Sardinia and Corsica

Coordinates: 39°15′N 09°03′E / 39.250°N 9.050°E / 39.250; 9.050
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
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Provincia Sardinia et Corsica
)
Provincia Sardinia et Corsica
Province of the Roman Empire
238 BC–AD 455

Province of Sardinia and Corsica within the Empire (125 AD)
CapitalCarales
Area
 • Coordinates39°15′N 09°03′E / 39.250°N 9.050°E / 39.250; 9.050
History 
• Roman annexation
238 BC
• Split into two provinces
AD 6
• Capture by Vandals
AD 455
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Carthaginian Empire
Vandal Kingdom
Today part ofFrance
Italy

The Province of Sardinia and Corsica (

Latin: Provincia Sardinia et Corsica) was an ancient Roman province including the islands of Sardinia and Corsica
.

Pre-Roman times

senatorial province of Sardinia and Corsica , two islands in the central Mediterranean Sea

The

Southern Corsica, where several torri were built. The ancient Sardinians had reached a high level of cultural complexity, building large federal sanctuaries, where the Nuragic communities gathered to participate in the same rituals during festivities. The Nuragic people were able to organize themselves and accomplish several complex projects, such as building refined temples, hydraulic implants like fountains and aqueducts, and creating life sized statues despite the lack of an elite and lacking virtually any degree of social stratification.[1]

The

colonies of Alalia in Corsica, and Olbia in Sardinia. The Carthaginians, then a Phoenician dependency, conquered Alalia in 535 BC with the Etruscans
' help. After Corsica, even part of Sardinia came under the control of the Carthaginians.

History

While Carthage was occupied with the Mercenary War, Rome broke the terms of a treaty made after the First Punic War and annexed Sardinia and Corsica by force.[3] In 238 BC the Carthaginians surrendered their claim to the islands, which together became a province of Rome.[4] This marked the beginning of Roman domination in the Western Mediterranean. The Romans ruled the area for 694 years.

The

Roman Army, commanded by Manlius Torquatus.[5]

The 2nd century BC was a period of turmoil in the province. In 181 BC the Corsi, a population living in Southern Corsica and North East Sardinia, rebelled against the Romans. The revolt was stopped by Marcus Pinarius Posca, who killed 2,000 rebels and enslaved a number of them. In 177/176 BC, to quell the rebellion of the Sardinian tribes known as the Balares and the Ilienses, the Senate sent the consul Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus to be in charge of two legions; each was composed of 5,200 common soldiers and 300 knights, with another 1,200 infantrymen and 600 knights among allies and Latins. It is estimated that around 27,000 Sardinians died in this revolt (12,000 in 177 and 15,000 in 176); following the defeat, the tax burden was doubled on the islanders, and Gracchus obtained a triumph. Livy reports the inscription on the temple of the goddess Mater Matuta, in Rome, in which the winners exhibited a commemorative plaque that said:

Under the command and the auspices of the consul Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, the legion and the army of the Roman people subjugated Sardinia. More than 80,000 enemies were killed or captured in the province. Conducting things in the happiest way for the Roman State, freeing the friends, restoring the income, he brought back the army safe and sound and rich in booty; for the second time he entered Rome triumphant. In memory of these events, he dedicated this panel to Jupiter.

In 174 BC, another revolt broke out in Sardinia, resulting in a Roman victory by

Juno Moneta to build a temple in case of success, Cicerius reported a victory, killing 7,000 Corsi and enslaving 1,700 of them. In 163 BC, Marcus Juventhius Thalna quashed another revolt without further details about the expedition. It is recorded that upon hearing of the mission accomplished in Sardinia, the Roman Senate announced public prayers and that Thalna himself, being aware of the Roman universal acclaim for the success, experienced such powerful emotions that he died. However, the rebellion must have resumed shortly afterward since Scipio Nasica
was later sent to pacify the island.

Two other revolts broke out in 126 and 122 BC and were put down by Lucius Aurelius who celebrated his victory over the Sardinians, and celebrated a triumph afterward. The last major uprising happened in 111 BC, and was repressed by the consul Marcus Caecilius Metellus, who was able to defeat the armies of the coastal and highland Sardinians. He was allowed the honor of celebrating a triumph, the last recorded Roman triumph against the Sardinians. From then on, the Sardinians living on the coastal areas and the lowlands definitely ceased to revolt, but the highland populations continued to rebel from time to time, coming to be known as civitates Barbariae.

In the late Republic,

Marc Antony
. However, Octavian was not satisfied with the area assigned to him and conflict erupted anew in 38 BC. Pompey again blockaded the Italian mainland, leading to famine. Later that year, Octavian gathered a fleet that was so powerful that defeated Sextus Pompey and became ruler of the area again.

In

procurator Augusti.[8][9][10]

The provinces of Corsica and Sardinia were incorporated into the Diocese of Italy by Diocletian in 292 AD, along with Sicily and Malta.

Roman opinion of the province

Mosaics from Nora

The coastal regions of both islands were settled by Romans and adopted the Latin language and culture; however, the interior areas of Sardinia and Corsica resisted the invaders.[2] A variety of revolts and uprisings occurred: however, since the interior areas were densely forested, the Romans avoided them and set them aside as Barbaria, i.e. the “land of the barbarians”.[7]

Overall, Corsica and Sardinia became trivial gains compared to the Roman Empire's eastern gains like Roman Egypt. The Romans regarded both the islands and their peoples as backward and unhealthy, in all likelihood due to the long-standing presence of malaria. A 2017 study has in fact demonstrated that malaria was already endemic at least to Sardinia over 2000 years ago, as proven by the presence of beta thalassemia in the DNA of a Sardinian individual buried in the Punic necropolis of Carales.[11]

From Corsica, the Romans did not receive much spoil nor were the prisoners willing to bow to foreign rule, and to learn anything Roman; Strabo, depicting the Corsicans as bestial people resorting to live by plunder, said that “whoever has bought one, aggravating their purchasers by their apathy and insensibility, regrets the waste of his money”.[7][12] The same went for Sardinian slaves, who acquired an infamous reputation for being untrustworthy and killing their masters if they had the chance.

Since Sardinian captives once flooded the Roman slave markets after a Roman victory over a serious rebellion from the mountain tribes,

Livius
reported.

[North] African) and Sardus (Sardinian) as interchangeable, to prove their supposed cunning and hideous nature inherited by the former Carthaginian masters.[16][19] Cicero stated that no Sardinian city had ever been friendly to the Romans.[16][19]

Getuli, stating that quaedam nationes harum pellibus sunt vestitae, ut in Gaetulia et in Sardinia ("Some barbarous nations use [goat] skins for clothing, like, for instance, in Getulia and Sardinia").[20][19]

Many of the negative stereotypes were fueled by the Sardinians' deep-seated hostility towards Rome and their frequent rebellions which would last for centuries: even during the 1st century BC, while the rest of the island was mostly brought to the Roman order, the Sardinian highlands were often in turmoil. Strabo mentioned that the populations residing in the mountains were still not completely pacified during his time and eventually resorted to live off plunder, pillaging other Sardinian communities and sailing with their ships to raid the Etrurian shores; in particular, they often committed acts of piracy against the city of Pisa.[21]

However, some Romans held a positive opinion of the Sardinians; Caesar, for instance, memorized his uncle's oration Pro Sardis, an oration in favor of the Sardinians, and he was a close friend of the Sardinian singer Tigellius. The city of Carales was in fact a supporter of Caesar and the populares as well, and aided him with some troops during the battle of Thapsus.[22]

Relationship to Rome

Mosaic from Carales depicting Orpheus

Corsica and Sardinia were kept in a scarcely urbanised state and came mostly to be used as places of exile.

Gaius Cassius Longinus, the lawyer accused of conspiracy by Nero, was sent to the province, while Anicentus, murderer of the elder Agrippina, was specifically sent to Sardinia. Many Jews and Christians were also sent to the islands under Tiberius.[7] Christians were often exiled to Sardinia, so that they would be forced to work in its rich mines or in the quarries (damnatio ad metalla).[23]

Entrenched indigenous resistance to cultural and political assimilation emerges in inscriptional evidence from former Carthaginian settlements. Punic-style magistrates, the

sufetes, wielded local control in Nora and Tharros through the end of the first century BCE, although two sufetes existed in Bithia as late as the mid-second century CE.[24]

While neglected, the islands nonetheless ended up playing a significant role in the Empire's happenings. While Sardinia provided Rome with much of the grain supply during the times of the Roman Republic, Corsica did as well with wax to the Empire. Moreover, among all the Western Roman provinces, Sardinia provided the biggest number of sailors to the Roman military fleets.[25] Sardinia was also one of the main metal suppliers of the Roman world; thanks to its rich silver, lead and copper mines, Sardinia ranked third among all the Roman provinces in quantity of metals produced next to Britain and Hispania.[citation needed] Mining production during the Roman rule was estimated[by whom?] at about six hundred thousand tons of lead and one thousand tons of silver.

Only a few Sardinians are known to have obtained the rank of senator or equites during the imperial era. The Sardinian Marcus Erennius Severus became legatus of

Judea and obtained the rank of praetor during the middle of the second century AD.[26] Quintus Aurelius Symmachus mentions some senators of Sardinian origins in his epistles such as Ampelius, who were accused of having sided with Magnus Maximus against Theodosius
.

Major cities

Antas Temple
Roman bridge of Turris Libisonis, Porto Torres, Sardinia

Carales was the biggest city in the entire province, reaching a population of 30,000 inhabitants. Its existence as an urban center went back to at least the 8th century BC, with Florus calling it urbs urbium, the city among the cities. Sardinia and Carales came under Roman rule in 238 BC, shortly after the First Punic War, when the Romans defeated the Carthaginians. No mention of it is found on the occasion of the Roman conquest of the island, but during the Second Punic War it served as headquarters to the praetor

Titus Manlius Torquatus
as he conducted his operations against Hampsicora and the Sardo-Carthaginian army. The most important monuments left of the Roman era are its amphitheater, capable of seating as many as 10,000 spectators, and the ruins of the Roman Villa known as Tigellius' villa.

Sulci was also one of the biggest cities in Sardinia. Its foundation dates back to the 9th century BC. Annexed by the Carthaginians during the 6th century BC, it became one of the largest cities under Carthaginian control, as testified by its massive necropolis which contained more than 1,500 hypogea; by the 5th century BC the city had already reached a population of about 10,000 inhabitants.[27] In 258 BC, a naval battle occurred between the Carthaginian and the Roman forces near the city: after his defeat the commander Hannibal Gisco took refuge in Sulci, but was captured and crucified by his own men. By the Second Punic War the city had come under Roman control. Sulci grew wealthy due to its proximity to the rich lead mines of the Sulcis region, so much so that Caesar was able to exact from it a fine of 10 million sestertii for its having sided with Pompey during the civil war.

Nora stone
, an ancient Phoenician text that was found in the city, testifies the site's significance as a port already in the 9th century BC. Many beautiful Roman mosaics can still be spotted to this day, and its theater is one of the best preserved Roman monuments on the island.

The city of

Sinis peninsula
, was one of the main producers of jewels in the Punic world, as testified by the rich funerary kits found in the Punic necropolis. It was one of the cities that rebelled against Roman rule during the Second Punic War and supported Hampsicora's revolt.

Located on the northeastern side of Sardinia,

Neapolis, Bithia and finally Cornus, the native city of Hampsicora. Bosa
was also likely settled since ancient times as an inscription dating to the 8th century BC testifies.

In addition to the aforementioned cities, the Romans founded a few colonies, the two major ones being

Forum Traiani. Turris Libisonis, situated in the northwest of the island, prospered thanks to the rich plains of the Nurra and its ideal position as a port; its majestic baths and mosaics are well preserved even today. Forum Traiani was situated in the fertile plains of the Campidano
area and became famous for its baths, which were believed to have therapeutic properties.

The most important city in Corsica was

Etruscans after the battle of Alalia. Aiacium also began as a Phocaean port. Gaius Marius founded Mariana
in the north of Corsica in 93 BC.

References

  1. ^ Social Organization in Nuragic Sardinia: Cultural Progress Without ‘Elites’?, Cambridge Archaeological Journal
  2. ^ a b c Attilio Mastino. "La Sardegna romana.In: 4. Summer school di archeologia fenicio-punica: atti" (PDF).
  3. ^ Caven, Brian (1980). The Punic Wars. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
  4. ^ Bagnall, Nigel (1990). The Punic Wars: Rome, Carthage, and the Struggle for the Mediterranean. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
  5. ^ Mastino, Attilio (2005). Storia della Sardegna antica, Edizioni Il Maestrale, pp.69–90
  6. ^ a b Brigaglia, Manlio. Mastino, Attilio. Ortu, Gian Giacomo (2006). Storia della Sardegna, dalle origini al Settecento, Editore La Terza, pp.36
  7. ^ a b c d Chapot, Victor (2004). The Roman World. London: Kegan Paul. pp. 140–150.
  8. ^ AE 1971, 123; AE 1973, 276 dell'epoca di Massimino Trace.
  9. ^ AE 1992, 891 di epoca Traianea o Adrianea; AE 1991, 908 forse di epoca Antonina; AE 2001, 1112 sotto gli Imperatori Caracalla e Geta; AE 2002, 637 al tempo di Filippo l'Arabo.
  10. ^ AE 1971, 122.
  11. PMID 28681914
    .
  12. ^ Strabo, Geography V, 2, 7 H.C. Hamilton, Esq., W. Falconer, M.A., Ed.
  13. ^ Mastino, Attilio (2004). La Sardegna romana in Storia della Sardegna, ed. M. Brigaglia, Cagliari, p.83
  14. ^ Mastino, Attilio. 2005: Storia della Sardegna Antica, Sassari, Edizioni Il Maestrale, p.95
  15. ^ a b c d "Cicero: Pro Scauro".
  16. ^ a b c Mastino, Attilio (2005). Storia della Sardegna antica, Sassari, Edizioni il Maestrale, pg. 82
  17. ^ Epistolae ad familiares, VII, 24, 2
  18. ^ Brigaglia, Manlio. Mastino, Attilio. Ortu, Gian Giacomo (2006). Storia della Sardegna, dalle origini al Settecento, Editore La Terza, pp.31, 42
  19. ^ a b c Attilio Mastino. "Natione Sardus: una mens, unus color, una vox, una natio" (PDF). Rivista Internazionale di Scienze Giuridiche e Tradizioni Romane.
  20. ^ "Varro: Rerum Rusticarum de Agri Cultura".
  21. ^ "LacusCurtius • Strabo's Geography".
  22. ^ Mastino, Attilio (2005). Storia della Sardegna antica, Edizioni Il Maestrale, pp.103
  23. ^ Dore, Stefania (2010-12-16). "La damnatio ad metalla degli antichi cristiani: Miniere o cave di pietra?". Archeoarte. 1: 77–84.
  24. ^ Roppa, Andrea (2018). Kouremenos, Anna (ed.). Insularity and identity in the Roman Mediterranean. Oxbow Books. pp. 144–164.
  25. ^ Brigaglia, Manlio. Mastino, Attilio. Ortu, Gian Giacomo (2006). Storia della Sardegna, dalle origini al Settecento, Editore La Terza, pp.51
  26. ^ http://www.veniteadme.org/wp-content/uploads/Storia-della-Sardegna-antica.pdf[bare URL PDF]
  27. ^ Necropoli punica – Sant'Antioco, Parco geominerario storico ambientale della Sardegna

External links