NORA  , an

ancient town of Sardinia, 22 M. by road S.S.W. of Carales . It was founded, according to Pausanias (x . 17 . 5), by the Iberians under Norax, son of Hermes, and was the most ancient town in the island . The discoveries made on the site have, however, shown that it was certainly of Phoenician origin . In Roman times too, we find the milestones on the road from Nora to Bitia and even on that from Nora to Carales reckoned from Nora (Corp. inscr . Lat. x . 831; Ephemeris epigraphica, viii . 18o) ; but the authors and the sepulchral inscriptions found here give us no information as to its juridical condition . The town occupies a characteristically Phoenician site, a small peninsula joined to the mainland by an isthmus,, low, narrow and sandy . Excavations have led to the discovery of a few Phoenician buildings, the foundations of a temple of Tanit, of a road, of quay walls at the water's edge and of a watch-tower, on the extremity of the peninsula, which rises to some 150 ft. above the sea . Two cemeteries were found, one of the 7th-6thcentury B.C., consisting of tombs cut in the rock for inhumation, while in the other, going down to the 4th century B.1.; cremation is the rule; there are ossuaries placed in holes in the sand, with a sculptured stele over each .

A quantity of small

objects, gems, ivories, glass, vases, terra-cottas, &c., were found; in some of them Egyptian, in others Greek, influence and importation are apparent . To the Roman period belong an aqueduct, bringing the water from the neighbouring hills—one pier of it rests upon a destroyed nuraghe—scanty remains of an amphitheatre, a theatre, considerable ruins of concrete foundations (perhaps of villas by the sea) and a watch-tower on the promontory close to the Phoenician tower . A full description of the site and the excavations is given by G . Patroni in Monumenti dei Lincei, xiv . (1905), III . On the isthmus is the curious small old church of S Efisio, with a nave and two aisles divided by heavy square pillars . At the festival of the saint (May 1-4), his body is brought in procession from the cathedral at Cagliari; the festival is much frequented by people from all parts of Sardinia .