- Matteo Milletti –
Boucher 1959). It is possible that this fi rst settlement was a mere trading post, operated
by Greek prospectors in collaboration with the local population; its geographical position,
a short distance from the coast of Etruria and along one of the main routes of Tyrrhenian
traffi c, must have made Aleria an important crossroads of trade immediately, while the
same location on a not very large (about 30 ha) but very high plateau, at the mouth
of the Tavignano, one of the major rivers of the island and overlooking a large coastal
lagoon, allowed, in addition to a smooth landing-place from the sea, the exploitation of
the considerable resources of the hinterland (Cristofani 1993). The subsequent arrival of a
new contingent of colonists, more substantial than the fi rst, and who had been driven from
their homeland by the Persian army of Harpagos (Herodotus 1.164), provoked the reaction
of the Etruscans and Carthaginians, concerned over the consolidation of the Greek presence
in the Middle and Upper Tyrrhenian. According to Herodotus, in fact, the newcomers,
unlike the fi rst group, in addition to founding sanctuaries, perhaps Artemisia, turned to
piracy, in all likelihood attacking the Etruscan cities and those of Punic Sardinia. The
high tension culminated in 540 bc, in the famous battle of the Sardinian Sea, which saw
a league composed of the major Tyrrhenian Etruscan cities, Caere at its head, and the
Carthaginians (Bernardini 2001), opposing the Phocaeans of Aleria. The latter became
aware of the intention of the allies to attack and plunder their city, preferring to confront
the enemy forces, which totaled 60 Carthaginian ships and as many Etruscan, in a pitched
battle, which gathered, according to various hypotheses, off Olbia (Colonna 2000) or near
the Tuscan coast (Gras 1972) or in front of Pyrgi, one of Caere’s harbours (Jehasse, Jehasse
1973). The Phocaeans won the victory, thus defi ned as “Cadmean” (Colonna 1989), at a high
price, losing 40 of the 60 ships with which, despite obviously being outnumbered, they
fought against the allies, while the remaining ships were rendered unsound for war by the
loss of their rostra (rams). The position of Aleria now became untenable and, therefore, the
victorious Phocaeans sailed to the city and picked up their wives, children and everything
else possible, then abandoned it and sailed to Rhegion, where parties would later leave to
found Velia (Υέλη) near Poseidonia in Campania (Herodotus 1.166–167).
The Etruscans benefi tted more from the departure of the Phocaeans; the Caeretans
especially were able to take advantage of the victory to strengthen their trade and that
of the growing power of Rome, but also the Populonians established a fruitful dialogue
with the Etruscan center (Νίκαια?) that replaced the Phocaean colony (Diodorus 5.13.3–
4). More generally, the occupation of Aleria and the expulsion of the Greeks allowed the
Etruscans to control the Tyrrhenian Sea for about a century, until the blockade of Cumae
in 474 bc, which caused the victorious intervention of the Syracusans and, subsequently,
the incursions of the latter who, in 453–452 bc, reached Elba for the fi rst time, occupying
it and Corsica (Colonna 1981). The central role of Cerveteri in the affair of the Sardinian
Sea is confi rmed by the event of the stoning to death by Caeretans of the Phocaean
prisoners from the battle (Gras 1984, 1985): the place where this sort of collective human
sacrifi ce happened, perhaps near a major extra-urban road (Colonna 1963, 2000), became
contaminated and “since then all the living things of Agylla, be they sheep, pack animals
or men, who were passing near the place where lay the Phocaeans who had been stoned,
became crippled, maimed or were paralyzed” (Herodotus 1.167.1). The Caeretans sent to
Delphi to ask for the means of atonement, and received from the Pythia the order to offer
sacrifi ces to the dead and hold gymnastic and equestrian games.
Unfortunately, archaeological research has not yet provided confi rming evidence for
the original Greek foundation of Aleria; to the subsequent Etruscan occupation there are