CORNUS
Sardinia, Italy.
An ancient city
on the W coast of Sardinia, near S. Caterina di Pittinuri.
Probably founded by the Carthaginians on a nuraghic
settlement, it is mentioned by the geographers (
It.
Ant. 84;
Rav. Cosm. 5.26). Livy (
23.40) writes of the
city in connection with the war in 215 B.C. between the
Romans and Sardinians allied with the Carthaginians
under the leadership of Ampsicora. Probably the Punic
city was destroyed by the victors and became a Roman
city with the rank of colonia (
CIL X, 7915). It was
linked by road to Tharros and to Gurulis Nova (Cuglieri)
and was still flourishing in the 3d c. A.D. In the late
period its center shifted toward the acropolis on the
Corchina hill, where Late Roman remains still exist. The
city was abandoned after the coming of the Vandals.
The site, identified in the 16th c. by Fara, had been
sacked so many times that very little could be saved
from the Roman necropolis. It is at su Columbaru and
consists of ditch tombs and tombs with stone coffins. The
material from the necropolis is preserved in the National
Museum at Cagliari.
Around Sisiddu are the remains of a villa oriented
NE-SW, and around Lenaghe are the ruins of a bath
building.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. Taramelli,
NSc (1918) 28SffMPI;
E. Pais,
Storia della Sardegna e della Corsica, I (1923)
369; G. Pesce,
EAA 2 (1959) 860f.
D. MANCONI
