Editing Cumae (section)

==Development of the ancient city==
[[File:Athena from Cumae.jpg|thumb|Athena terracotta antefix 6th c. BC]]
[[File:Doric frieze temple 340 BC.jpg|250px|thumb|Doric frieze from temple ~340 BC]]
The ancient city was divided into two zones, namely the acropolis and the lower part on the plains and the coast. The acropolis was accessible only from the south side and it was on this area that the first nucleus of the city developed crossed by a road called Via Sacra leading to the main temples. The road began with two towers, one of which collapsed with part of the hill and the other was restored in the Byzantine era and is still visible. The lower city developed from the Samnite period and to a greater extent during the Roman age.

The lower city was defended by walls and during the Greek age the acropolis had probably the same type of defences, even if the remains today dating back to the 6th century BCE are only on the southeastern part of the hill perhaps also used as retaining walls of the ridge.

In the 6th c. BCE temples were built in tufa, wood and terracotta. Columns, cornices and capitals were made of yellow tufa, roofs and architraves of wood and to protect the overhang, terracotta tiles and elaborate antefix decorations. The city and acropolis walls were built from 505 BC, as well as the Sibyl's cave.

When the city was allied with the Romans in 338 BCE a new temple was built with exceptional painted friezes and ornamentation which have been discovered though the temple was destroyed after a few decades by fire.

Between the Punic Wars and the adoption of Latin as the official trading language (180 BC) the city walls were restored and a large [[stadium]] built west of the Porta mediana. The central baths were built and major work was done on the acropolis temples. From the end of the 2nd c. BCE Cumae's architecture became increasingly romanised.

The Augustan age saw many fine new buildings in the city such as the [[basilica]] or "Sullan Aula" south of the forum, decorated with polychrome marble. Water supply to the town was increased by an extension to the town of the great Serino aqueduct, the [[Aqua Augusta (Naples)|Aqua Augusta]], after 20 BCE and paid for by local benefactors, the Lucceii family, [[praetor]]s of the city, who also built an elaborate [[nymphaeum]] in the forum as well as several other monuments and buildings.

In the 1st c. AD the "Temple of the Giant" was built, so-called because the famous giant bust of Jupiter (now in Naples Archaeological Museum) was discovered in its ruins; the walls of the temple are incorporated into a later farmhouse.

After Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, survivors from [[Herculaneum]] came to Cumae and it became a well prosperous town.

===Surviving ancient monuments===
[[File:The Thermae of the Forum, Cumae, Italy (9042635234).jpg|thumb|The Thermae of the Forum]]
The visible monuments include:
*Temple of Diana
*Capitoline temple of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva
*Temple of Isis
*Temple of Demeter
* Temple of Apollo, built in the 6th or 5th century BC, renewed in the late 4th century BC and again under Augustus, transformed into a church around 500 AD.<ref>Wolf, Markus (2023). ''Hellenistische Heiligtümer in Kampanien. Sakralarchitektur im Grenzgebiet zwischen Großgriechenland und Rom'' [Hellenistic sanctuaries in Campania. Sacred architecture in the border region between Greater Greece and Rome]. DAI Rom Sonderschriften, vol. 26. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, {{ISBN|978-3-447-11940-5}}, pp. 15-34, plates 23-62 and inserts 1-2.</ref>
*The Acropolis
*Arco Felice
*The Forum
*Grotta di Cocceio
*Crypta Romana
*Masseria del Gigante

====Arco Felice====
[[File:S04 172 Arco Felice.jpg|thumb|upright|Arco Felice and via Domitiana in use today]]
The Arco Felice was a 20 m high monumental entrance to the city built in a cut through Monte Grillo which [[Domitian]] made in 95 AD to avoid the long detour imposed by the [[via Appia]], and allow easier access to Cumae along what was later called the [[via Domitiana]] while the bridge also carried a road along the ridge of the hill. It was built of brick and tiled in marble, and surmounted by two rows of arches of lighter concrete covered with brick. The piers had three niches on both sides where statues were placed.

The via Domitiana, whose paving is still perfectly preserved and is in continuous use today, connected to the via Appia, the artery of communication with Rome, as well as with Pozzuoli and Naples.

The arch probably replaced a smaller gate from Greek times and in a higher position.

====Crypta Romana====
The Crypta Romana is a tunnel dug into the tufa under the Cuma hill, crossing the acropolis in an east-west direction, giving an easier route from the city to the sea. Its construction is part of the set of military enhancement works built by [[Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa|Agrippa]] for Augustus and designed by Lucius [[Cocceius Auctus]] in 37 BC, including the construction of the new Portus Iulius and its connection with the port of Cumae through the so-called Grotta di Cocceio and the Crypta Romana itself.

With the displacement of the fleet from Portus Iulius to the port of Miseno in 12 BCE and the end of the Civil War between Octavian and Mark Antony in 31 BCE the tunnel lost its strategic value. The forum entrance was made monumental with 4 statue niches in 95 AD at the same time as the Arco Felice was built.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41587083| title=McKAY, A. (1997). THE MONUMENTS OF CUMAE. Vergilius, 43, 78-88. |website=www.jstor.org| jstor=41587083 }} </ref> An avalanche closed the sea entrance in the 3rd c. After 397 it was reopened. In the Christian age it was used as a cemetery area; in the 6th c. the Byzantine general Narsete tried to use it to reach the city during the siege of Cumae, but weakened the structure and a large section of the vault collapsed.

It was brought to light between 1925 and 1931 by the archaeologist Amedeus Maiuri.

===Sculpture===
<gallery widths="200px" mode="packed">
File:Psyche Eros(Augustan) Forum 1-2cAD.jpg|Psyche and Eros, forum 1-2c AD
File:DSC06949 diana.jpg|Diana
File:Rilievo votivo con eroe, 400 ac ca., da cuma.JPG|Votive relief 400 BCE ([[Antikensammlung Berlin]])
File:DSC06945 nymph invitation to the dance.jpg|Nymph
File:Cumas Júpiter. 01.JPG|Colossal Jupiter statue ([[National Archaeological Museum, Naples|Naples museum]])
</gallery>