Luni

A. A. 2017/2018, Tesi di Laurea Triennale in Archeologia Medievale discussa presso l'Università degli Studi di Firenze, Scuola di Studi Umanistici e della Formazione, Dipartimento SAGAS, Cattedra di Archeologia Medievale, relatore prof. Guido Vannini.

The essay examines a deposit of 29 late Roman bronze coins (4th-5th centuries AD) found at Luni (Liguria, North of Italy). They were hidden inside a small hole dug into a mosaic floor and sealed by a layer of mortar. After the chronology and the numismatic aspects of the group of coins, the author discusses the way in which the coins were concealed, in an attempt to discern the reason why they were placed inside an architectural structure. That the hoard was hidden to be preserved or to serve as a chronological indicator can be ruled out. The author suggests that the coins were deposited for votive or ritual purposes.

The descriptions of the Saraswati River in the Rig Veda match with the Luni that flows from Pushkar to the Rann of Kutch. However, descriptions of the Saraswati in the Mahabharata match with the Sarsuti-Ghaggar River that flows from the Shivalik Mountains to the Rann
of Kutch. We suggest that the Saraswati of the Rig Veda was the Luni while the Saraswati of the Mahabharata was the Ghaggar.

L'elaborato di tesi triennale affronta, in una prospettiva primariamente storica poi giuridica, l'evoluzione dell'area carrerese, con particolare riferimento alla gestione degli agri marmiferi e delle figure professionali lagate all'estrazione e alla lavorazione e al commercio del marmo dalla fine di Luni all terzo quarto del XVI secolo. Analizza inoltre episodi tratti dalla biografia di Michelangelo del Vasari in relazione con la Città di Carrara; a completamento dell'elaborato due brani letterari dall'inferno di Dante e dai Sonetti di Michelangelo.

This paper aims to provide a preliminary analysis of iconography from northern Italy which can be related to Augustan triumphal imagery. As a matter of fact, the iconographies of victory which can be dated after the battle of Actium show figurative models which can be related to a new common figurative language. The present analysis examines fragmentary depictions found in Luni, Verona in the area of Vicenza, and from the suburbs of the city of Aquileia. A comparative analysis of iconographic media including images belonging to Roman Republican and Augustan Coinage, the decorative apparatus of the funerary beds of bone/ivory, and the imagery related to Roman glyptics, allows to better understand the process of reception and elaboration of the figural repertoire related to the Augustan celebrative symbolism in northern Italy.

The Great Temple is in the northwest corner of the Roman city of Luni. The building was built in the Republican era, shortly after the founding of the city in 177 BCE. The temple was to be Tuscanico on a high podium with tripartite cell and terracotta decoration. It was probably dedicated to Luna, the deity who also gave the city its name. Later, between the Augustan age and the Julio-Claudian age, it was completely renovated and surrounded by a triporch. The reasoning of this renewal could have been the second colonial deduction promoted by Octavian around 28 BCE. The Great Temple is in fact the only public building of Luni that preserves materials of the Augustan age, among which we remember a cuirassed statue that perhaps represents the future princeps. This renovation was probably the opportunity to honor Augustus at Luni, taking advantage of the fact that the Great Temple was dedicated to the cult of Diane/Luna, a deity to which Augustus was attached starting from the battle of Naulochus. Finally, we remember a further renovation of the building, with the monumental raising of the podium of the temple, occurred in the Severan age. Perhaps the Severan dynasty took a direct interest in the city of Luni and resumed the exploitation of marble quarries. It is therefore possible that the Great Temple witnesses a new project of urban renewal that took place in this period.

Per la realizzazione di questa tesi triennale è stata svolta un’analisi di visibilità e di intervisibilità, tramite mappatura GIS, delle fortificazioni lunigianesi riconducibili all’orizzonte cronologico di VI-VII secolo d. C. e dunque all’esperienza del cosiddetto ‘limes’ imperiale in contrasto alle invasioni longobarde. I siti trattati, dalle ricerche pionieristiche degli anni Venti all’ “archeologia globale” dell’ISCUM di Genova, sono stati inseriti in un GIS tramite ricognizione sul campo e localizzazione GPS tenendo conto dei dati di scavo e delle relative planimetrie; in seguito sono state realizzate le analisi tramite l’uso del software open source QGIS e del plug-in “Viewshed Analysis” inserendo, come input per il calcolo, i dati relativi alle evidenze strutturali dei siti. Ciò è stato fatto con lo scopo di tentare un’interpretazione funzionale delle fortificazioni aggiungendo all’edito uno studio sul controllo visivo che queste potessero avere sul territorio circostante, focalizzando lo studio sulla morfologia del terreno, la viabilità primaria e secondaria tra fondovalle e crinali appenninici, le posizioni relative dei siti. Ponendo la visibilità reciproca come fattore per la scelta del luogo dove edificare, l’analisi ha sia fornito una chiave di lettura aggiuntiva del rapporto dei siti con il loro contesto territoriale, sia costruito le basi per ricognizioni mirate presso aree mai indagate prima.

This paper focuses on the practice of sending Greek artworks that are part of looting to either the allied cities or the Roman colonies and vici. In the first part, the use of the Kunstbeute as ornamenta in Roman politics is scrutinized, starting from the example of M. Fulvius Nobilior, as well as the tensions that this looting created with the Greeks. The second part concerns the concrete use of the praeda and its distribution in Italy. The Roman colony of Luna has been analyzed as a case study. The management of the Kunstbeute engaged a large number of viri triumphales during the first half of the second century BCE. If a careful selection of the locations is observed in Rome, often relating to the subject of the work of art, it is more difficult to assess the shipping of these ornamenta to places far from Rome. There, they could probably serve to extend the memory of the res gestae of the triumphator, as well as to reward the cities that had provided military contingents for his campaigns, through the updating of their urbanitas as an imitation of Rome itself. Eventually, the ornamenta became a powerful symbol of urbanitas and their dedication often followed the completion of relevant building programs. Later, during the Imperial period, the care in preserving and restoring these statues proves their effectiveness in establishing the civic identity.

In the age of the so-called military anarchy (AD 235-284) the occurrence of statue bases and dedications to the Roman emperors in Northern Italy was much more frequent than in the previous centuries. Probably, this increase is due to the recurrent presence of the emperors, who had to deal with several military crisis in the Po valley. On these occasions, the local ruling classes proved that they were still capable of reacting and demonstrating their loyalty towards the emperors by setting up statues of them. Even Velleia and Luni actively participated to this phenomenon with a rich number of dedications. The case of Luni suggests also great attention to what was going on beyond the Apennines.

Archeologia delle strade, la viabilità storica della Liguria di Levante in confronto con gli attuali assi viari: capitoli XV: “Dal porto di Sestri Levante”, XVI: “Dal porto di Levanto a Parma e Piacenza”, XVII: “Dal porto romano di Luni e da quello medievale di Lerici”, XVIII: “La via parallela al mare” (pp. 179-207)