Numana

Numana is a coastal town and comune of the province of Ancona in the Marche region of Italy.

Mythology

Numana was anciently known with the name of Humana. The legend tells that the mythological founder of the city was this Picenis Queen, a giant figure of a woman with half of the body in the shape of a snake and with wide wings on her back. The Queen threw fire balls on the seaside burning down a wood and on those cinders raised up the city of Humana (meaning human in Latin).

History

Most scholars see Numana as having been founded by people of Sabine origin, but Pliny the Elder attributed its foundation to the Siculi, but whatever its origin, it was an important commercial centre in the 6th and 5th centuries BC. In about 500 BC, the expansion of Roman power and the later foundation and growth of Ancona led to a decadence of Numana. However, it maintained a certain importance, becoming in the 5th or 6th century an episcopal see.

In the Middle Ages the town is referred to under the name Humana Umana in modern Italian spelling and under that name appears in a number of treaties, alliances and other documents. In 1404 it came under the control of Ancona and in 1432 the diocese was united to that of Ancona. In 1553 the bishops of Ancona became also civil rulers of Humana and assumed the title of Conti di Umana. In the 19th and 20th centuries the town resumed its ancient name of Numana.