Dennis, George: The cities and cemeteries of Etruria: in two volumes (Band 2) (London, 1848)

chap, xxxv.] SITE AND VESTIGES OF LUNA. 81

Since so little remains of the Roman town, what vestige
can we expect of Etruscan Luna 1 No monument of that
antiquity has ever been discovered on the site, or in its
vicinity ; 9 not even a trace of the ancient cemetery is to
be recognized, either in the plain, or among the neigh-
bouring heights, so that we might almost doubt the
Etruscan antiquity of Luna; yet such is expressly assigned
to it by the ancients. No record, however, has come down
to us prior to Roman times.

The earliest mention we have of Luna is from old
Ennius, who took part in the expedition against Sardinia,
which sailed from this port in 539 (b. c. 215), under
Manlius Torquatus ; and the poet, struck with the beauty
of the gulf, called on his fellow-citizens to come and
admire it with him,—

" Luna'i portum est operee cognoscere, cives !" '

The first historical notice to be found of Luna is in the

account of Luni. He describes the blocks The bronze coin, with this name in

of marble as being 8 " paces " (palms 1) Etruscan characters, has on the obverse

long by 4 high. Promis does not credit a bearded, garlanded head, which Lanzi

him as to the material ; all the remains takes for that of the genius of the

of masonry at present on the spot being Macra ; and on the reverse, a reed, four

of the coarse brown stone from the neigh- globules, and a wheel, divided into four

bouring headland of Corvo ; and the parts, and surrounded with rays like a

fragments of architectural or sculptural sun. Lanzi, II. pp. 26, 73, tav. I. 10 ;

decoration, which are of marble, are Passeri, Paralipom. ad Dempst. tab. V.

not more numerous than on similar 1. Midler (Etrusk. I. p. 337) is inclined

sites in Italy (pp. 61, 66). Muller to refer these coins to Populonia ; so

(I. 2, 4) credits both Ciriacus and Ruti- also Mionnet (Supplem. I. pp. 199,203),

hus, and thinks these marble walls must Sestini (Geog. Numis. II. p. 4), and

have been of Etruscan times. Targioni Millingen (Numis. Anc.Ital. p. 173). A

Tozzetti (XII. p. 142) speaks of the series of coins, with a young man's head

walls as still of marble in his day. wearing the cap of an Aruspex, and with

9 Except a stone inscribed with a sacrificial knife, an axe, and two cres-

Etruscan characters, found in the Val di cents, but no inscription, on the reverse,

Vara, many miles inland, at the head of is supposed by Melchiorri to have be-

the Gulf of Spezia. Promis, p. 61. No longed to Luna. Bull. Inst. 1839, p. 122.
coins belonging to Luna have been ! Ennius, ap. Pers. Sat. VI. 9 ; cf.Liv.

discovered on the spot. Promis, p. 23. XXIII. 34.

VOL. ir. S