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MLJET  ISLAND

SHORT OUTLOOK OF NATURAL AND CULTURAL HERITAGE (GUIDELINES FOR SHORT FILMS)

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The island Mljet is situated on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea, in Croatia. It extends in direction northwest-southeast, is 37 km long, and (on average) 3 km wide. The National Park extends along the west side. There are two salt lakes, Veliko (the Great) and Malo jezero (the Small Lake), few sources of drinking water and few ponds of brackish water. These ponds are called “blatina” (wetland areas) and are included in the eco-net EU Natura 2000.[1] Due to the mild Mediterranean climate, the island vegetation is abundant. The underwater of Mljet is abundant with endemic species amongst which the National Park Mljet lists: scallop, noble pen shell, date shell. Besides these, in the lakes lives the endemic species Aurelia relicta[2] genus jellyfish, also a bushy rock coral reef, Cladocora caespitosa[3] which can be seen in the Great Lake.  

Natural heritage protection of Mljet dates since 1928: the doctoral thesis of Branimir Gušić on the anthropogeographic research of the settlements of the island Mljet, “coincides with the adoption of the Forest Act and the protection status of numerous localities: oak rainforest “Prašnik” near Stara Gradiška, beech forest “Muški bunar” on Psunj, Dundo forest on Rab, pass of Paklenica, Plitvice lakes, Štirovača, White rocks (Bijele stijene), sea lakes on Mljet, the island Lokrum, Arboretum Trsteno, Pančić’s spruce also fir along cliffs, pits, caves and sinkholes in Gorski kotar.“[4]

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Besides the natural beauties condensed on such a small area, Mljet is a rich hydro-archaeological site and through the archaeological, hydro-archaeological findings and different records one can clearly follow the timeline till the year 35 BC. The data on the Illyrian pirates, populating the Mljet island with the Roman population (afterward with other populations) are connected to the year 230 BC and 168 BC. Then (168 BC), the Ardiaeian ruler Gentius, on a peak of his power, went to the war with Rome (the Third Illyrian war) and lost.[5] The same source says that the rule of Rome on Mljet was nominal for the Illyrians kept on pirating along the Mljet Channel. 

The known story from the previous forsaid year of the Antique period (230 BC) is

The Story of Teuta. Illyrian tumuli (barrows), numerous remains of settlements, forts and tombs witness of the populating Mljet with peoples from the Neretva Delta who came on the island across Pelješac during the second millennium BC. “Traces of Illyrian dwellings, mounds and embankments elder then the Greek culture are found around Pomjenta field near the Great Lake. In these ancient ruins scattered around the island, are found small bronze personal adornments or supplies such as are earrings, rings, buttons and the shards of amphorae and other pottery. Best preserved remains of these stone forts, so-called “gradac” (small town) are on the hill Veliki Gradac, over the Great Lake and Gradac monticule above the spring Vodice near Babino Polje.“[6] The described  settlements belonged to the mysterious tribe Roguđani, “who is mentioned even by the educated Byzantine emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus in his famous work "On the Empire Management" he wrote in Xth c.“[7].

On the peak of its power, in 230 BC, Illyria was ruled by the queen Teuta (Vojvoda describes her as young, ravishing, golden-eyed queen, the daughter of proud and forgotten people of Illyria) who came to refuge on Mljet (the island Melita, which is the Antique title of Mljet) to anchor her fleet in the safe cover of Polače. Teuta’s pirates caused serious commercial and military problems to Rome by holding the supervision over the Adriatic and Ionic sea. After the death of her husband and the king Agron with whom she often visited Mljet, Teuta ”goes through a new love idyll with her lover Demetrius of Pharos, famous Illyrian general. At this islet of surreal beauty, full of exuberant fragrance of the Mediterranean vegetation “the Pirate Queen” gets carried away with the plans of the great Illyrian power, the conquest of the most beautiful Greek island and the town Kerkyra (Corfu), the siege of Issa (Vis), while making love with her governor in the turquoise-green waters of the lake“[8].

After leaving Melita, in 229 BC, Illyrian frequent pirate attacks on Roman ships lead to the First Roman – Illyrian War. With the betrayal of her lover Demetrius, who by that act became a vassal of Rome and Roman client king, gaining the rule over greater part of Illyria, Teuta is forced to “Pax Romana“ – the mobility of the Illyrian ships is restricted, she is forced upon alluvium to Rome thus the great Teuta’s kingdom is reduced to the space of (today) Dubrovnik to the Drim Delta.

Although the story of Teuta was soon to be over, the pirates of Mljet continued to cause great problems to the trading ships of the Roman Empire. “(…) The pirates of Mljet frequently set sails in their fast and small vessels, so-called "lembi", intercepting and attacking Roman galleons loaded with the amphorae of wine, oil, wheat, and honey. The Mljet people had a suitable position for piracy because the main Roman sea route, “the amphorae route” was starting in Epidaurus, going through the Mljet Channel and was ending in Istria and Italy.“[9] Finally, the emperor Augustus destroyed the city of Melita 35 BC due to the repetitive pirate attacks on the Roman fleet.

 

The history of ancient Greece remembers Mljet as Odysseus’ island.

The Legend of Odysseus is linked to Homer’s “Iliad” and “Odyssey”, with particular regard to the voyage and the adventures of the young Odysseus. Legend says that Odysseus, on his voyage home, encountered a magical island Ogygia whose ruler, Calypso[10]  kept him seized for seven years (in the area of today “Odysseus' cave”). To persuade him to stay on the island, she offered him immortality so by night, Odysseus was easily tempted by her enchantment. By day, Odysseus wept for home and cried for his family. At last, Zeus sent a message to Calypso, through Hermes, to let Odysseus go home where faithful Penelope was waiting for him.

This legend is connected to two islands – Malta and Mljet – that carry the same name in numerous historical writings (Melita). The lack of archaeological remains on Mljet doesn’t give strong support to the historical component of this legend. The archaeological artifacts from the Greek period are situated exclusively in the sea of Mljet’s harbors which makes Mljet the island of refuge or resting space for the Greek sailors. “Branimir Gušić and Cvito Fisković believe that the Legend of Odysseus (…) can hardly be anything else but a legend with probably no (firm) archaeological background.“[11], although Mljet was Ogygia for centuries:

Pseudo-Scylax in his work Periplus had asserted that the distance between Korkyra Melaina and Melita is 120 studies or 18 kilometers. He had thus, at the very beginning, rejected the connection of Malta with infinite mythological metamorphoses of the Mljet Mediterranean milieu. The enchanted island of Ogygia, with its gentle coves, crystal caves, markedly dark blue sea and magic beaches had attracted Homer’s Odysseus, who enjoyed here with his nymph Calypso, the daughter of the Titan Atlas, for seven years. The sound of this nymph of human voice resounded best in her sea shelter, the ‘’Odysseus’s Cave’’. The overall ambiance of Mljet corresponds strikingly with the imagination of the blind Hellenic poet, who was the first writer to apply in his epic the postmodern syntagm that letter is always already before a speech. In Book V of his Odyssey, Homer describes Ogygia as follows:

…and he (Hermes) found her within. A great fire was burning in the hearth, and from afar over the isle, there was a fragrance of cleft cedar and juniper as they burned. But she within was singing with a sweet voice as she went to and fro before the loom, weaving with a golden shuttle. Roundabout the cave grew a luxuriant wood, alder and poplar, and sweet-smelling cypress, wherein birds long of the wing were wont to nest, owls and falcons and sea-crows with chattering tongues, who ply their business on the sea. And right there about the hollow cave ran trailing a garden vine, in pride of its prime, richly laden with clusters. And fountains four in a row were flowing with bright water hard by one another, turned one this way, one that. And round about soft meadows of violets and parsley were blooming...

 (Homer, Odyssey V,  58 - 74)

The description of Mljet in the above classical mythological paradigm, where the great poet presented all his capacity of observation, comparing and description, experienced a postmodern mythological transformation, as well as a scientific appropriation. It is masterly achieved in the writing of Ernst Jünger, that German both scientific and literary bard, who, in his long life of 102 years, underwent the metamorphosis from a soldier in the First World War, the holder of the greatest German decoration, the Iron Cross, through an outstanding zoologist to a deep thinker and successful writer. In his travel-description of the Mljet and Pelješac Channels, as seen from his standing point on the top of the Mount St Elijah, he managed to transpose myth into a literary text which becomes myth again in his narration, and thus in infinity, when reality is transformed into illusion and illusion into reality, as expressed in the writings of Alenka Zupančić, a Slovenian philosopher, the follower of the famous Slavoj Žižek. Ernst Jünger says:

 „More clear on the south can be seen the isolated and ferocious island Mljet with its sea caves from which chasm can be heard the rumble as an underground roar. There in the depths, sails some ship to Pharos, barely bigger than the vessel which carried bounded Odysseus past the sirens’ island. The wonder does not evoke surprise for we are deeply connected to the wondrous. True happiness that the view offers us is the achievement of eliminating the reality from our dreams. How else would Hölderlin, who lived far away from the playground of dolphins, recognized in the deepest part of his being the undying beauty of the island worlds? “

(Darker font translation according to Ivan Pederin: „Ljetovanje Ernsta Jüngera na Korčuli i Orebićima 1932.“, Godišnjak grada Korčule 10, str. 70, Korčula, 2005. from Croatian text of the) source[12]

 

Of the snakes. Mljet was also known as the island of snakes. It was told that the snakes were brought by the Asian pirates in order to guard their treasure on the island[13]. Besides, these pirates waged war by throwing ceramic amphorae to the rivalship, from which the snakes would crawl out and by biting the enemy help the Mljet brigands win the battle. “However, for the islanders, the snakes were quite a menace. According to tradition, the rocks of the Lokve inland would tremble during the droughts, for the villagers walled up the four-lined snake which killed a little girl.“[14] Of mungo. The first mongooses delivered, from India to Europe, baron Schillinger in 1911 – six pairs of “grey mungo” – to liberate Mljet from the snakes. Now, almost a hundred years later, there are no snakes on Mljet. As mungo is domesticated in villages, gardens, and groves, other animals mongooses feed with are rare or extinct, for example – the mice.

There is also, another story linked to Mljet – the island of snakes:

The (Story) Legend of St Paul says that St Paul traveled from Jerusalem to Rome for the criminal investigation. Together with the crew, he experienced shipwreck on the island Melita where the natives accepted them openly and hospitably. Then, there were still lots of snakes inhabiting Mljet (Melita), thus legend (according to the New Testament) says: “Paul had collected a bundle of sticks and was putting them on the fire when a viper brought out by the heat attached itself to his hand. When the inhabitants saw the creature hanging from his hand they said to one another, 'That man must be a murderer; he may have escaped the sea, but divine justice would not let him live.' However, he shook the creature off into the fire and came to no harm, although they were expecting him at any moment to swell up or drop dead on the spot. After they had waited a long time without seeing anything out of the ordinary happen to him, they changed their minds and began to say he was a god. “ (Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 27 and 28.)[15]. According to Bašić, one of the most interesting, brilliant clarification on St Paul’s Shipwreck was given by the Academic Nenad Cambj. According to this source, Bašić writes: “Paul sent Titus in Dalmatia who, previously resided in the vicinity of Adriatic as well as did his companion and a chronicler, Lucas, therefore the apparent usage of the word “Adrias”. After three missionary journeys, Paul had a certain experience with the sea. Evangelist Lucas, as an attentive listener, companion and traveler writer recorded the conversations and debates, as well as that of Paul’s, spoken and advised. Even before the Shipwreck journey to Rome, Paul stayed in the vicinity of the Adriatic Sea for few months, because he proposed to Titus to join him (after he had sent him Artem or Timothy) as he has had decided to overwinter in this city – in other words, to remain there for few months. (Epistle to Titus, 3, 12). Cyprus bishop Epiphanius (IVth c.) mentions that Paul’s companion, Evangelist Lucas was in Dalmatia, thus he did not drive to the sea near Malta. Further, the warden of the island (lat. princeps insulae; gr. protos tes nesou) Melita (such existed on Malta) a certain Publius, and he was praenomen, a man that has Roman Civil right that peregrini do not have. However, he was primus which differs from princeps, and a term princeps insulae was used in Illyria for the warden of the island. After the Greek influence and the Roman rule, Carthage and Syracuse government left their mark on Malta, “the barbarians” of Malta were hardly open and hospitable islanders who gave cordial welcome to the castaways. The writer – Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus stated that on Mljet snake bit St Paul by the thumb (“De administrando imperio /DAI/, XXXVI“)[16], and that articulately speaks of Mljet in the Adriatic Sea. Then (the middle of Xth c.), Malta is under the Saracen government, while Sicily was still a part of Byzantium, as well as Malta was (since VIth c., it is a temat (theme) of Sicily), so this would have been mentioned, and Paul’s “Maltese” adventure would not have been forgotten (due to the short second reign). Furthermore, “Maltese tradition” was shaped in XIIIth c. St Paul’s Shipwreck anchors remained in the sea, thus the led parts would have been saved apart from the wooden ones and the imprinted seals of the vessels or the ship-owner (unknown in St Paul’s case) would have confirmed affiliation of the ship.[17]

 

Hydro-archaeological and archaeological localities

Two waterways in the Adriatic Sea, well-known since the neolith, led from the Mediterranean across the shores of West Greece routes, along the Pelješac Channel. The waterway on the west coast of the Adriatic coast continued over the Adriatic Sea – across Hvar, Vis, Palagruža, Pianoza, Tremiti, and Gargano. The waterway on the east coast continued along the coast of Hvar and further across Šolta, Šibenik archipelago through the Pašman and Zadar Channels where it branched towards Molat, Ist, Silba, Lošinj, and Cres up on Istra and Trieste, or from Pašman and Zadar Channels towards Rab, Pag and Krk up to Croatian Littoral.[18] According to Bašić’s paper, it is concluded that one of the reasons for the described sailing routes is probably limited maneuvering (according to Brusić, Z.)[19]. Also (according to Brusić) Bašić concludes that the indented Adriatic east coast is much more suitable for windward sailing than the west coast which is not protected with islands and is unsuitable for berthing due to the muddy sea bottoms and shallows.[20]

So, due to its width, the Mljet Channel did not have the ideal conditions for sailing, especially during the season of strong northern winds, but it does have five suitable bays: Okuklje, Prožurski porat, Sobru, Polače and Pomena (according to Kisić, A.)[21] Exactly the abundance of the hydro-archaeological remains in the waters of the mentioned harbors tells us of vivid nautical life of Mljet island. Bašić cites numerous archaeological findings amongst which are: a pier, probably built before (Island IInd c.) the object connected to the late antique palace in Polače[22], then ceramics from the north African workshops[23], ceramics from the workshops of Asia Minor that all date from the IInd and IIIrd century, then the emperor Constantine coins from the IVth century, numerous artifacts dating V – VII century. Besides the above mentioned, as well as the multitude of byzantine type amphorae that date back to the time of the emperor Basil I[24] which Bašić refers to the amphorae of the Athens Agora and Dinoghetti in Romania (further refers it to the motif specific to the eastern borders of the Byzantine Empire in Syria, Egypt, Tunis, Mesopotamia, and Armenia, according to Brusić). Bašić says: ”The monumentality of the architecture alongside data from the Odoacer Charter, where he assigned the income of 200 solidi as rent from Mljet to his comes Pierius, give an approximate image of the significant economic power that was concentrated on the island Mljet (Polače Bay).“[25]

The remains of the late medieval and the new age of Mljet suggests one common dignitary (according to Stošić)[26] and certainly speaks of the Benedictine commune which monastery clerical liberated from the “corvee, servitude and other personal burdens“[27] of the Dubrovnik Republic, although Mljet was still a part of Dubrovnik Republic. In the year 1530, by the Bull, pope Clement VIII established Mljet Benedictine congregation and it successfully sustained until the archbishop of Dubrovnik took over the congregation in 1604 and then, after all, in 1641, it was efficiently brought back to the original conditions as it were during the pontificate of Clement VIII.  

„Don Placid Guska believed as early as 1814 that “all the houses of Mljet are serfs of the Monastery”[28] according to the duties and obligations that people of Mljet had towards the Monastery.

By the banishment of the procurement clerk in 1813, the people of Mljet do get free from taxes yet the plunder that followed caused great damages in the Monastery as well as Pomjenta estate and created intentional general neglect of olive grove and vineyards, considering that the vines were replaced with tobacco. [29]

Today, The Tourist Board of Mljet lists twenty-two [30] sacral objects on the island amongst which is the Church of the Assumption of Mary along with the Chapel of the Assumption of Mary and the Chapel of St Benedict situated on the Lake islet of St Mary. Amongst the listed sacral objects are also two late Christian basilicas.

 

Palace in Polače, Villa Rustica

The popular island tale says that Septimius Severus banished Agesilaos[31] along with his son Oppianos from Rome. Father and son took refuge on Mljet built themselves a palace – Villa Rustica. When Oppianos arranged inspirational verses for the emperor Caracalla about the beauty of the sea and the fishing, he pardoned them and asked them to return to Rome. However, father and son sent him a branch of Aleppo pine with the bird nest containing a sea shell thus sending a message that they wouldn’t change their small empire for the big empire and by this act justified themselves to the emperor.[32] Indeed, the aforementioned clear timeline data of Mljet are in the inscriptions of the poet Oppianos “De rebus Illyricis“ where he wrote that the emperor Augustus destroyed the city of Mellitus 35 BC due to the repetitive pirate attacks on the Roman fleet.[33] With the successful subjugation of the local population, during the IIIrd c. Romans are building an impressive palace in Polače Bay. The palace was mastered by the Roman governor and it probably had defensive purposes as well, witnessed by the two towers constructed on its edges. Two early Christian basilicas and thermae were built subsequently, so it can be concluded that alongside governor also lived a clergy.[34] Thus the deduction is that Polače functioned as a late antique, idem est, an early Christian city at the time (and later as well, which can be observed in the appliance of the versatile architectural elements of the Vth and VIth c.[35]) Although many scientists showed an interest in this architecture and compared it with a “variety of rich late antique pastoral architectures from all sides of the Roman world, and also to the general developing periods of the late antique pastoral architecture“[36], the extensive researches that would give unambiguous historical and archaeological answers are still not accomplished. (intro by Ana Gizdic)

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