were cleaned, and missing pieces of mouldings, reliefs, and other adornments were reconstructed from photographic archives or surrounding fragments. There are many other churches and monasteries dating back throughout
1449-454: The grabiglioni [ it ] , the northern hosts Sasso Barisano (facing Bari ) and the southern Sasso Caveoso (facing Montescaglioso ). The Sassi consist of around twelve levels spanning the height of 380 m, connected by a network of paths, stairways, and courtyards ( vicinati ). The medieval city clinging on to the edge of the canyon for its defence is invisible from the western approach. The tripartite urban structure of Civita and
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#17327717732391518-574: The Sassi . Matera lies on the right bank of the Gravina river, whose canyon forms a geological boundary between the hill country of Basilicata (historic Lucania ) to the south-west and the Murgia plateau of Apulia to the north-east. The city began as a complex of cave habitations excavated in the softer limestone on the gorge's western, Lucanian face. It took advantage of two streams which flow into
1587-777: The United States , Canada , Australia , Brazil , Argentina , Uruguay , Mexico , and Venezuela . However, in the United States, traditional Neapolitan has had considerable contact with English and the Sicilian languages spoken by Sicilian and Calabrian immigrants living alongside Neapolitan-speaking immigrants and so the Neapolitan in the US is now significantly different from the contemporary Neapolitan spoken in Naples . English words are often used in place of Neapolitan words, especially among second-generation speakers . On
1656-464: The gender of a noun is not easily determined by the article, so other means must be used. In the case of ’o , which can be either masculine singular or neuter singular (there is no neuter plural in Neapolitan), the initial consonant of the noun is doubled when it is neuter. For example, the name of a language in Neapolitan is always neuter, so if we see ’o nnapulitano we know it refers to
1725-482: The protospatharios of Matera. The city was seized in April 1064 as an independent acquisition by Robert, Count of Montescaglioso , a seditious nephew of Robert Guiscard , who profited from the involvement of his uncle further south. After count Robert died in July 1080, Matera accepted the rule of his brother Geoffrey of Conversano . Geoffrey's son Alexander joined a revolt against Roger II in 1132, but he fled before
1794-565: The 1970s. A new law in 1986 opened the path to restoration and reoccupation of the Sassi, this time – as noted by the architectural historian Anne Toxey – for the benefit of the wealthy middle class . The recognition of the Sassi, labelled la città sotterranea ("the underground city"), together with the rupestrian churches across the Gravina as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in December 1993 has assisted in attracting tourism and accelerated
1863-507: The Bone " (2016) by Metallica . The Feast of the Madonna della Bruna, held in Matera on 2 July each year, is notable for its religious procession featuring an ornamented chariot which is then pulled apart by spectators. The origins of the festival are not well known, because its story has changed while being handed down from generation to generation. One of these legends says that a woman asked
1932-535: The City Council of Matera. Voters elect directly 32 councilors and the Mayor of Matera every five years. Matera has gained international fame for its ancient town, the "Sassi di Matera". The Sassi originated in a prehistoric troglodyte settlement, and these dwellings are thought to be among the first ever human settlements in what is now Italy. The Sassi are habitations dug into the calcareous rock itself, which
2001-565: The Gao regions in Mali. in Gao is the pyramidal Tomb of Askia where is buried the emperor Askia the Great of Songhai. Archaeological evidence indicates that the city was destroyed and abandoned several times (sometimes remaining uninhabited for hundreds of years at a time), with later rebuilding and expansion. The port city of Janggala or Hujung Galuh was one of the two Javanese capital city that
2070-575: The Grotta dei pipistrelli (cave of the bats), and to the Neolithic. The symbol of the park is the lesser kestrel . The San Giuliano Regional Reserve, a protected area established in 2000, includes Lake San Giuliano , an artificial reservoir created by the damming of the Bradano river, and the river sections upstream and downstream of it. Colle di Timmari, a green plateau located about 15 km from
2139-520: The Neapolitan language, whereas ’o napulitano would refer to a Neapolitan man. Likewise, since ’e can be either masculine or feminine plural, when it is feminine plural, the initial consonant of the noun is doubled. For example, consider ’a lista , which in Neapolitan is feminine singular, meaning "the list". In the plural, it becomes ’e lliste . There can also be problems with nouns whose singular form ends in e . Since plural nouns usually end in e whether masculine or feminine,
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2208-403: The Sassi, the government of Italy used force to relocate most of the population of the Sassi to new public housing in the developing modern city. Until the late 1980s the Sassi was still considered an area of poverty, since its dwellings were, and in most cases still are, uninhabitable and dangerous. The present local administration, however, has become more tourism-orientated, and it has promoted
2277-488: The advance of the king to Byzantium and left his son Geoffrey in Matera, whose inhabitants gave the city away to avoid being massacred by the royal troops. Alexander later took part in the Byzantine invasion of Italy in 1156 . Lombard aristocrats survived with a reduced status: around 1150, Guaimar (III) of Capaccio, a descendant of Lombard princes, held a sub-fief near Matera from the count of Montescaglioso. Meanwhile, after
2346-547: The area of what is now Matera is believed to have been settled since the Palaeolithic (10th millennium BC). This makes it potentially one of the oldest continually inhabited settlements in the world . Alternatively, it has been suggested by Anne Toxey that the area has been "occupied continuously for at least three millennia". The town of Matera was founded by the Roman Lucius Caecilius Metellus in 251 BC who called it Matheola . In AD 664 Matera
2415-541: The church has a 52 m tall bell tower, and next to the main gate is a statue of the Maria della Bruna, backed by those of Saints Peter and Paul. The main feature of the façade is the rose window, divided by sixteen small columns. The interior is on the Latin cross plan, with a nave and two aisles. The decoration is mainly from the 18th century Baroque restoration, but recently a Byzantine-style 14th-century fresco portraying
2484-490: The city, dominates the Bradano valley and the San Giuliano lake. It is a pleasant residential area, and on the top of the hill there is the small Sanctuary of San Salvatore, dating back to 1310, and an important archaeological area. The Tramontano Castle , begun in the early 16th century by Gian Carlo Tramontano, Count of Matera , is probably the only other structure that is above ground of any great significance outside
2553-438: The connection unrecognizable to those without knowledge of Neapolitan. The most striking phonological difference is the Neapolitan weakening of unstressed vowels into schwa ( schwa is pronounced like the a in about or the u in upon ). However, it is also possible (and quite common for some Neapolitans) to speak standard Italian with a "Neapolitan accent"; that is, by pronouncing un-stressed vowels as schwa or by pronouncing
2622-651: The development of /mb/ as /mm/ ~ [mː] ( tammuro vs Italian tamburo "drum"), also consistently reflected in spelling. Other effects of the Oscan substratum are postulated, but substratum claims are highly controversial. As in many other languages in the Italian Peninsula , Neapolitan has an adstratum greatly influenced by other Romance languages ( Catalan , Spanish and Franco-Provençal above all), Germanic languages and Greek (both ancient and modern). The language had never been standardised, and
2691-496: The former Kingdom of Naples, the terms Neapolitan , napulitano or napoletano may also instead refer more narrowly to the specific variety spoken natively in the city of Naples and the immediately surrounding Naples metropolitan area and Campania . Largely due to massive Southern Italian migration in the late 19th century and 20th century, there are also a number of Neapolitan speakers in Italian diaspora communities in
2760-425: The history of the Christian church. Some are simple caves with a single altar, occasionally accompanied by a fresco, often located on the opposite side of the ravine. Some are complex cave networks with large underground chambers, thought to have been used for meditation by the rupestrian and cenobitic monks. Matera was built above a deep ravine called Gravina of Matera that divides the territory into two areas. Matera
2829-522: The intransitive and reflexive verbs take èssere for their auxiliary. For example, we have: Aggio AUX .have. 1SG . PRES stato be. PTCP . PAST a in Napule Naples ajere. yesterday Aggio stato a Napule ajere. AUX.have.1SG.PRES be.PTCP.PAST in Naples yesterday I was in Naples yesterday. Sono AUX .be. 1S . PRES stato be. PTCP . PAST
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2898-426: The letter j . The following English pronunciation guidelines are based on General American pronunciation, and the values used may not apply to other dialects. (See also: International Phonetic Alphabet chart for English dialects .) All Romance languages are closely related. Although Neapolitan shares a high degree of its vocabulary with Italian, the official language of Italy, differences in pronunciation often make
2967-420: The letter s as [ ʃ ] (like the sh in ship ) instead of / s / (like the s in sea or the ss in pass ) when the letter is in initial position followed by a consonant, but not when it is followed by a dental occlusive / t / or / d / (at least in the purest form of the language) but by otherwise using only entirely standard words and grammatical forms. This is not Neapolitan properly, but rather
3036-515: The local cuisine include: Because of the ancient primeval-looking scenery in and around the Sassi, it has been used by filmmakers as the setting for ancient Jerusalem. The following famous biblical period motion pictures were filmed in Matera: Other movies filmed in the city include: Matera appears in the music videos for the songs " Sun Goes Down " (2014) by Robin Schulz and " Spit Out
3105-406: The masculine plural is often signaled orthographically, that is, by altering the spelling. As an example, consider the word guaglione , which means "boy" or (in the feminine form) "girl": More will be said about these orthographically changing nouns in the section on Neapolitan nouns. A couple of notes about consonant doubling: The Neapolitan indefinite articles, corresponding to the English
3174-464: The monastery of San Vincenzo al Volturno had to conduct business before the Byzantine judge and town notables of Matera, and the Greeks of Matera made up the Byzantine garrison of Naples. The precarious Byzantine rule had to contend with the ambitions of Lombard towns and nobles against the background of frequent incursions from the neighbouring duchy of Capua-Benevento and from Arab Sicily. In 940 Matera
3243-656: The name might mean Madonna of defense . Another hypothesis is that the name comes from herbon , a city of Giudea, where the Virgin went to visit her cousin Elisabetta. A third hypothesis says that the name comes from the colour of the Virgin's face. The profane insertions such as the navalis wagon and its violent destruction, along with the intimacy and the religious solemnity, suggest this festival shares roots with ancient traditions of other Mediterranean countries. For example, in Greek culture, wedding parties also celebrate with
3312-599: The national level to have it recognized as an official minority language of Italy. It is a recognized ISO 639 Joint Advisory Committee language with the ISO 639-3 language code of nap . Here is the IPA pronunciation of the Neapolitan spoken in the city of Naples: Neapolitan orthography consists of 22 Latin letters. Much like Italian orthography , it does not contain k, w, x, or y even though these letters might be found in some foreign words; unlike Italian, it does contain
3381-512: The neuter form and a unique plural formation, as well as historical phonological developments, which often obscure the cognacy of lexical items. Its evolution has been similar to that of Italian and other Romance languages from their roots in Vulgar Latin . It may reflect a pre-Latin Oscan substratum , as in the pronunciation of the d sound as an r sound ( rhotacism ) at the beginning of
3450-484: The new spatial order of their social superiors in the Piano, and geographical elevation came to coincide with status more overtly than before, to the point where the two communities no longer interacted socially. Yet it was only at the turn of the 20th century that the Sassi were declared unfit for modern habitation, and the government relocation of all their inhabitants to new housing in the Piano followed between 1952 and
3519-623: The other hand, the effect of Standard Italian on Neapolitan in Italy has been similar because of the increasing displacement of Neapolitan by Standard Italian in daily speech . Neapolitan is a Romance language and is considered as part of Southern Italo-Romance. There are notable differences among the various dialects, but they are all generally mutually intelligible. Italian and Neapolitan are of variable mutual comprehensibility, depending on affective and linguistic factors. There are notable grammatical differences, such as Neapolitan having nouns in
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#17327717732393588-443: The people of that era lived. The Palazzo dell'Annunziata is a historical building on the main square, seat of Provincial Library. On 17 October 2014, Matera was declared European Capital of Culture for 2019, together with Bulgaria 's second-largest city, Plovdiv . The cuisine of Matera is a typical "cucina povera" ( peasant food ) from Southern Italy. It features a sort of blend of Basilicata and Apulia 's cuisines being in
3657-652: The population rebelled against the oppression and killed Count Giovanni Carlo Tramontano . In the 17th century Matera was handed over to the Orsini and then became part of the Terra d'Otranto , in Apulia . Later it was capital of the province of Basilicata, a position it retained until 1806, when Joseph Bonaparte assigned it to Potenza . In 1927, it became capital of the new province of Matera . Since local government political reorganization in 1993, Matera has been governed by
3726-470: The pronunciation is different for the two. The grave accent ( à , è , ò ) is used to denote open vowels, and the acute accent ( é , í , ó , ú ) is used to denote closed vowels, with alternative ì and ù . However, accent marks are not commonly used in the actual spelling of words except when they occur on the final syllable of a word, such as Totò , arrivà , or pecché , and when they appear here in other positions, it
3795-470: The ravine from a spot near the Castello Tramontano, reducing the cliff's angle of drop and leaving a defensible narrow promontory in between. The central high ground, or acropolis , supporting the city's cathedral and administrative buildings, came to be known as Civita, and the settlement districts scaling down and burrowing into the sheer rock faces as the Sassi. Of the two streambeds, called
3864-485: The re-foundation of Troia . But civic unrest was also endemic and in 1040 the Byzantine judge Romanos was murdered at Matera by the local auxiliary troops during a wave of assaults on Byzantine officials that swept across the region. After the prominent Apulian rebels enlisted the support of the Normans and defeated the new katepano of Italy at Cannae in 1041, Matera fell within the scope of Norman incursions and struck
3933-484: The reclaiming of the site. In 2019, Matera was declared a European Capital of Culture . Before its integration into the modern Italian state, the city of Matera had experienced the rule of the Romans , Lombards , Arabs , Byzantines , Swabians , Angevins, Aragonese, and Bourbons . Though scholars continue to debate the date the dwellings were first occupied in Matera, and the continuity of their subsequent occupation,
4002-523: The regeneration of the Sassi as a picturesque tourist attraction with the aid of the Italian government, UNESCO, and Hollywood. In 2008, the city began the candidacy process for a European Capital of Culture in 2019; it was designated one of the European Capitals of Culture for 2019 on 17 October 2014. Today there are many thriving businesses, pubs and hotels there, and the city is amongst the fastest growing in southern Italy. Matera preserves
4071-486: The sassi. However, the construction remained unfinished after his assassination in the popular riot of 29 December 1514. It has three large towers, while twelve were probably included in the original design. During some restoration work in the main square of the town, workers came across what were believed to be the main footings of another castle tower. However, on further excavation large Roman cisterns were unearthed. Whole house structures were discovered where one can see how
4140-515: The shape of houses submerged in the earth. The Murgia National Park (Parco della Murgia Materana), a regional park established in 1990, includes the territory of the Gravina di Matera and about 150 rock churches scattered along the slopes of the ravines and the plateau of the Murgia. This area, inhabited since prehistoric times, still preserves stationing dating back to the Paleolithic, such as
4209-585: The songs of Pino Daniele and the Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare . The language has no official status within Italy and is not taught in schools. The University of Naples Federico II offers (from 2003) courses in Campanian Dialectology at the faculty of Sociology, whose actual aim is not to teach students to speak the language but to study its history, usage, literature and social role. There are also ongoing legislative attempts at
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#17327717732394278-672: The spring of 867, it was burnt by the imperial troops of Louis II as the first key target in the emirate's conquest ; the Chronicle of St Benedict of Monte Cassino calls it a particularly well-defended site. The Franks soon fell out with the Lombards and the Byzantines exploited the local need for protection from Arab raiding and internal Lombard divisions to retake Apulia, which became the theme of Longobardia in 891/2. Already by 887, Matera's local Lombard elite bore Byzantine titles,
4347-521: The two Sassi, relatively isolated from each other, survived until the 16th century, when the centre of public life moved outside the walls to the Piazza Sedile in the open plain (the Piano) to the west, followed by the shift of the elite residences to the Piano from the 17th century onwards. By the end of the 18th century, a physical class boundary separated the overcrowded Sassi of the peasants from
4416-460: The validity of each claim are discussed in the "Notes" column. A marble palace, stelae , houses and cemeteries dating from this period were discovered by archaeologists. The current Gao built on a site near Gao-Saney was the capital of the largest contiguous land Empire of Songhai (1464-1591, destroyed during the invasion of Songhai by the Saadians it is today the regional capital of
4485-449: The word for tree has three different spellings: arbero , arvero and àvaro . Neapolitan has enjoyed a rich literary, musical and theatrical history (notably Giambattista Basile , Eduardo Scarpetta , his son Eduardo De Filippo , Salvatore Di Giacomo and Totò ). Thanks to this heritage and the musical work of Renato Carosone in the 1950s, Neapolitan is still in use in popular music, even gaining national popularity in
4554-468: Was besieged, possibly with local assistance, by the Lombards. On 25 January 982 the army of Otto II camped before the walls of Matera on its way from Salerno to Taranto, ostensibly marching against the Arabs. In 994 Matera was temporarily captured by the Arabs after a four-month siege. The town continued to play a part in Byzantine governance: in June 1019 the chartoularios Stephanos of Matera assisted in
4623-469: Was built such that it is hidden, but made it difficult to provide a water supply to its inhabitants. Early dwellers invested tremendous energy in building cisterns and systems of water channels. The largest cistern has been found under Piazza Vittorio Veneto, the Palombaro Lungo which was built in 1832. With its solid pillars carved from the rock and a vault height of more than fifteen metres, it
4692-644: Was conquered by the Lombards and became part of the Duchy of Benevento . In the 7th and 8th centuries the nearby grottos were colonised by both Benedictine and Basilian monastic institutions. After the Arab conquest of Bari in 840, Matera came under Islamic rule . Emancipated from the old Lombard jurisdiction of the gastald of Acerenza in the Principality of Salerno , the town gained regional prominence. In
4761-406: Was formed when Airlangga abdicated his throne in 1045 in favour of his two sons. The Kingdom of Janggala comprised the northeastern part of the Kingdom of Kahuripan . The other Kingdom was Kediri . Derived its name from the words "suro" ( shark ) and "boyo" ( crocodile ), two creatures which are in a local myth. Originally named Kutaraja, which means "City of the King". Derived its name from
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