This text is about a research I started many years ago and still haven’t finished. Indeed, it is probably impossible to finish it because it is very complicated and the available data is very uncertain and incomplete. But the argument is suggestive: I therefore ask for patience and understanding. Thanks.
When in Florence Greek was Spoken – Part 1
Syrian merchants, Byzantine missionaries, Barbarian soldiers. And the Florentines
A Brief Premise:
When Florence was called Florentia, Florentines spoke Latin, but not all of them did: in fact, for a long time, groups of Greek speaking people lived in the city. They were immigrants from the Middle East: businessmen, soldiers, men of the church, they were all people who played an important role in the difficult moments in the history of the city. Some traces of their presence remain to us in a few sepulchral stones from the fifth century which were found by excavating under the Church of Santa Felicita, near the Ponte Vecchio, as well as a few less direct testimonials. A few stories about the city’s church in fact, lead us to suppose that, from the seventh century onwards, there was a Middle Eastern ministry present in Florence that brought worship practices from their homelands to the banks of the Arno. When we expand our vision and see the big picture, it seems that these presences were bound together by a continuity over time which fits in with the general phenomenon that saw many people follow a path that, crossing the Mediterranean, brought the Middle East not only to Florence, which interests us here in particular, but to other places whose coasts overlook the mare nostrum; a path that was tread many times, with different aims and in different circumstances, and it is significant that those people came from the same geographical area and that they didn’t express themselves in their mother tongue, but rather in the international language of the time: namely, Greek.
Three groups of “Greeks”: merchants, soldiers, missionaries
The first group of these “Greeks” examined here is the one we have the most direct testimonies of, and whose presence in the city gave rise to the idea of their important role in the evangelization of the ancient Florentines, even though they were – at least it is believed that – simply merchants. A theory which I think is only partly true.
The second group is comprised of soldiers: we even have some stones left from them that document both their presence in the city at the time of the war between the Goths and the Byzantines in the sixth century as well as their Middle Eastern origins.
The third group is comprised of men of the church, who were also Middle Eastern but spoke Greek and came to the city in small numbers at first but in time became part of a missionary movement that under the Lombards concerned not only Italy: a movement that has remained poorly understood, but whose traces are rediscovered in Florence in the eleventh century, when the Greek prayers and rituals those priests had brought were definitively abandoned.
Formulation and Limitations of the Research
In this text I will seek to interpret the few data that we have in accordance with a rational perspective, even if it is inevitably influenced by a subjective interpretation of the few data points available, for which it is inevitable that there be margins more or less open to interpret that data differently. It should be taken into account, however, that many of today’s more diffuse publications stem from studies, whose bases for the arguments that we are talking about here, were laid long ago, but those bases do not always turn out to be solid, which is easy to test. This will be accounted for case by case in these pages, so that the reader can make their own opinion.
Last but not least, why Santa Felicita?
The last section of the text talks about the cult of Santa Felicita and the story of the church dedicated to her that would be, according to some, the first one constructed in Florence. That is certainly inaccurate, since San Lorenzo was the first Florentine church, but Santa Felicita is certainly among the oldest and the cult of the saint is certainly older, which presents some intriguing elements, given that two saints exist with this name and that the one venerated in Florence (in addition to other saints) is connected to the very unique cult of her martyred sons, the seven Maccabees. The continuous presence of this church and this worship, projected on the background of the city, can shed some light on some very dark times. A bit of light, even if it is weak, indirect, or reflected is still better than darkness, and it can help to correct some errors that are read here and there in texts on the local history, which often get repeated only because they took the information unquestioningly.
(To be continued in the following…)
Allegato
The spaces below the Church of Santa Felicita, where the remains mentioned in the text were found (photo by M.C. Lombardi Francois).