It was with great enthusiasm that Ambassador Maurizio Greganti was welcomed, in Seleucia-on-Tigris, the first Ambassador of Italy in the last twenty years to visit the archaeological excavation managed by Prof. Carlo Lippolis and Prof. Vito Messina of the Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi (CRAST) of the University of Turin.
The Ambassador was thus led to discover one of the oldest Italian archaeological missions in Iraq, whose works – begun in 1963 – have recently resumed thanks to the securitization of the territory after the threat of Daesh. Prof. Lippolis and Prof. Messina showed the Ambassador the plain of over 700 hectares on which stood Seleucia, capital of the Seleucid Empire founded in the fourth century BC by the founder Seleucus I Nikator, successor of Alexander.
Located about 30 km south of Baghdad, the city was strategically located at the least distant point between the Tigris and the Euphrates thus becoming a crossroads of commerce and traditions where the mingling between the Greek Seleucid culture and the Mesopotamian uses have blended in unique fashion. Particularly fascinating are the remains of the theater of the city, built according to a Greek plant but using the local raw bricks technique.
Equally impressive is the vast area of the city archives, a structure of over 2600 m2 that has restituted a treasure of more than 25,000 official seals and further findings distributed over a chronological arc of almost five centuries, discovered during the first years of the Turin excavation campaign (1967-1972). The city, at the time of its greatest splendor, rivaled in importance and beauty with Rome and Alexandria.
The activities of CRAST in Turin, a leading centre of Italian archaeology and world-reknown excellence, are emblematic evidence of the historical friendship between Italy and Iraq. CRAST has been active in Iraq since 1963 and has always collaborated with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with which it takes care of field research and protection of cultural heritage abroad and training courses for personnel specialized in the management of cultural heritage. Iraq is the heart of the activities of CRAST, where it has taken care – in addition to the site of Seleucia – of Choche-Veh Ardashir, Babylon, Hatra, Tulul al-Baqarat. For its work in the Country of the two rivers, where the Centre has taken care of various activities for the preservation of the historical-archaeological heritage even in a situation of conflict and has contributed substantially to the restructuring, the renovation and reopening of the National Museum of Baghdad, he was awarded the “Premio Rotondi ai salvatori dell’arte” in 2009.
