The Ancient Etruscan City of Luni.
By La Signora Campion.
“Lunai portum est operæ cognoscere, cives.
Cor jubet hoc Ennî.”—Persius, Sat.
JUST outside the walls of Sarzana, in Liguria, and scattered over about five or six acres of the partly cultivated plain, may be found portions of the remains of the once important and thriving Etruscan city of Luni. Though it is accessible from La Spezia within half an hour by railway, yet it lies sufficiently off the beaten track of travellers to this part of Italy to be scarcely mentioned in the guide-books, and therefore it has escaped the notice which it deserves. Some account of the spot and of its early history, so far as I have been able to trace it, may therefore be acceptable. The place was at one time a trading town upon the Gulf of Spezia, and is said to have been founded by the Etrurian Tarchon.[33] (See Strabo, lib. v.; Cato, Origines xxv.)
Luni—“La Superba,” as she was proudly called of old—was situated at the head of a bay, or rather arm, of the Mediterranean, forming a commodious and deep natural harbour, and backed by that spur of the Apennines which forms the Carrara Mountains, so famous for their exquisite marble. But for the numerous fragments of ancient anchors, chains, masts of vessels, and other objects which are now and again being brought to light, and for the vast blocks of stone forming the ancient quay of the town, some of which may still be seen in situ, it would be difficult to realise that here was the identical port so admiringly mentioned by Ennius and by Strabo, and so famous as having sent forth armed vessels three thousand years ago to assist the Greeks in the siege of Troy, and from which so many thousands of tons of the Carrara marbles were exported to Italy and other countries in more recent times.
It is on record that Titus Manlius here embarked the army with which in B.C. 537 he started to quell the rebellion of the Sardi. From this port, also, the Emperor Claudius sailed on his attempt to conquer Britain.
Luni continued to rank as one of the most prosperous cities of Etruria, till it was harassed and invaded by the indomitable Ligurians, who made themselves masters of it. Wrested from them by the Romans, and subjected to the Republic, the power of Luni rapidly declined; and, as though to hasten her ruin, successive inundations of the River Magra choked up her harbour with their deposits, while the sea, as if in concert with its tributary, receded from her shore. In 1015 A.D. Luni was taken and partially destroyed by the Saracens, and in 1185 Frederick Barbarossa handed her over to the authorities of the Christian Church, who made the town an Episcopal See.
In connection with the early history of the neighbouring city of La Spezia will be found the names of various bishops of Luni; but the latter see extended over a period of little more than a century, for we find that in consequence of the malarious and deadly exhalations arising from the stagnant pools left by the Magra’s floods and the retirement of the sea from the bay, Luni had to be completely abandoned about 1300 A.D.
The site has been hitherto but little explored, but considerable quantities of pottery, articles in bronze, coins, mosaics, &c., are from time to time turned up by the peasants when cultivating their little plots of land. These treasures have mostly found their way into the hands of private collectors, I believe, and until steps are taken to organise a thorough exploration of the spot, much that would be in the highest degree interesting to the antiquary and the public will remain buried in oblivion. At present all that can be seen of ancient Luni may be summed up briefly thus: (1) Portions of a temple dedicated to Plantilla, wife of the Emperor Caracalla. (2) The amphitheatre, much despoiled and overgrown. (3) A circular building, 9 metres in height, and containing rows of niches. (4) A large building supposed to have been used as a granary or depôt for military stores. (5) Portions of an aqueduct. (6) Some prostrate columns, friezes, and capitals. (7) The ancient well, still furnishing the clearest and coolest water in the neighbourhood.
For some of the information herein contained I am indebted to Signor S. Cerini, whose access to various archives and manuscripts has supplied me with data, and who is the author of a pamphlet on the subject published two years ago. For the rest I have had to glean the meagre information contained in this paper as best I could; but my visit to the spot has increased my desire to know more about it, and my hope is that a day may soon come when the hidden archæological treasures of the buried Luni will be unearthed for the instruction and admiration of the public. I may add that the spot is most picturesque, and well worthy the attention of artist and antiquary alike. For myself, so long as I live here, I will do my best not to let the subject drop.
From a paper contributed by the veteran scholar, Dr. Edkins, to a recent number of the Chinese Recorder, it appears that about B.C. 2200 the Chinese possessed a knowledge of the art of writing, a year of 366 days with an intercalary month, the astrolabe, the zodiac, the cycle of sixty, of twelve musical reeds forming a gamut, which also constituted the basis of a denary metrology for measures of length, weight, and capacity, divination, and a feudal system.