Sito archeologico di Nora, la città più antica della Sardegna

Nora, within the territory of Pula in Sardinia, not far from Cagliari, is a place of great interest and fascination. What strikes first of all is its location, on a promontory separated from the mainland by an isthmus. The promontory widens into two points, Punta ‘e su Coloru (Snake Point) and Punta di Coltellazzo, facing the islet of the same name.

Complete Guide to Nora

The classical sources say that Nora is the oldest city in Sardinia and that it was founded by Norace, a hero coming from Tartessos, the region identified with the Mediterranean coast of Spain. This could be a reference to the foundation by the Phoenicians, who were looking for sheltered coastal places that offered them a safe harbor, just like the peninsula of Nora. No significant visible traces remain of the Phoenician and Punic city. The tophet, the cemetery reserved for children, has also been lost. The tophet of Nora was the first complex of this kind to be discovered in Sardinia at the end of the nineteenth century. However, it was mistaken for a normal cremation necropolis and therefore did not receive proper attention.

What remains today is Roman Nora, a very important and wealthy city that, because of its location directly on the sea, was progressively abandoned from the beginning of the 5th century AD due to raids by pirates and the Vandals. The small church dedicated to Sant’Efisio, built in the 11th century, has remained over time a center of cohesion in the territory and is still a frequented place of devotion today.

1 The Hill of Tanit

At the entrance to the excavations, on the right, is the Hill of Tanit, so called because of the remains of a building identified as the Temple of Tanit by Patroni, who excavated it at the beginning of the twentieth century. The attribution comes from the discovery of a small stone pyramid, now lost, which the excavator identified as part of a figurine of Tanit, the Phoenician-Punic female deity represented with a triangle surmounted by a circle. The hypothesis of a large monumental building in this area is reinforced by the presence of remains of terrace walls and a staircase. At the base of the hill is a clearly visible lion-headed gutter, probably originating from this supposed temple.

2 The Forum of Nora

Continuing along the Roman road that passes in front of the Hill of Tanit you arrive at the Forum. The shape of the square is very regular, almost square. On the two sides, the remains of the portico are visible, with the bases of the columns, and on the northern side, the foundations of a building, perhaps a temple. In the center of the square stood a rectangular base that must have supported the statue of a prominent figure, perhaps an emperor.

3 The Temple of Nora

On the other side of the street, to the right, there is a temple, which was accessed by a staircase. The column currently visible was part of the pronaos, but it has been arbitrarily re-erected by the excavator. The cella is almost square and the floor consists of a mosaic, fragmentary, dating back to the 2nd-3rd century AD.

4 The Theatre of Nora

The theatre is one of the best-preserved buildings in Nora. The semicircular surface of the exterior is broken by the presence of eight square niches and three vomitoria, the entrances for the audience. At half of its original height, the wall is decorated with an elegantly molded cornice.

At the front, from the street, you can see the remains of the porticus post scaenam, the portico leaning against the wall that formed the backdrop of the theatre stage, and the orchestra, with a mosaic floor with circles. The cavea is made up of eleven steps on which the spectators sat.

It has been calculated that the theatre of Nora could hold 680 people; from this data, and from a hypothetical numerical ratio between the audience attending the theatre and the overall population of the city, some scholars have supposed that the population of Nora numbered between 3,500 and 4,000 inhabitants.

Under the stage, four large ceramic jars were found that had the function of amplifying the actors’ voices. The trademark of one of these jars and a coin of Emperor Hadrian found in the foundations allowed the theatre to be dated between 117 and 138 AD.

5 The residential quarter of Nora

Beyond the theater, on the left, there is a block of houses. Among the wall remains, large buried jars can be seen, intended for the preservation of foodstuffs, and mortars that may suggest artisan workshops or houses with small production activities.

6 The central baths of Nora

Continuing along the road, a corridor leads to the central baths. The rooms feature some geometric mosaics. On both sides, there are porticoes, corridor entrances to the baths, also with mosaic floors. Immediately to the northwest are the remains of Republican-age rooms, predating the baths. One of these has been interpreted as a nymphaeum, that is, a garden with architectural decorations.

7 The Thermae by the Sea of Nora

The Thermae by the Sea are the most important thermal building in Nora. It is a complex of about 50 x 30 meters, with a portico entrance on two sides. The large collapsed vaults are still visible, some of which have been moved to the nearby square (probably, in the Roman era, a gymnasium). This complex was richly decorated. Numerous fragments of painted plaster with bands, marble slabs, and many glass paste tesserae that probably formed polychrome mosaics on the walls or vaults have been found.

The building dates back to the late 2nd century AD. About two centuries later it was repurposed for a different use, probably as a military outpost to protect the city from pirate and Vandal attacks from the sea. On that occasion, it was stripped of its decorations.

8 The Villas of Nora

After walking along the tree-lined avenue, we come across two stately homes. The first is the House of the Tetrastyle Atrium, so called because the atrium with its four columns and the impluvium is clearly distinguishable. Around it is arranged a series of rooms, some of which have particularly refined mosaic floors. They are mainly geometric, but there is also a black-outlined emblem depicting a female figure riding a sea creature. This emblem is one of the rare examples of Sardinian mosaics with non-geometric representation and dates back to the first half of the 3rd century AD. In this house a small staircase is also visible which must have led to an upper floor, now completely absent. To the north of the House of the Tetrastyle Atrium extend the remains of another large stately home, in a worse state of preservation, with more frequent interventions from a late period and lacking mosaics.

9 The Temple of Asclepius at Nora

The last important building on the archaeological route is a sacred complex. Located on the summit of the promontory, it is arranged on several levels and features a large space in front. In a joining of the subfloor, a Constantinian coin was found, which dates the complex to the 4th century AD.

But there are traces from earlier periods. On the same site, a series of terracotta figurines dating to the 2nd century BC, during the Roman Republic period, were found. The two largest depict sleeping men, one of whom is encircled by a snake. We know that in the sanctuaries of the healing deity Asclepius, the ritual of incubation, i.e., therapeutic sleep at the temple, was practiced, and that the snake was a sacred animal to the God. While we are now certain of the existence of a temple of Asclepius at least from the 2nd century BC, there are no certain traces of an older Punic structure. If it existed, it was probably dedicated to Eshmun, a deity associated with healing.

10 The Church of Saint Efisio in Nora

Outside the archaeological area, on the beach of Nora, there is the beautiful Romanesque church from the 11th century A.D., built on the site of the martyrdom of Saint Efisio. Sardinia is particularly devoted to Efisio since, in 1656, the municipality of Cagliari invoked the protection of the saint to free the city from a terrible plague. Since then, to fulfill the vow, every May 1st the statue of the saint is carried in procession from the homonymous church in Cagliari to Nora.

The pilgrimage lasts four days, two going there and two returning, and is especially participated in and felt by the entire Sardinian population. The church of Nora was partly built with stones recovered from the archaeological area. It is no surprise then if Roman inscriptions or Punic steles are seen on the facade or inside the walls.

11 Useful information about the archaeological area of Nora

The archaeological area of Nora is located in the municipality of Pula, just over thirty kilometers from Cagliari. It is easily reachable from the city by car or by local buses, and is also a short distance from the tourist resorts of the southwestern Sardinian coast (Santa Margherita di Pula and Chia). A guided tour is mandatory. The ticket also includes entrance to the Patroni Archaeological Museum of Pula.

For nature lovers, very close to the excavations is the “Laguna di Nora” park, where it is possible to take guided canoe tours and visit the Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Center.

12 Nora at the Archaeological Museum of Cagliari

Anyone wishing to deepen their knowledge of Nora can find at the Archaeological Museum of Cagliari a selection of very significant artifacts. The most famous is probably the Phoenician stele from the 8th century BC bearing the oldest written evidence of the word Sardinia, in the form shrdn. Among the inscriptions, there is also that of the quattuorvir Quintus Minucius Pius, from the forum, which attests to Nora’s legal status as a municipium, that is, a city under Roman law.

Finally, votive statuettes from the temple of Aesculapius and some burial goods with valuable objects, including Attic ceramics, are also exhibited.