Lanuvio's treasure: the heroic band of Alexander the Great

 ROME – The imposing remains of the Temple of Juno Sospita (Juno the Protectress or Saviour) sits in a landscaped park on the slopes of the hills of San Lorenzo, Lanuvio - part of the cluster of Castelli Romani towns that ring the crater of the extinct Lazio volcano some 20 miles south of Rome. Lanuvium (as the Romans called it), a well-preserved walled city of evocative winding medieval streets, contains the remains of one of the most mysterious pre-Roman cults, involving a sacred snake and a mother goddess, traces of which are still visible today.

  The Temple of Juno Sospita is impressive with its 1^st century BC portico and long frontage of arcades flanked by Doric columns, skilfully reconstructed last century using the original stones. However, this is only a fraction of a much older monumental building that was originally several stories high and extended over a much wider area.

 But the temple area is also interesting because of the story of its early excavations, at the hands of a British Ambassador in Rome, Sir John Saville Lumley. The fascinating story of the first explorations are recounted by archaeologist Luca Attinni in the catalogue of the ongoing exhibition in the town's Museo Diffuso (Decentralized Museum)

 In late nineteenth century Italy, when archaeological trafficking was rife (and rarely illegal), unexplored sites like the one that was in Lanuvium were manna for tomb robbers, as well as for passionate but amateur archaeologists like Sir John, who obtained the permit to excavate the area between 1884 and 1892 with the help of his friend, the artist Arthur John Strutt who had been appointed Inspector of Antiquities at Lanuvio.

 Sir John unearthed an enormous booty of marble and bronze sculptures, coins and pottery objects, which he added to a parallel cache he had retrieved from the ruins of the nearby Temple of Diana at Lake Nemi.  The most important pieces he donated to the British Museum in London, where they still remain, while the vast bulk of assorted items, considered less important according to the perspective of the time, were shipped to his hometown of Nottingham where they were eventually housed in the former Castle Museum and later transferred to the Leeds Discovery Centre.

 However, thanks to the dedication and persistence of Luca Attenni, some of the original pieces of the Nottingham collection have come home, a century and a half later, to their place of origin.

 Attenni did not allow the opportunity to pass him by when he learned that some of the Lanuvium pieces from England were to be part of the major exhibition “Alexander the Great, and the East” held in the National Museum of Archaeology in Naples in 2023, and he made contact with his counterpart in Leeds, arranging for a selection of antiquities to be exhibited in Lanuvio when the Naples exhibition ended. Museums are notoriously possessive of their collections, however, the relationship established was so cordial that an agreement was reached whereby the so called “Lumley marbles” were conceded to Lanuvio “for a few years”. Attenni, however, is convinced that the pieces “will stay permanently with us.”

 The objects in question are not trifles. They are part of a monumental marble sculpture group featuring Alexander the Great and his companion band of heroes, known as the Turma Alexandri (a “turma” being a small cavalry unit). The present work is a Roman copy of the celebrated (and long lost) bronze sculpture group by the 4^th century BC Greek sculptor Lysippos. This copy was believed to have been commissioned by Lucius Licinius Murena of Lanuvio, a local hero and consul in 62 BC, who played a leading role in the 1^st century BC conquest of Mithridate VI, King of Pontus in Asia Minor, and who probably wished to honour (and flatter) his commander Lucius Licinius Lucullus by comparing his victories to those of the legendary Macedonian hero.

 The recuperated show pieces include two almost life-size horse's heads and two torsos of riders (the heads are lost), part of the original group, which was made up, it is believed, of at least seven horsemen. These are now on show in the  “Segrete,” the cavernous cellars of the baronial Palazzo Colonna in the heart of the historic centre, as part of the Decentralized Museum arrangement, in which the museum collection is distributed among local buildings of note, such as the medieval Watch Tower, the Room of the Columns at the Juno Sospita temple and the Room of the Votive Deposit, which is a cavity set into the town walls in imitation of the original sacred cavern, situated in a wooded area some 700m from the Temple of Juno Sospita and known as Pantanacci.

 This is where Italian police surprised a group of tomb robbers digging around in 2012. Subsequent research uncovered the entrance to a 60m deep natural grotto, fed by a stream, and filled with over a thousand votive offerings of statuettes, coins and anatomical parts, including a great number of gaping mouths, suggesting that the ancients were aware of the beneficial qualities of the high percentage of fluoride in the water with regard to treating dental problems.

 Archaeologists were even more astonished by another discovery consisting of four large fragments of peperino rock covered with carvings designed to imitate the pattern of a snake's scales.  These seemed to confirm the legends of evocative springtime rituals described by ancient Roman writers regarding the cult of a Sacred Snake at the Ariccia Temple, in which blindfolded virgins carried their offerings of barley bread to the Sacred Serpent as part of a yearly fertility rite.

 The grotto was linked by several galleries, some natural and others man-made, suggesting that the cave may once have been connected to the Temple building. Archaeologists tend to believe that the Sacred Snake was not a real reptile but a carved replica which could be moved with the aid of ropes and pulleys, creating a terrifying illusion in the dim light of the cavern.

 Unfortunately, this fascinating site is in private ground and is not accessible to the public, but Attenni's ingenious replica inside the town walls gives a faithful impression of the Sacred Cave with its coiled stone serpent surrounded by the offerings of the faithful.

 The cult was so important that even after the Romans had defeated the coalition of Latin tribes in the 4^th century BC, they granted Lanuvium special status on condition that they would have equal access to the sanctuary. Although the Lanuvium sanctuary remained the most important cult centre dedicated to Juno Sospita, there were other cult centres in Rome, such as the one at the Foro Holitorium (or Vegetable Market) near the banks of the Tiber, now covered over by the Church of San Nicola in Carcere (St. Nicholas in Prison), near the Theatre of Marcellus. It was from this site that the colossal cult statue of the goddess was recovered (now in the Vatican Museum) – an awe-inspiring warlike figure, armed with spear and shield, her traditional goatskin cloak (symbol of fertility) draped over her shoulders and with her unique pointed-toed sandals on her feet. 

 The millenary worship at the Temple of Juno Sospita finally died out in 391 AD when the Edict of Theodosius confirmed the supremacy of Christianity and closed all the places of pagan worship, bringing an end to the glorious era of Lanuvium. 

 The Lanuvium exhibition pays a special tribute to Sir John Lord Savile (he dropped the Lumley name when he became heir to the family estate of Rufford Abbey). According to the biography published in the 1983 catalogue of the Castle Museum of Nottingham (now the City Museum of Leeds) by the former director, A.G McCormick, Sir John had an unusual background for the rigid moral standards of Victorian Britain. 

 He was the love child of John Savile Lumley Savile senior (later 8^th Earl of Scarborough) and a “lady of French origin” whom he had saved from drowning in the Serpentine in Hyde Park. Although the couple had six children born out of wedlock and did not live together, John Savile Junior and his five siblings lived a normal happy childhood. His father took a great interest in him and personally supervised his education, introducing him to classical art and culture. The Lumleys had a long tradition of service in the diplomatic field and the boy's unorthodox origins did not prove an obstacle to a successful career in the British foreign service.

 When Sir John was posted to Rome, he was 65 and at the end of a long and distinguished career. The new-born Italian republic was a tranquil, pre-retirement posting that gave him the time and opportunity to indulge in his lifelong passion for archaeology and history. The success of his explorations must have exceeded his wildest dreams.

 Excavations continue in the public area of the Sanctuary of Juno Sospita from time to time, however, full exploration of the entire site is limited by the fact that part of the area is under private ownership. Nonetheless, Attenni believes that future surprises may still emerge. 

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