Umbri

Excavations carried out in 1936 in Piazza Cavour, in front of the Duomo unearthed a number of rectangular graves that were thought to date to the 8th century BC.  However, more recent excavation of the site has shown this to be incorrect: the cemetery here almost certainly belonged to the early Christian period (see below).

The only other archeological evidence for an Umbrian settlement comes from the recent examination of the conduit that carries water from an underground stream to the Fontana di Feronia, near the Rocca, which revealed that it was built in the 4th or 3rd century BC.  In 1100, when a certain Beraldo di Rolando gave this place to the Abbazia di Farfa, it was described as “maccla mortua quae vocatur Ferone” (the place of the dead woman known as Ferone), which suggests a surviving memory of an ancient dedication to the Sabine goddess Feronia, the protectress of waters and woods (see "Umbrian Religion").  No trace of a sanctuary has been found here, and it is likely that cult site was in the form of a sacred grove.

By the 3rd century BC, this had developed into a walled Umbrian settlement that the Romans called Nequinum.  There are no surviving traces of the Umbrian fortifications, and no indication of when they were built.   However, their existence is clear from the account by Livy ("History of Rome from its Foundations", Book 10) of the Roman siege of Nequinum in 300-299 BC:

1. “[In 300 BC, the] consul, Appuleius, invested the town of Nequinum in Umbria.  It was situated where Narnia now stands, on high ground which on one side was steep and precipitous, and it was impossible to take it either by assault or by regular siege-works.  It was left to the new consuls [of 299 BC]to carry the siege to a successful issue.” (Chapter 9)
   

2. “Meantime the siege of Nequinum was dragging slowly on and time was being wasted.  At length two of the townsmen, whose houses abutted on the city wall, made a tunnel and came by that secret passage to the Roman outposts.  They were conducted to the consul, and undertook to admit a detachment of soldiers within the fortifications and the city walls.  It did not seem right to reject their proposal, nor yet to accept it off- hand.  One of them was therefore instructed to conduct two spies through the underground passage while the other was detained as a hostage.  The report of the spies was satisfactory, and 300 soldiers, led by the deserter, entered the city by night and seized the nearest gate.  This was broken open, and the consul with his army took possession of the place without any fighting.” (Chapter 10)
   

Romans

Livy goes on to record that the Romans established their first Umbrian colony, Narnia, on the site of Nequinum. 

1. “Thus Nequinum passed into the power of Rome.  A colony was sent there as an outpost against the Umbrians, and the place was called Narnia from the river Nar.  The army marched back to Rome with a large amount of spoil” (‘History of Rome’, 10: 10: 4-5)
   

In 299/8  BC, the consul Marcus Fulvius Paetinus was awarded a triumph over both the Samnites and the Nequinates.

Narnia provided the base from which the Romans completed their conquest of Central Italy.  The only remaining fragments of the wall built to enclose the new colony can be seen:

1. ✴incorporated into the walls of the house to the right of the entrance to the Duomo (discovered in 1946); and
   

2. ✴(in direct line with this) in the right wall of the Duomo (between the Sacello di San Cassio and the chapel to the left of it, discovered in 1953).
   

The prosperity of the colony must have been boosted in 220 BC when Via Flaminia linked it to Rome and to the Adriatic. 

Narnia after the Social War

Narnia became a municipium in 90 BC, and the earliest surviving archeological remains seem to date to this period or thereafter.

1. ✴Lucius Cocceius Nerva, a great-uncle of the Emperor Nerva (see below) probably came from Narnia.  He was active in the diplomatic negotiations between Octavian and Mark Antony in 41 - 37 BC; and
   

2. ✴his brother Marcus was the Consul of 36 BC.
   

According to Giorgio Bonamente  (referenced below, at pp. 41-2), they are thought to have protected the interests of Narnia during the difficulties that surrounded the Perusine War (ca. 40 BC).

Ponte di Augusto ( 27 BC)

A single arch from the bridge that took Via Flaminia across the Nera survives on the outskirts of the city.  This had almost certainly been rebuilt at the time of Augustus' restoration.  It originally had three or perhaps four arches and spanned 160 metres.

Roman cisterns (1st century BC)

These two recently restored Roman cisterns under the church of Santa Maria in Pensole can be visited.

Formina aqueduct (24 - 33 AD) 

Marcus Cocceius Nerva of Narni, who was the father or perhaps the grandfather of the future Emperor Nerva (see below), built this aqueduct.  It was used uninterruptedly until 1924.  Most of it is underground, but the bridge known as Ponte Cardona survives from the overground part of the structure.

Emperor Marcus Cocceius Nerva (96-8 AD)

The Emperor Marcus Cocceius Nerva, who was the first of Gibbon's five "good emperors", was born in Narni ca. 30 AD.