120 Zedda
demographically speaking—to conquer both regions.11 It is likely that, for a
long time, the function of the island’s government was to keep these settle-
ments contained, and later, when times became propitious, to proceed with
the reconquest.
Islamic leaders must have anticipated the gradual dissolution of the island’s
Roman and Justinianic infrastructures, which had remained predominantly
stable until the mid-eighth century. Recent studies of literary sources as well
as archaeological finds have shown that Islamic leaders must have planned a
systematic destruction of Sardinia’s defense system, with actions aimed at key
urban centers, ports, and roads.12 To ensure success, they had to strike at the
heart of the most important military centers: Karalis, the capital; Sulci, a port
rigged for attack or defense against Africa; Forum Traiani, in the interior of
the island, which housed a military contingent that was supposed to protect
the west-central plains against incursions by barbarians from the mountains;13
and finally, the ports of the north—Turris Lybisonis and Olbia—which, as
demonstrated by the problematic inscription in Porto Torres,14 as well as
11 Henri Bresc, Merces Tri ́as, Manuel Sánchez, Pierre Guichard, and Robert Mantran, Europa
y el Islam en la edad media (Barcelona, 2001).
12 Fois, “I musulmani nel Mediterraneo.”
13 The most recent data of interest from the Byzantine era of the Forum Traiani can be
found in Pier Giorgio Spanu, Martyria Sardiniae. I santuari dei martiri sardi (Oristano,
2000), especially the essay “Martyrium Luxurii,” pp. 97–114; and Robert J. Rowland,
“Survey Archaeology around Fordongianus (Forum Traiani), Sardinia,” in Qui miscuit utile
dulci: Festschrift Essays for Paul Lachlan MacKendrick, eds Gareth L. Schmeling and Jon D.
Mikalson (Wauconda, IL, 1998), pp. 313–328.
14 On the epigraph of Porto Torres, see Corrado Zedda, “Bisanzio, l’Islam e i Giudicati: la
Sardegna e il mondo mediterraneo tra VII e XI secolo,” Archivio Storico e Giuridico Sardo di
Sassari n.s. 10 (2006), pp. 39–112; see also Antonio Taramelli, “Un eroe sardo del secolo VI
dell’età nostra,” Mediterranea 1 (1927), p. 7; Arrigo Solmi, “L’iscrizione greca di Porto Torres
del sec. VII,” in Studi di storia e diritto in onore di Enrico Besta per il xl anno del suo insegna-
mento (Milan, 1939), vol. 4, pp. 335–336; Santo Mazzarino, “Su una iscrizione trionfale di
Turris Libisonis,” Epigraphica 2 (1940), pp. 292–313; Bacchisio Raimondo Motzo, “Barlumi
dell’Età Bizantina in Sardegna,” in Studi Cagliaritani di Storia e Filologia (Cagliari, 1927),
pp. 81–97; Pasquale Corsi, La spedizione italiana di Costante II (Bologna, 1983), pp. 96–102;
Francesca Fiori, Costantino hypatos e doux di Sardegna (Bologna, 2001). Based solely on
paleographic and linguistic analysis, Fiori proposed a later date, in the era of Constantine,
a claim that leads to historical ambiguities due to the complexity of the Mediterranean
context in which this emperor operated.