Cremona: Museo Archeologico San Lorenzo

The archaeological museum of Cremona is housed in the former church of San Lorenzo. The history of that church goes back to the tenth century, but it was built over a cemetery that is much older and was already in use in pre-Christian times. In Cremona itself we find very few traces of the Roman past of the city. Those traces are definitely there, but they are generally located underneath the buildings dating from later centuries. For obvious reasons, it is not possible to just brush these buildings aside and start digging. But on those occasions that excavations are in fact possible, interesting finds are usually brought to the light. Visitors who are willing to pay a mere 3 euros can admire these finds at the archaeological museum.

History of Cremona

The founding of Cremona is closely associated with the Roman campaigns of the third century BCE against the Boii and Insubres, Celtic tribes that had settled in the Po valley. Between 224 and 222 BCE Roman armies won important victories, and in the latter year they also managed to capture the capital of the Insubres, the town of Mediolanum (modern Milan). To consolidate their grasp on the Po valley, the Romans in 218 BCE founded two new Latin colonies on either side of the river Po. The colony of Placentia (Piacenza) arose south of the river, while the colony of Cremona was founded north of it and some 25 kilometres further to the east. Both colonies were deep inside enemy territory, territory that was only nominally under Roman control. From the two new settlements it was at least 200 kilometres to the nearest other Latin colony, the town of Ariminum (Rimini). Already in their foundation year, Placentia and Cremona were attacked by Celtic armies. Thousands of colonists subsequently fled to the town of Mutina (Modena), which supported the Romans. To add insult to injury, the autumn of 218 BCE also saw the invasion of Italy by the Carthaginian general Hannibal.

During the war with Hannibal – the famous Second Punic War – Placentia and Cremona managed to survive. In fact, when in 209 BCE 12 of the 30 Latin colonies in Italy declared that they could no longer spare any soldiers or money, Placentia and Cremona were among those colonies that reaffirmed their obligations towards Rome. Three years later, the consuls sent refugees that had settled in Rome back to the north. It was clear that the Romans had no intention of giving up their two outposts in Celtic territory. This became all the more clear when, after the war with Carthage had ended, the two colonies found themselves under renewed attacks. In 200 BCE a large army of Celts and Ligurians burned Placentia to the ground. Cremona, on the other hand, was able to close its gates in time and was saved later that year by the praetor Lucius Furius Purpureo, who annihilated the enemy forces. Prisoners from Placentia were liberated and sent back to their destroyed city. The Romans were known for their determination and resilience, and this is an excellent example of just that.

In the years after the battle of Cremona the Romans focussed on restoring and strengthening the two northern colonies. In 190 BCE 6,000 families were recruited and sent to Placentia and Cremona. The pressure on the two cities was then reduced considerably by the construction of the Via Aemilia between Ariminum and Placentia (starting in 187 BCE), and by the founding of new Latin and Roman colonies, such as Bononia (Bologna, in 189 BCE) and Parma (in 183 BCE). The citizens of both cities continued to dutifully provide the Roman army with troops. Livius for instance reports the presence of a cohort of infantry from Cremona at the battle of Pydna in Macedonia in 168 BCE. Whereas the Via Aemilia incorporated Placentia into the Roman road network, Cremona mostly profited from the construction of the Via Postumia, which started in 148 BCE. This road connected Genua in the west with Aquileia in the east.

Unfortunately, it was that very same Via Postumia that would bring Cremona lots of misery during the Imperial Age. In the year 69 it was once again demonstrated that Roman roads were first and foremost built to quickly move around armies. We know this year as the Year of the Four Emperors. After the death of the deeply hated Nero in 68, the Roman Empire saw four consecutive men take the purple: Galba, Otho, Vitellius and Vespasianus all ascended the throne. The year 69 also saw two battles being fought in the vicinity of Cremona. They are known as the first and second battle of Bedriacum, but were actually fought along the Via Postumia between Cremona and Bedriacum, a village over thirty kilometres east of Cremona that is nowadays called Calvatone. On 14 April 69 the forces of Otho clashed with those of Vitellius. The latter was victorious, after which the former committed suicide.

Vitellius was now emperor, but did not enjoy his success for long, as in the east of the Roman Empire the legions proclaimed Vespasianus emperor. His supporters gathered an army and invaded Italy. The second battle of Bedriacum subsequently took place on 24 October 69. After heavy fighting Vespasianus’ general Marcus Antonius Primus won a decisive victory. His troops took the enemy camp at Cremona and then focussed on the city itself. For four days Cremona was pillaged. A large part of the buildings was burned to the ground, and many citizens were either massacred or enslaved. Tacitus claims that only the temple of Mefitis – an obscure goddess of toxic fumes – was spared during the orgy of violence. Antonius Primus was so embarrassed by the behaviour of his soldiers that he forbade them to enslave citizens of Cremona. Unfortunately, the consequence was that his men began executing their now worthless prisoners. Luckily many of them could be ransomed in time by their relatives.[1] It was these survivors who rebuilt Cremona and ensured that future generations could live happy and comfortable lives there, although the city never again played an important role in Roman history.

Collection

One of the legions that fought on Vespasianus’ side at the second battle of Bedriacum was Legio VIII Augusta. It was the legion of a certain Arruntius Maximus, who served as a standard-bearer. The archaeological museum possesses the relief of a tomb that features Arruntius together with his mother (a freedwoman) and two sisters (image below). Note that the name of the legion is written as Legio IIX. The relief probably dates from the first half of the first century, so the chance of Arruntius having fought in the battle is very small indeed. Of a later date is the replica of the Vittoria Alata of Calvatone (image above). The original winged Victoria, goddess of victory, was made during the joint reign of the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus (161-169). The object was discovered in 1836 and sold to a museum in Berlin later that century. After World War Two the Vittoria Alata was lost for a while. Several decades later it was found again at the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg. It turned out that Victoria had been confiscated by the Red Army after it had occupied Berlin. The chance of the Russians showing willingness to return the statue to Germany or Italy is likely minimal, smaller even than the chance of Arruntius Maximus having fought at Bedriacum.

The museum has a nice collection of mosaic floors. Four of these floors come from a house from the late Republican or early Imperial Age, so they were made before the destruction of Cremona in 69 (image above and below). The most beautiful of the four floors features a scene from Greek mythology. In the centre the Athenian hero Theseus fights the Minotaur. This monster had been born from the perverted intercourse between Pasiphae, wife of King Minos of Crete, and a bull. The Minotaur had been locked up in a labyrinth underneath Minos’ palace which had been designed by the court architect Daedalus, and this labyrinth has been depicted as well. On the other hand, Ariadne, the daughter of Minos who helped Theseus defeat the monster, is absent. From after the destruction of Cremona dates a mosaic floor from Late Antiquity with two of the four seasons. According to the museum these are winter and spring; summer and autumn are lost.

The houses of the elite of Cremona did not just have beautiful floors, but also beautifully painted walls. Pieces of the wall paintings have been preserved and put on display in the museum. These pieces are just tiny fragments, so it is not always easy to interpret the scenes we see. Lastly, what is truly exceptional is the reconstructed nymphaeum from the early first century. A nymphaeum is basically a fountain in the garden of a Roman domus. The water from the fountain provided cooling on hot summer days. Cremona’s nymphaeum was entirely covered in mosaic decorations, pieces of rock and shells. The tesserae used to make the mosaics were themselves made of different materials, including Egyptian blue. The use of such an expensive and exotic material is clear evidence of the cosmopolitan nature of Cremona before the two battles of Bedriacum brought about its demise.

Note

[1] Tacitus, Histories, Book 3.33-34.