- chapter 12: Phoenician and Punic Sardinia –
of the Mediterranean. In particular, Punic relationships with the opposite shore of the
Tyrrhenian changed by immediately concluding a treaty with Rome dating from 509
bc, the text of which was handed down by Polybius (3.22). The date coincides with the
fall of the monarchy and the birth of the republic in Rome and is just fi ve years before
the end of the domination of the Etruscans in Latium, with the defeat they suffered at
Aricia at the hands of the Latins who were in alliance with the tyrant Aristodemus of
Cumae. The treaty, signed with clauses giving conditions unfavorable to Rome, clearly
stated in regard to Sardinia but also for Libya (i.e. North Africa), that the Romans were
not allowed to carry on trade in the island except in the presence of offi cials in charge
of Carthaginian commerce, in essence, customs offi cials tasked with charging a duty.
Thus ended the autonomy of the Phoenician cities of the island which, previously, had
managed their own trade with the Etruscan area and, generally, in the Mediterranean:
thus, even in places that had not suffered destruction during the conquest by Carthage,
because the Punic protectionist policy took effect during a crisis, in some cases even a
severe one – with some exceptions like Tharros – it affected many of these settlements, at
least for most of the fi fth century bc. They gradually took back the urban dimension and
prospered, precisely by means of Carthage, which brought into the network new centers
for international trade activities, in particular, open to the markets of Athens, as in the
case of Neapolis, in the Gulf of Oristano, which fl ourished perhaps to the detriment of
the nearby town of Othoca. Despite the good business relations between Carthage and
Etruria, especially with Caere, there was still, at this stage, a decrease in imports from the
Etruscan world, whether into Africa, or to Sardinia.
Among the bronze artifacts introduced into the island from the Etruscan world,
there are a few fi nds from the indigenous area, including the fragment of a handle with
palmette-anchor ornament, from a wine pitcher (oinochoe of “Schnabelkanne” type),
dated from the end of the sixth to the fi fth century bc, found in the nuraghe of Adoni
Villanova Tulo the small bronze lion (Fig. 12.14) of the end of the sixth century bc and
the horizontal handle of a wine cup (kylix) dated between the mid-fi fth and mid-fourth
centuries bc, from the Nuragic sanctuary of Nurdòle in the countryside of Orani. From
Tharros and Nora come, however, some plaques belonging to small caskets, made of ivory
and bone and decorated with carvings depicting couchant rabbits and cattle, which are,
in all likelihood, the productions of the region of Tarquinia; they must have reached the
island by way of the African metropolis.
Figure 12.14 Small bronze lion from the Nuragic sanctuary of Nurdòle – Orani
(end of the sixth century bc).