Excursion to Nora

"After Aristaeus, the Iberians crossed to Sardinia, under Norax as leader of the expedition, and they founded the city of Nora. The tradition is that this was the first city in the island, and they say that Norax was a son of Erytheia, the daughter of Geryon, with Hermes for his father."  (Pausania, Periegesi della Grecia, X, 17,5) Nora (Nuras in the mediaeval Sardinian language) is an ancient Roman and pre-Roman town on a peninsula near Pula, near to Cagliari: most ancient ruins, from a necropolis, are some graves datable about 7th and 6th century BCE bust most precious remain is the Nora Stone, a Phoenician inscription found in Nora, it has been dated by paleographic methods ti between the late 9th century and the 8th century BCE and it quote the most ancient definition of the word "Sardinia", in a phoenix like alphabet. Highlights are the Eshmun-Esculapian temple with some marvelous mosaic, the tophet, an ancient phoenix-punic sanctuary under the sky, the roman ruins and the saint Efisio church.