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Underwater Exploration of the Ancient Port of Nora, Sardinia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2013

W. G. St. J. Wilkes  and
Ellen Macnamara
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Extract

On the peninsula of Capo di Pula, which lies some 32 km. west of Cagliari on the south coast of Sardinia, are the ruins of a Roman town overlying those of Punic date. The peninsula is shaped like a triangle; one corner now touches the mainland and forms a narrow isthmus of sand; the outer two corners are rocky promontories surrounded by scarps. Here stood the ancient town; excavation has revealed considerable urban remains, including the foundations of a temple of Tanit, with fine Punic masonry dating back to the fifth century B.C., a street plan with many houses, mainly Roman but some of Punic masonry and possibly dating to the sixth century B.C. In this area was the Roman theatre. At the base of the isthmus there are some Punic tombs along the shore and the Tophet; the earliest stelae may be of sixth century date but most appear to be late Punic in style. Nearby may be seen traces of a Roman aqueduct and the little Romanesque church of S. Efisio is still standing.

The site is generally accepted as that of the ancient Nora, one of the four principal Punic towns of Sardinia. Not only is this town known to have been near Cagliari, but a local inscription records a gift to the people of Nora made by Favonia Vera, and the dedication of the church recalls the tradition that S. Efisio was martyred at Nora.

Type
Research Article
Information
Papers of the British School at Rome , Volume 35 , December 1967 , pp. 4 - 11
Copyright
Copyright © British School at Rome 1967

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References

1 The site was first excavated by Patroni at the beginning of this century and published in Monumenti Antichi 14 (1904)Google Scholar, col. 110 ff. New excavations were begun in 1952 by Pesce, who has published a guide of the site: G. Pesce, Guida agli Scavi (1957). For general works, see D. B. Harden, The Phoenicians (1962), passim, and M. Guido, Sardinia (1963), 192 ff.

2 CIL, x, 7541.

3 Pausanias, x, 17, 5.

4 Solinus, iv, 1.

5 See Pesce, op. cit., for a summary of the possibilities and T. Dunbabin, Western Greeks, 341, for a discussion of Pausanias' source. There was a Nuragic site on the promontory and it has been suggested that the origin of the name, Nora, arose from a mistake on the part of the colonists in interpreting the native word.

6 Early Phoenician settlements are consistently found on off-shore islands or promontories, as noted by Thucydides, vi, 2.

7 Harden, op. cit., 57. Chapter on Expansion Overseas. For a lower dating see Carpenter, Rhys, AJA, 62 (1958), 35CrossRefGoogle Scholar, or Culican, W., Abu Nahrain (University of Melbourne), i (1959–1960), 36Google Scholar.

8 Albright, W. F., BASOR, 83 (1941), 14Google Scholar, upholds an early date and reads Tarshish. See for earlier references. G. R. Driver, Semitic Writing (1948), 107, believes both the Nora stone and Bosa inscription are of the second half of the eighth century B.C.

9 Herod, i, 170.

10 Justin, xviii, 7, 1.

11 Herod, i, 166.

12 Justin, xix, 1. See Dunbabin, op. cit., 333, for dating.

13 Polybius, iii, 22. He remarks that the Carthaginians thought Sardinia, like Libya, was their exclusive property.

14 Polybius, iii, 24. Livy, vii, 27, 2.

15 At one moment the Carthaginians sent reinforcements to the island, and in 259 B.C. there was a naval engagement off the coast.

16 Polybius, iii, 27–8.

17 Pesce, op. cit., 50, and fig. 11. Inscription of Q. Minucius Pius.

18 See Pesce, op. cit., for these references.

19 See Pesce's comments on Punic masonry types used in Roman times. Pesce, op. cit., 29 ff.

20 Generale Schmiedt, G., Tenth Congress of the International Society of Photogrammetry, Lisbon (1964)Google Scholar, fig. 3 and pl. 1. L'Universo, Rivista dell' Istituto Geografico Militare Firenze, Anno XLV, n. 2 (1965), 234 fGoogle Scholar.

21 See Archivo español de Archeologia, 26 (1953)Google Scholar, fig. 8 (note kindly supplied by Miss J. du P. Taylor).