Sardinia

Prehistoric and Phoenician settlement

The dominating feature of the island (some 7,000 examples of which are said to exist) is the nuraghi: truncated conic structures of huge blocks of basalt taken from extinct volcanoes, built in prehistoric times without any bonding. Most nuraghi are quite small, but a few are obviously fortresses. There is also a nuraghic village near Dorgali with traces of about 80 buildings identified. Expert opinion now dates the nuraghi to about 1500 to 400 bce.

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The civilization that built the nuraghi probably had its roots in the prehistoric population of the island, but its origins and affinities are uncertain, and it left no written records. It is possible that the Sherden, one of the Sea People who fought in Egypt in the 13th and 12th centuries bce, either came from or settled in Sardinia, and they gave the island its name. Archaeological evidence from the nuraghi culture suggests a strongly organized power of tribal states. The working of metal from local mines was presumably the chief source of wealth. However, the presence of Phoenician trade settlements along the Sardinian coasts from the 9th or 8th century bce must have vigorously contributed to Proto-Sardinian prosperity.

Phoenician shippers and traders were naturally interested in Sardinian mines, and they founded trading posts at such sites as Caralis (now Cagliari), Sulcis (on Sant’Antioco Island), and Tharros. Attempts at colonization by the Greeks in the early 6th century (at Olbia in northeastern Sardinia) were unsuccessful because of opposition by the Phoenicians. After Carthage had attained leadership over the western Phoenicians, the struggle for supremacy in the west caused a more direct control to be exercised over the colonists on the island. After a long period of peaceful coexistence with the indigenous peoples, the Carthaginians began, about 500 bce, the military conquest of the most-productive parts of Sardinia, driving the Proto-Sardinians into the mountains.

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Roman rule

During the First Punic War (264–241 bce) the Romans tried to capture Sardinia, but it was not until 238 bce that they were able to take advantage of a revolt by Carthaginian mercenaries to demand the surrender of the island. Native tribes opposed the Romans but were conquered after several bloody campaigns. The island became a province under a praetor or propraetor, to whose jurisdiction Corsica was added soon afterward (227). A rebellion in 215 bce, fostered by the Carthaginians, was quelled by Titus Manlius Torquatus. After the failure of that uprising, the island was treated as a conquered territory. It did not contain a single free city, and its inhabitants were obliged to pay a sizable tithe in grain. Insurrections of the mountain tribes in 181 and 114 bce were crushed by the Romans, but even in the time of Strabo (c. 64 bce–21 ce) there was considerable brigandage.

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When Augustus reorganized the provinces, administration of Sardinia and Corsica fell to the Senate, a designation that implied a degree of stability on the islands. In 6 ce, however, frequent disturbances led Augustus to assert imperial control and to appoint a prefect to oversee the restoration of order. In 67 ce Nero returned Sardinia (but not Corsica) to the Senate in exchange for Achaea, and the former was then governed by a legatus pro praetore. Vespasian took Sardinia back sometime before 78 ce and placed it under an imperial procurator. It was returned to the Senate sometime before the reign of Marcus Aurelius, when the island was governed by a proconsul. Either Commodus or Septimius Severus took it over again and placed it under a procurator. The frequent changes in administrative authority speak to the difficulty that the Romans experienced while governing the island. In Pliny’s time Caralis (Cagliari) was the only city with Roman civic rights in Sardinia (when it received the privilege is unknown). A Roman colony was founded at Turris Libisonis (now Porto Torres), but little was reported about the island under the empire, except for its role as a granary and for the prevalence of banditry there. It was often used as a place of exile.