Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/932

 912 SARDINIA. about 18 miles from its mouth; Useltjs, about 15 miles to the S. of the preceding; Valentia, to the SE. of Usellis: and Gurulis Vetus and Nova, both of which were situated between the rivers Thyrsus and Temus. Of the minor towns mentioned by Ptolemy or the Itineraries, the following may be noticed: 1. On the W. coast, were Tilium (PtoL), which must have been near the Capo A'erjreito: Osaca or Hosaca (Id.) at Flumentorgiu, a few miles W. of Neapolis; and Othoca {I tin. Ant.) apparently the modern Oristano, near the mouth of the river Thyrsus. 2. On the S. coast, Pupulum (Ptol.) may probably be placed at Massacara, a few miles N. of Sulci; Bitia (Ptol.) at S. Isidoro di Teulada; and Tegula (Ifin. Ant.) at the Cajio di Tmdnda, the extreme S. point of the island. 3. On the E. coast, Feronia (l^tol.) must have been at or near Posada, 25 miles S. of Olbia, and is apparently the same place called in the Itin- eraries Portus Lugudonis. The other small places mentioned in the same Itinerary were probably mere stations or villages. 4. On the N. coast, besides the two considerable towns of Tibula and Turris Liby- snnis, Ptolemy places two towns, which he calls Juliola (probably the same with the Viniola of the Itinerary, still called Torre Vigmla) and Plubium, which tnay probably be Used at Castel Sardo. The small towns of the interior are for the most part very uncertain, the positions given by Ptolemy, as well as the distances in the Itineraries, varying so much as to afford us in reality but little assistance; and of the names given by Ptolemy, Erycinum, Heraeum, Macopsisa, Saralapis or Sarala, and Lesa, not one is mentioned in the Itineraries. The Aquae Lesitanae (Ptol.) are probably the Acqui di Bene- tutli in the upper valley of the Thyrsus: the Aquae Hvpsitanae are those of Fordungianus, and the Aquae Neapolitanae the Bagni di Sardara. There remain considerable ruins of a Roman town at a place called Castro on the road from Ter-ranora (Olbia) to Oristano. These are supposed to mark the site of a place called in the Itineraries Lugu- donec, probably a corruption of Lugudo or Lugudonis. In the SW. portion of the island, also, between Neapolis and Sulci, are considerable Roman remains at a place called A riias, probably the JMetalla of the Itineraries. {Itin. Ant. p. 84.). The Itineraries give several lines of road tlirough the island of Sardinia. (Itiii. Afit.pixlS— 85.) One of these proceeded from Tibula, at the N. extremity of the island, which was the usual place of landing from Corsica, along the whole length of the E. coast to Ca- ralis. It did not accurately follow the line of coast, though it seldom departed far from it, but struck some- what inland from 'fibula to Olbia, and from thence with some exceptions followed the line of coast. A more circuitous, but probably more frequented, route was that which led from Tibula to Turris Libysonis, and thence along the W. coast of the island by Bosa, Cornus, and Tharros to Othoca ( Oristano), from which one branch led direct across the island through the plain of the Campirkmo to CiiraWs, while another followed nearly the Ime of the coast by Neapolis to Sulci, and from thence round the southern extremity of the island by Tegula and Nora to Caralis. Besides these, two other cross lines of road through the interior are given: the one from Olbia to Caralis direct, through the mountain country of the interior, and the other crossing the same wild tract i'rom Olbia direct to Othoca. Very few of the stations on these lines of road can be identified, and the SARDINIA. names themselves are otherwise wholly unknown. The reader will find them fully discussed and ex- amined by I)e la lIarmora {Voi/. en Sai-daif/nc, vol. ii. pp. 418 — 457), who has thrown much liirbt on this obscure subject; but the results must ever remain in many cases uncertain. We learn from the geographers that even under the Roman Em])ire several of the wild tribes in the interior of the island retained their distinctive ap- pellations; but these are very variously given, and were probably subject to much fluctuation. Thus Strabo gives the names of four mountain tribes, whom he calls Parati, Sossinati, Balariand Aconites (Strab. V. p. 225), all of which, with the exception of the Balari, are otherwise entirely unknown. Pliny mentions only three, the Ilienses, Balari, and Corsi, which he calls " celeberrim.i in ea populorum " (Plin. iii. 12. s. 17), and which are in fact all three well known names. The existence of the Ilienses under the Empire is also distinctly attested by Pausanias (x. 17. § 7): yet neither their name nor that of the Balari is noticed by Ptolemy, though he gives those of no less than eighteen tribes as existing in his time. These are, beginning at the N. point of the island and proceeding from N. to S. : " the Tibulatii and Corsi, the Coracenses; then the Carenses and Cunusitanae; next to these the Salci- tani and Luquidonenses; then the Aesaronenses; after them the Cornenses (called also Aechilenses); then the Ruacenses; next to whom follow the Celsi- tani and Corpicenses ; after them the Scapitani and Siculenses ; next to these the Neapolitan! and Vu- lentini, and furthest to the S. the Sulcitani and Noritani." (Ptol. iii. 3. § 6). Of these the Corsi are otherwise well known [see above, pp. 908,909]; the four last names, as well as the Tibulates and Cornenses, are evidently derived from the names of towns, and are probably the inhabitants of districts municipally dependent upon them, rather than tribes in the proper sense of the term. The other names are wholly unknown. After the fall of the Western Empire we find for the first time the n.ame of Bar- baricini (BapSapiK^vot, Procop. B. V. ii. 13) applied to the mountaineers of the interior. This appellation, which appears to be merely a corruption of " Barbari vicini," was retained throughout the middle ages, and is still preserved in the name of Barbargia, given to the wild mountain tract which extends from the neighbourhood of Cagliari towards the sources of the Tirso. These mountaineers were not converted to Christianity till the close of the sixth century, and even at the present day retain many curious traces of paganism in their customs and superstitious usages. (De la Marmora, vol. i. p. 30.) IV. Natural Productions, etc. The chief produce of Sardinia in ancient times w.as, as already mentioned, its corn, which it pro- duced in large quantities for exportation even before the period of the Roman conquest. Its moimtain tracts were also well adapted for pasturage, and the native tribes subsisted mainly on the produce of their flocks and herds (Diod. v. 15), while they clothed themselves with the skins, whence they were some- times called " pelliti Sardi." The island also pos- sessed mines both of silver and iron, of which the first are said to have been considei-able. (Solin. 4. § 4.) They were undoubtedly worked by the Ro- mans, as we learn from existing traces, and from the name of Metalla given to a place in the SW. of the island, between Neapolis and Sulci. (Jtin.