ANOTHER POMPEII.

Kumara Times, Issue 489, 22 April 1878, Page 2

ANOTHER POMPEII.

J. ( Considerable excitement," skys a correspoudenfcdf'the Times, "has been excifcedamongfcheawbffiologistsbf Souths ern Italy by repoits of a late' : remarkable discovery. This -was"' nothing, less than the disentouibtaent ;of- ; another Pompeii. - The scene is. in *the' neighborhood of Manfredonia, on the Adriatic coast, about 140 miles fcdrtih n >rthwest of Brindisi, in the lo\*-fyingground which stretches from the foottif^Monte

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Gargano to the sea; an i the ancient city -which has been, revealed is Sipuntum. Already the discoveries have brought to light a Temple of Diana and a colonnade about 65ft. long, and have partially exposed an underground necropolis which seems to be about 40ft. or 45ft. square. A portion of the inscriptions and numei'ous interesting objects which were found had been already deposited in the National Museum at Naples, and the Italian Government has given the requisite instructions in order that extensive explorations shall at once be carried out in a proper manner. The disappearance of Si pun turn was not owing to showers of volcanic ashes', similar to those that buried its Neapolitan sisters, but to a sinking of the site on which it stood, the effect, probably, of successive earthquakes. It was a lucky fate, for to it we owe its preservation in its present state. The depiession has been so great that the ancient buildings now lie at an average depth of 20ft. below the level of the surrounding plain. A portion of the existing town of Manfredonia is built over the remains of ancient Sipuntum, exactly as Dr Schlieniann found one town superimposed over the yet existing remains of another found at Hisarlik. Sipuntum was originally a Greek colony, of unknown date. Tradition, as in the case of many other ancient cities of Apulia, attributed its foundation to Diomede. It was old when the Romans re-settled all that country after the second Punic war. It was then, probably, its name took the form by which it is histoi'ically known. The original name was Sipus or Sipons, given to it, most likely, from the cuttle-fish (sepia) cast j Tip on the neighbouring shore. From I 4his the Romans formed Sipuntum in j the same way as Tarentum, Hydrun-' turn, and others. It was never very flourishing ; indeed, Apulia never recovered the awful devastation of the! Punic war. Still, it managed to preserve its existence, while other ancient cities were disappearing so thoroughly that no tradition lingers «ven of their site. But by the middle of the thirteenth century, we are told, it was considered very unhealthy, on •account of its sunken position and the marshes by which, it was surrounded; the effect, doubtless, of the depression •of the ground which had been already ■established. So, in 1251, Manfred, the son. of the Emperor Frederic 11., then King of Southern Italy, transferred the population to a new town, "which he built in a higher and more liealthv< situation, and which was called after him Manfredonia. Thenceforward, old Sipuntum was deserted and handed over to the earthquakes, which seem to have dealt with it tenderly ; not rudely . shaking it into ruin, but wrapping it in clay and tufa sand so effectively as to hide it away . for six centuries.. We must not expect discoveries of such surpassing interest and .importance as those of Pompeii and Herculaneum, but doubtless many valuable memorials of Roman provincial life will be brought to light."