116-876: The Coracenses were an ancient people of Sardinia , noted by Ptolemy (III, 3). They dwelt south of the Tibulati and the Corsi (for whom Corsica is named) and north of the Carenses and the Cunusitani . This Italian history article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about an ethnic group in Europe is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Sardinia Sardinia ( / s ɑːr ˈ d ɪ n i ə / sar- DIN -ee-ə ; Italian : Sardegna [sarˈdeɲɲa] ; Sardinian : Sardigna [saɾˈdiɲːa] )
232-604: A dux . During this time, Christianity took deeper root on the island, supplanting the Paganism which had survived into the early Middle Ages in the culturally conservative hinterlands. Along with lay Christianity, the followers of monastic figures such as Basil of Caesarea became established in Sardinia. While Christianity penetrated the majority of the population, the region of Barbagia remained largely pagan and, probably, partially non-Latin speaking. They re-established
348-609: A satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire , known as Sparda in Old Persian . In 133 BC, it became part of the Roman province of Asia . Lydian coins, made of electrum , are among the oldest in existence, dated to around the 7th century BC. Lydia is generally located east of ancient Ionia in the modern western Turkish provinces of Uşak , Manisa and inland Izmir . The boundaries of historical Lydia varied across
464-754: A beautiful city. Around 550 BC, near the beginning of his reign, Croesus paid for the construction of the temple of Artemis at Ephesus , which became one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world . Croesus was defeated in battle by Cyrus II of Persia in 546 BC, with the Lydian kingdom losing its autonomy and becoming a Persian satrapy . For the Greeks, Tantalus was a primordial ruler of mythic Lydia, and Niobe his proud daughter; her husband Amphion associated Lydia with Thebes in Greece, and through Pelops
580-558: A combination of 43 different isobioclimates. During the year there is a major concentration of rainfall in the winter and autumn, some heavy showers in the spring and snowfalls in the highlands. The average temperature is between 11 and 18 °C (52 and 64 °F), with mild winters and warm summers on the coasts (9 to 16 °C (48 to 61 °F) in January, 23 to 31 °C (73 to 88 °F) in July), and cold winters and cool summers on
696-799: A hypothetical regnum Sardiniae et Corsicae (" Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica ") in order to settle the War of the Sicilian Vespers diplomatically. This had broken out in 1282 between the Capetian House of Anjou and Aragon over the possession of Sicily. Despite the existence of the indigenous states, the Pope offered this newly created crown to James II of Aragon , promising him support should he wish to conquer Pisan Sardinia in exchange for Sicily. Lydia Lydia ( Ancient Greek : Λυδία , romanized : Ludía ; Latin : Lȳdia )
812-580: A kind of round tower-fortress called nuraghe (usually pluralized as nuraghes in English and as nuraghi in Italian). These towers were often reinforced and enlarged with battlements. Tribal boundaries were guarded by smaller lookout Nuraghes erected on strategic hills commanding a view of other territories. Today, some 7,000 Nuraghes dot the Sardinian landscape. While initially these Nuraghes had
928-457: A lion's head adorned with what is likely a sunburst, which was the king's symbol. The most prolific mint for early electrum coins was Sardis which produced large quantities of the lion head thirds, sixths and twelfths along with lion paw fractions. To complement the largest denomination, fractions were made, including a hekte (sixth), hemihekte (twelfth), and so forth down to a 96th, with the 1/96 stater weighing only about 0.15 grams. There
1044-518: A local noble family, the Lacon-Gunale , acceded to the power of Archon , still identifying themselves as vassals of the Byzantines, but de facto independent as communications with Constantinople were very difficult. Only two names of those rulers are known: Salusios ( Σαλούσιος ) and the protospatharios Turcoturios ( Tουρκοτούριος ) from two inscriptions), who probably reigned between
1160-540: A micro-continent. In the modern era, many travelers and writers have extolled the beauty of its long-untouched landscapes, which retain vestiges of the Nuragic civilization . The name Sardinia has pre-Latin roots. It comes from the pre-Roman ethnonym * s(a)rd- , later romanised as sardus (feminine sarda ). It makes its first appearance on the Nora Stone , where the word ŠRDN , or * Šardana , testifies to
1276-713: A powerful empire. Soon after Alyattes's ascension and early during his reign, with Assyrian approval and in alliance with the Lydians, the Scythians under their king Madyes entered Anatolia, expelled the Treres from Asia Minor, and defeated the Cimmerians so that they no longer constituted a threat again, following which the Scythians extended their domination to Central Anatolia until they were themselves expelled by
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#17327868903101392-588: A relatively simple structure, with time they became extremely complex and monumental (see for example the Nuraghe Santu Antine , Su Nuraxi , or Nuraghe Arrubiu ). The scale, complexity and territorial spread of these buildings attest to the level of wealth accumulated by the Nuragic Sardinians, their advances in technology and the complexity of their society, which was able to coordinate large numbers of people with different roles for
1508-929: A second time and came under Carthaginian rule. In 238 BC, taking advantage of Carthage having to face a rebellion of her mercenaries (the Mercenary War ) after the First Punic War (264–241 BC), the Romans annexed Corsica and Sardinia from the Carthaginians. The two islands became the province of Corsica and Sardinia . They were not given a provincial governor until 227 BC. The Romans faced many rebellions, and it took them many years to pacify both islands. The existing coastal cities were enlarged and embellished, and Roman colonies such as Turris Lybissonis and Feronia were founded. These were populated by Roman immigrants. The Roman military occupation brought
1624-568: A short-lived independent domain with Sardinian-heathen lay and religious traditions, one of its kings being Hospito . Pope Gregory I wrote a letter to Hospito defining him "Dux Barbaricinorum" and, being Christian, the leader and best of his people. In this unique letter about Hospito, the Pope prompts him to convert his people who "living all like irrational animals, ignore the true God and worship wood and stone" ( Barbaricini omnes, ut insensata animalia vivant, Deum verum nesciant, ligna autem et lapides adorent ). The dates and circumstances of
1740-407: A son called Lamos, while pseudo-Apollodorus ( Bibliotheke 2.7.8) gives the name Agelaus and Pausanias (2.21.3) names Tyrsenus as the son of Heracles by "the Lydian woman". All three heroic ancestors indicate a Lydian dynasty claiming Heracles as their ancestor. Herodotus (1.7) refers to a Heraclid dynasty of kings who ruled Lydia, yet were perhaps not descended from Omphale. He also mentions (1.94)
1856-491: A third attack by the Cimmerians, led by their king Lygdamis . This time, the Lydians were defeated, Sardis was sacked, and Gyges was killed. Gyges was succeeded by his son Ardys , who resumed diplomatic activity with Assyria and would also have to face the Cimmerians. Ardys attacked the Ionian Greek city of Miletus and succeeded in capturing the city of Priene , after which Priene would remain under direct rule of
1972-466: A very rich Roman province , worthy of a governor with the high rank of proconsul . The whole west of Asia Minor had Jewish colonies very early, and Christianity was also soon present there. Acts of the Apostles 16:14–15 mentions the baptism of a merchant woman called "Lydia" from Thyatira , known as Lydia of Thyatira , in what had once been the satrapy of Lydia. Christianity spread rapidly during
2088-667: Is Lago di Baratz . A number of large, shallow, salt-water lagoons and pools are located along the coast. The climate of the island is variable from area to area, due to several factors including the extension in latitude and the elevation . It can be classified in two different macrobioclimates (Mediterranean pluviseasonal oceanic and Temperate oceanic), one macrobioclimatic variant (Submediterranean), and four classes of continentality (from weak semihyperoceanic to weak semicontinental), eight thermotypic horizons (from lower thermomediterranean to upper supratemperate), and seven ombrotypic horizons (from lower dry to lower hyperhumid), resulting in
2204-542: Is 1,849 km (1,149 mi) long. It is generally high and rocky, with long, relatively straight stretches, outstanding headlands, wide, deep bays, rias , and inlets with various smaller islands. The island has an ancient geoformation and, unlike Sicily and mainland Italy, is not earthquake-prone. Its rocks date in fact from the Palaeozoic Era . The Cambrian - Lower Ordovician succession of Sardinia reaches 1500–3000 m in thickness. Due to long erosion processes,
2320-533: Is bilingual in Italian and Sardinian : Regione Autonoma della Sardegna / Regione Autònoma de Sardigna . It is divided into four provinces and a metropolitan city . The capital of the region of Sardinia — and its largest city — is Cagliari . Sardinia's indigenous language and Algherese Catalan are referred to by both the regional and national law as two of Italy's twelve officially recognized linguistic minorities , albeit gravely endangered , while
2436-580: Is demonstrable from contemporary records. According to semi-mythical accounts of his reign, he was the son of a man named Dascylus and came to power by overthrowing King Candaules with the assistance of a Carian prince from Mylasa named Arselis. Gyges's rise to power happened in the context of a period of turmoil following the invasion of the Cimmerians , a nomadic people from the Pontic steppe who had invaded Western Asia , who around 675 BC destroyed
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#17327868903102552-521: Is disagreement, however, over whether the fractions below the twelfth are actually Lydian. Alyattes' son was Croesus (Reigned c.560–c.546 BC), who became associated with great wealth. Croesus is credited with issuing the Croeseid , the first true gold coins with a standardised purity for general circulation, and the world's first bimetallic monetary system circa 550 BC. It took some time before ancient coins were used for commerce and trade. Even
2668-732: Is not impossible that the Lydians might have subjected Lycia, given that the Lycian coast would have been important for the Lydians because it was close to a trade route connecting the Aegean region, the Levant , and Cyprus . Alyattes's eastern conquests brought the Lydian Empire in conflict in the 590s BC with the Medes , and a war broke out between the Median and Lydian Empires in 590 BC which
2784-650: Is not uniform; in particular the East is drier, but paradoxically it suffers the worst rainstorms: in autumn 2009, it rained more than 200 mm (7.9 in) in a single day in Siniscola, and 19 November 2013, locations in Sardinia were reported to have received more than 431 mm (17.0 in) within two hours. The western coast has a higher distribution of rainfalls even for modest elevations (for instance Iglesias, elevation 200 m (656 ft), average annual precipitation 815 mm (32.1 in)). The driest part of
2900-415: Is probable that Ardys was killed during this Cimmerian attack. Ardys was succeeded by his son, Sadyattes, who had an even more short-lived reign. Sadyattes died in 635 BC, and it is possible that, like his grandfather Gyges and maybe his father Ardys as well, he died fighting the Cimmerians . Amidst extreme turmoil, Sadyattes was succeeded in 635 BC by his son Alyattes , who would transform Lydia into
3016-605: Is situated between 38° 51' and 41° 18' latitude north (respectively Isola del Toro and Isola La Presa) and 8° 8' and 9° 50' east longitude (respectively Capo dell' Argentiera and Capo Comino). To the west of Sardinia is the Sea of Sardinia , a unit of the Mediterranean Sea; to Sardinia's east is the Tyrrhenian Sea , which is also an element of the Mediterranean Sea. The nearest land masses are (clockwise from north)
3132-602: Is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea , after Sicily , and one of the twenty regions of Italy . It is located west of the Italian Peninsula , north of Tunisia and 16.45 km south of the French island of Corsica . It is one of the five Italian regions with some degree of domestic autonomy being granted by a special statute . Its official name, Autonomous Region of Sardinia ,
3248-525: The praeses and apparently continued to manage military, judicial, and civil governmental functions via imperial procedures. The only Vandal governor of Sardinia about whom there is substantial record is the last, Godas , a Visigoth noble. In AD 530, a coup d'état in Carthage removed King Hilderic , a convert to Nicene Christianity , in favor of his cousin Gelimer , an Arian Christian like most of
3364-569: The Crown of the Realm . Each Judicate saw to its own defense, maintained its own laws and administration, and looked after its own foreign and trading affairs. The history of the four Judicates would be defined by the contest for influence between the two Italian maritime powers of Genoa and Pisa , and later the ambitions of the Kingdom of Aragon . The Judicate of Cagliari or Pluminos , during
3480-669: The Early Middle Ages , the island was ruled by the Vandals and the Byzantines . In practice, the island was disconnected from Byzantium's territorial influence, which allowed the Sardinians to provide themselves with a self-ruling political organization, the four kingdoms known as Judicates . The Italian maritime republics of Pisa and Genoa struggled to impose political control over these indigenous kingdoms, but it
3596-551: The Etruscans of northern and central Italy and the Lydians has long been a subject of conjecture. The Greek historian Herodotus believed they came from Lydia, but Dionysius of Halicarnassus , a 1st-century BC historian, argued that the Etruscans were indigenous to Italy and unrelated to the Lydians. Dionysius pointed out that the 5th-century historian Xanthus of Lydia , who was regarded as an important source and authority for
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3712-446: The Medes from Western Asia in the 590s BC. This final defeat of the Cimmerians was carried out by the joint forces of Madyes, whom Strabo credits with expelling the Treres and Cimmerians from Asia Minor, and of Alyattes, whom Herodotus and Polyaenus claim finally defeated the Cimmerians. Alyattes turned towards Phrygia in the east, where extended Lydian rule eastwards to Phrygia. Alyattes continued his expansionist policy in
3828-609: The Saite Egyptian kingdom, then ruled by the pharaoh Amasis II . Croesus also established trade and diplomatic relations with the Neo-Babylonian Empire of Nabonidus , and he further increased his contacts with the Greeks on the European continent by establishing relations with the city-state of Sparta . In 550 BC, Croesus's brother-in-law, the Median king Astyages, was overthrown by his own grandson,
3944-756: The Seleucids , and when it was unable to maintain its territory in Asia Minor, Lydia was acquired by the Attalid dynasty of Pergamum . Its last king avoided the spoils and ravage of a Roman war of conquest by leaving the realm by testament to the Roman Empire . When the Romans entered the capital Sardis in 133 BC, Lydia, as the other western parts of the Attalid legacy, became part of the province of Asia ,
4060-684: The Talaiotic culture of the Balearic Islands and the Torrean civilization of Southern Corsica . Evidence of trade with the other civilizations of the time is attested by several artefacts (e.g. pots), coming from as far as Cyprus , Crete , Mainland Greece , Spain and Italy, that have been found in Nuragic sites, bearing witness to the scope of commercial relations between the Nuragic people and other peoples in Europe and beyond. Around
4176-499: The metallurgy of copper and silver began to develop. During the late Chalcolithic the so-called Beaker culture , coming from various parts of Continental Europe , appeared in Sardinia. These new people predominantly settled on the west coast, where the majority of the sites attributed to them had been found. The Beaker culture was followed in the early Bronze Age by the Bonnanaro culture which showed both reminiscences of
4292-516: The serpent of the river Sangarios (which appears in the heavens as the constellation Ophiucus ) and captured the simian tricksters, the Cercopes . Accounts tell of at least one son of Heracles who was born to either Omphale or a slave-girl: Herodotus ( Histories i. 7) says this was Alcaeus who began the line of Lydian Heracleidae which ended with the death of Candaules c. 687 BC. Diodorus Siculus (4.31.8) and Ovid ( Heroides 9.54) mentions
4408-481: The 10th and the 11th century. These rulers were still closely linked to the Byzantines, both for a pact of ancient vassalage, and from the ideological point of view, with the use of the Byzantine Greek language (in a Romance country), and the use of art of Byzantine inspiration. In the early 11th century, an attempt to conquer the island was made by Mujahid al-Amiri al-Ṣaqlabī was the ruler of Dénia and
4524-464: The 10th century, the so-called "Judges" ( Sardinian : judikes / Latin : iudices , a Byzantine administrative title) had emerged as the autonomous rulers of Sardinia. The title of iudice changed with the language and local understanding of the position, becoming the Sardinian judike , essentially a king or sovereign, while Judicate ( Sardinian : logu ) came to mean 'state'. Early medieval Sardinian political institutions evolved from
4640-514: The 18th century BC to either 238 BC or the 2nd century AD in some parts of the island, and to the 6th century AD in that part of the island known as Barbagia . After a period in which the island was ruled by a political and economic alliance between the Nuragic Sardinians and the Phoenicians , parts of it were conquered by Carthage in the late 6th century BC, and by Rome in 238 BC. The Roman occupation lasted for 700 years. Beginning in
4756-560: The 1st century BC. The Lydian language is usually not categorized as part of the Luwic subgroup, unlike the other nearby Anatolian languages Luwian , Carian , and Lycian . Lydia's early history remains shrouded in obscurity. During the Late Bronze Age (1600 BC-1200 BC), the territory that later became Lydia overlapped with two kingdoms called Mira and Šeḫa , themselves part of a broader political entity called Arzawa . Like
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4872-409: The 3rd century AD, based on the nearby Exarchate of Ephesus. Under the tetrarchy reform of Emperor Diocletian in 296 AD, Lydia was revived as the name of a separate Roman province, much smaller than the former satrapy, with its capital at Sardis. Together with the provinces of Caria , Hellespontus , Lycia , Pamphylia , Phrygia prima and Phrygia secunda , Pisidia (all in modern Turkey) and
4988-525: The 9th century BC the Phoenicians began visiting Sardinia with increasing frequency, presumably initially needing safe overnight and all-weather anchorages along their trade routes from the coast of modern-day Lebanon as far afield as the African and European Atlantic coasts and beyond. The most common ports of call were Caralis , Nora , Bithia , Sulci , and Tharros . Claudian , a 4th-century Latin poet, in his poem De bello Gildonico , stated that Caralis
5104-710: The Aegean Sea. Since the Etruscan language was a Pre-Indo-European language and neither Indo-European or Semitic, Etruscan was not related to Lydian , which was a part of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European languages. Instead, Etruscan language is considered part of the pre-Indo-European Tyrrhenian language family , along with the Lemnian and Rhaetian language . A 2013 genetic study suggested that
5220-623: The Balearic Islands based in the Iberian Peninsula . The only records of that war are from Pisan and Genoese chronicles. The Christians won but, after that, the previous Sardinian kingdom was undermined and subsequently divided into four smaller states: Cagliari ( Calari ), Arborea ( Arbaree ), Gallura, and Torres or Logudoro. Whether this final transformation from imperial civil servant to independent sovereign bodies resulted from imperial abandonment or local assertion, by
5336-538: The Beaker and influences by the Polada culture . As time passed the different Sardinian populations appear to have become united in customs, yet remained politically divided into various small, tribal groupings, at times banding together against invading forces from the sea, and at others waging war against each other. Habitations consisted of round thatched stone huts. From about 1500 BC onwards, villages were built around
5452-512: The Carian dynasts allowed him to recruit Carian and Ionian Greek soldiers to send overseas to assist the Egyptian king Psamtik I of the city of Sais , with whom he had established contacts around 662 BC. With the help of these armed forces, Psamtik I united Egypt under his rule after eliminating the eleven other kinglets with whom he had been co-ruling Lower Egypt . In 644 BC, Lydia faced
5568-523: The Etruscans themselves, were at war with the Greeks. The French scholar Dominique Briquel contends that "the story of an exodus from Lydia to Italy was a deliberate political fabrication created in the Hellenized milieu of the court at Sardis in the early 6th century BC." Ultimately, these Greek-authored accounts of the Etruscan origins are only the expression of the image that Etruscans' allies or adversaries wanted to divulge and should not be considered historical. Archaeological evidence does not support
5684-440: The Insulae ( Ionian islands , mostly in modern Greece), it formed the diocese (under a vicarius ) of Asiana , which was part of the praetorian prefecture of Oriens, together with the dioceses Pontiana (most of the rest of Asia Minor), Oriens proper (mainly Syria), Aegyptus (Egypt) and Thraciae (on the Balkans, roughly Bulgaria). Under the Eastern Roman emperor Heraclius (610–641), Lydia became part of Anatolikon , one of
5800-408: The Iron Age had similar genetic profiles and were part of the European cluster. The Etruscan DNA was completely absent a signal of recent admixture with Anatolia and the Eastern Mediterranean. Etruscans exhibited a blend of WHG, EEF, and Steppe ancestry, with 75% of males belonging to haplogroup R1b and the most common mitochondrial DNA haplogroup being H . The Lydians in early Antiquity adhered to
5916-445: The Lydian kingdom until its end. Ardys's reign was short-lived, and in 637 BC, that is in Ardys's seventh regnal year, the Thracian Treres tribe who had migrated across the Thracian Bosporus and invaded Anatolia , under their king Kobos, and in alliance with the Cimmerians and the Lycians , attacked Lydia. They defeated the Lydians again and for a second time sacked the Lydian capital of Sardis , except for its citadel. It
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#17327868903106032-411: The Lydians were the first to use coins of pure gold and pure silver or the first precious metal coins in general. Despite this ambiguity, this statement of Herodotus is one of the pieces of evidence most often cited on behalf of the argument that Lydians invented coinage, at least in the West, although the first coins (under Alyattes I , reigned c.591–c.560 BC) were neither gold nor silver but an alloy of
6148-424: The Median king Cyaxares's son Astyages with Alyattes's daughter Aryenis , and the possible wedding of a daughter of Cyaxares with either Alyattes or with his son Croesus. Alyattes died shortly after the Battle of the Eclipse, in 585 BC itself, following which Lydia faced a power struggle between his son Pantaleon, born from a Greek woman, and his other son Croesus , born from a Carian noblewoman, out of which
6264-402: The Mesolithic hunter-gatherer populations, with a material culture including the widespread Cardium pottery style. In the mid-Neolithic period, the Ozieri culture , probably of Aegean origin , flourished on the island spreading the hypogeum tombs known as domus de Janas , while the Arzachena culture of Gallura built the first megaliths : circular tombs. In the early 3rd millennium BC,
6380-403: The Nuragic civilization to an end, except for the mountainous interior of the island, which the Romans called Barbaria , meaning ' Barbarian land'. Roman rule in Sardinia lasted 694 years, during which time the province was an important source of grain for the capital. Latin came to be the dominant spoken language during this period, though Roman culture was slower to take hold, and Roman rule
6496-402: The Persian and Lydian kings met at the Battle of Thymbra . Cyrus won and captured the capital city of Sardis by 546 BC. Lydia became a province ( satrapy ) of the Persian Empire. Lydia remained a satrapy after Persia's conquest by the Macedonian king Alexander III (the Great) of Macedon . When Alexander's empire ended after his death, Lydia was possessed by the major Asian diadoch dynasty,
6612-432: The Persian king Cyrus the Great , and Croesus responded by attacking Pteria , the capital of a Phrygian state vassal to the Lydians which might have attempted to declare its allegiance to the new Persian Empire of Cyrus. Cyrus retaliated by intervening in Cappadocia and defeated the Lydians at Pteria in a battle , and again at Thymbra before besieging and capturing the Lydian capital of Sardis , thus bringing an end to
6728-457: The Vandal Kingdom was overwhelmed when Justinian's own army under Belisarius arrived at Carthage in their absence. The Vandal Kingdom ended and Sardinia was returned to Roman rule. In 533, Sardinia returned to the rule of the Byzantine Empire when the Vandals were defeated by the armies of Justinian I under the General Belisarius in the Battle of Tricamarum , in their African kingdom Belisarius sent his general Cyril to Sardinia to retake
6844-441: The adjective " sardonic ". In classical antiquity , Sardinia was called a number of names besides Sardṓ ( Σαρδώ ) or Sardinia , like Ichnusa (the Latinised form of the Greek Ἰχνοῦσσα ), Sandaliotis ( Σανδαλιῶτις ) and Argyrophleps ( Αργυρόφλεψ ). Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily and before Cyprus ), with an area of 24,100 km (9,305 sq mi). It
6960-403: The ancient Nuragic Sards with the Sherden , one of the Sea Peoples . It is suggested that the name had a religious connotation from its use also as the adjective for the ancient Sardinian mythological hero-god Sardus Pater ("Sardinian Father"; a common explanation that the term means "Father of the Sardinians" is incorrect, as that would be "Sardorum Pater"), as well as being the stem of
7076-496: The archaeological excavations at Sardis. Although certain literary accounts purport the existence of two early Lydian dynasties, namely the house of Atys - after whose son Lydus the Lydians were supposedly named - and the Heraclids, who allegedly ruled for twenty-two generations before 685 BC, these sources are steeped in mythology and lack historical credibility. Lydia was an independent kingdom from an unknown time until 546 BC. According to Herodotus, one of Lydus's descendants
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#17327868903107192-490: The beginning of the conquest of Sicily in 827. Historian Corrado Zedda argues that the island hosted a Muslim presence during the Aghlabid period, possibly a limited foothold along the coasts that forcibly coexisted with the local Byzantine government. Historian Alex Metcalfe argues that the available evidence for any Muslim occupation or colonisation of the island during this period is limited and inconclusive, and that Muslim attacks were limited to raids. Communication with
7308-527: The central government became daunting if not impossible during and after the Muslim conquest of Sicily between 827 and 902. A letter by Pope Nicholas I as early as 864 mentions the "Sardinian judges", without reference to the empire and a letter by Pope John VIII (reigned 872–882) refers to them as principes ("princes"). By the time of De Administrando Imperio , completed in 952, the Byzantine authorities no longer listed Sardinia as an imperial province, suggesting they considered it lost. In all likelihood
7424-435: The centuries. It was bounded first by Mysia , Caria , Phrygia and coastal Ionia . Later, the military power of Alyattes and Croesus expanded Lydia, which, with its capital at Sardis , controlled all Asia Minor west of the River Halys, except Lycia . After the Persian conquest the River Maeander was regarded as its southern boundary, and during imperial Roman times Lydia comprised the country between Mysia and Caria on
7540-407: The complexity of its surviving buildings, but also in its artworks (e.g. the votive bronze statuettes found across Sardinia or the statues of Mont'e Prama). According to some scholars, the Nuragic people(s) are identifiable with the Sherden , a tribe of the Sea Peoples . The Nuragic civilization was linked with other contemporaneous megalithic civilization of the western Mediterranean, such as
7656-414: The control over the fortress of Castel di Cagliari founded by Pisan merchants in 1216–1217 east of Santa Igia; in the south-west the count Ugolino della Gherardesca promoted the birth of the town of Villa di Chiesa (today Iglesias ) to exploit the nearby rich silver deposits. The Judicate of Logudoro (also called Torres ) was also allied to the Republic of Genoa and came to an end in 1259 after
7772-464: The death of the judikessa (queen) Adelasia . The territory was divided up between the Doria and Malaspina families of Genoa and the Bas-Serra family of Arborea , while the city of Sassari became a small republic , along the lines of the Italian city-states ( comuni ), confederated firstly with Pisa and then with Genoa. The Judicate of Gallura ended in the year 1288, when the last giudice, Nino Visconti (a friend of Dante Alighieri ),
7888-399: The earliest evidence of human presence on Sardinia, around 20,000 years ago, during the Last Glacial Maximum . However, other authors contend that there is no solid evidence for the occupation of the island until the early Mesolithic , around 10,000 years ago. The Neolithic began on Sardinia during the 6th millennium BC resulting from the migration of Early European Farmers , replacing
8004-413: The east, and of all the peoples to the west of the Halys River whom Herodotus claimed Alyattes's successor Croesus ruled over - the Lydians , Phrygians , Mysians , Mariandyni , Chalybes , Paphlagonians , Thyni and Bithyni Thracians , Carians , Ionians , Dorians , Aeolians , and Pamphylians - it is very likely that a number of these populations had already been conquered under Alyattes, and it
8120-410: The elite in his kingdom. Godas was sent to take charge and ensure the loyalty of Sardinia. He did the exact opposite, declaring the island's independence from Carthage and opening negotiations with Emperor Justinian I , who had declared war on Hilderic's behalf. In AD 533, Gelimer sent the bulk of his army and navy (120 vessels and 5,000 men) to Sardinia to subdue Godas, with the catastrophic result that
8236-414: The end of Byzantine rule in Sardinia are not known. Direct central control was maintained at least through c. 650, after which local legates were empowered in the face of the rebellion of Gregory the Patrician , Exarch of Africa and the first invasion of the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb . There is some evidence that senior Byzantine administration in the Exarchate of Africa retreated to Caralis following
8352-572: The end of the Lydian kingdom; theoretically, it may even have taken place after the fall of Babylon in 539 BC. In 547 BC, the Lydian king Croesus besieged and captured the Persian city of Pteria in Cappadocia and enslaved its inhabitants. The Persian king Cyrus The Great marched with his army against the Lydians. The Battle of Pteria resulted in a stalemate, forcing the Lydians to retreat to their capital city of Sardis. Some months later
8468-650: The final fall of Carthage to the Arabs in 697. The loss of imperial control in Africa led to escalating raids by Arabs on the island, the first of which is documented in 703, forcing increased military self-reliance in the province. Elsewhere in the central Mediterranean, the Aghlabids conquered the island of Malta in 870. They also attacked or raided Sardinia and Corsica . Some modern references state that Sardinia came under Aghlabid control around 810 or after
8584-432: The history of Lydia, never linked the Etruscans to Lydia or mentioned Tyrrhenus as a Lydian ruler. In contemporary scholarship, Etruscologists overwhelmingly support an indigenous origin for the Etruscans, dismissing Herodotus' account as based on erroneous etymologies. Michael Grant argue that the Etruscans may have propagated this narrative to facilitate their trading in Asia Minor, when many cities in Asia Minor, and
8700-417: The history of the Lydians. Later chronologists ignored Herodotus' statement that Agron was the first Heraclid to be a king, and included his immediate forefathers Alcaeus, Belus, and Ninus in their list of kings of Lydia. Strabo (5.2.2) has Atys, father of Lydus and Tyrrhenus, as a descendant of Heracles and Omphale but that contradicts virtually all other accounts which name Atys, Lydus, and Tyrrhenus among
8816-521: The idea of Lydian migration to Etruria. The Etruscan civilization's earliest phase, the Villanovan culture , emerged around 900 BC, which itself developed from the previous Proto-Villanovan culture of Italy in the late Bronze Age . This culture has no ties to Asia Minor or the Near East. Linguists have identified an Etruscan-like language in a set of inscriptions on Lemnos island, in
8932-472: The island is the coast of Cagliari gulf, with less than 450 mm (17.7 in) per year, the minimum is at Capo Carbonara at the extreme south-east of the island 381 mm (15.0 in), and the wettest is the top of the Gennargentu mountain with almost 1,500 mm (59.1 in) per year. The average for the entire island is about 800 mm (31.5 in) per year, which is more than enough for
9048-486: The island of Corsica , the Italian Peninsula , Sicily , Tunisia , the Balearic Islands , and Provence . The Tyrrhenian Sea portion of the Mediterranean Sea is directly to the east of Sardinia between the Sardinian east coast and the west coast of the Italian mainland peninsula. The Strait of Bonifacio is directly north of Sardinia and separates Sardinia from the French island of Corsica . The coast of Sardinia
9164-469: The island's highlands, formed of granite, schist , trachyte , basalt (called jaras or gollei ), sandstone and dolomite limestone (called tonneri or 'heels'), average at between 300 and 1,000 m (984 and 3,281 ft). The highest peak is Punta La Marmora ( Perdas Carpìas in Sardinian language) (1,834 m (6,017 ft)), part of the Gennargentu Ranges in the centre of
9280-800: The island. Other mountain chains are Monte Limbara (1,362 m (4,469 ft)) in the northeast, the Chain of Marghine and Goceano (1,259 m (4,131 ft)) running crosswise for 40 km (25 mi) towards the north, the Monte Albo (1,057 m (3,468 ft)), the Sette Fratelli Range in the southeast, and the Sulcis Mountains and the Monte Linas (1,236 m (4,055 ft)). The island's ranges and plateaux are separated by wide alluvial valleys and flatlands,
9396-643: The island. Sardinia remained in Byzantine hands for the next 300 years aside from a short period in which it was invaded by the Ostrogoths in 551. Under Byzantine rule, the island was divided into districts called mereíai (μερείαι) in Byzantine Greek , which were governed by a judge residing in Caralis and garrisoned by an army stationed in Forum Traiani (today Fordongianus ) under the command of
9512-634: The kingdom of Argos ".) In Greek myth, Lydia had also adopted the double-axe symbol, that also appears in the Mycenaean civilization, the labrys . Omphale , daughter of the river Iardanos, was a ruler of Lydia, whom Heracles was required to serve for a time. His adventures in Lydia are the adventures of a Greek hero in a peripheral and foreign land: during his stay, Heracles enslaved the Itones; killed Syleus, who forced passers-by to hoe his vineyard; slew
9628-667: The latter emerged successful. Croesus brought Caria under the direct control of the Lydian Empire, and he subjugated all of mainland Ionia , Aeolis , and Doris , but he abandoned his plans of annexing the Greek city-states on the islands of the Aegean Sea and he instead concluded treaties of friendship with them, which might have helped him participate in the lucrative trade the Aegean Greeks carried out with Egypt at Naucratis . According to Herodotus, Croesus ruled over all
9744-405: The legend that the Etruscan civilization was founded by colonists from Lydia led by Tyrrhenus , brother of Lydus. Dionysius of Halicarnassus was skeptical of this story, indicating that the Etruscan language and customs were known to be totally dissimilar to those of the Lydians. In addition, the story of the "Lydian" origins of the Etruscans was not known to Xanthus of Lydia , an authority on
9860-544: The line of Tantalus was part of the founding myths of Mycenae 's second dynasty. (In reference to the myth of Bellerophon , Karl Kerenyi remarked, in The Heroes of The Greeks 1959, p. 83. "As Lykia was thus connected with Crete , and as the person of Pelops , the hero of Olympia, connected Lydia with the Peloponnesos, so Bellerophontes connected another Asian country, or rather two, Lykia and Karia , with
9976-779: The main ones being the Campidano in the southwest between Oristano and Cagliari and the Nurra in the northwest. Sardinia has few major rivers, the largest being the Tirso , 151 km (94 mi) long, which flows into the Sea of Sardinia , the Coghinas (115 km (71 mi)) and the Flumendosa (127 km (79 mi)). There are 54 artificial lakes and dams that supply water and electricity. The main ones are Lake Omodeo and Lake Coghinas . The only natural freshwater lake
10092-474: The maternal lineages of western Anatolians and modern Tuscans had been largely separate for 5,000 to 10,000 years, with Etruscan mtDNA closely resembling modern Tuscans and Neolithic Central European populations. This suggests Etruscans descended from the Villanovan culture , indicating their indigenous roots, and a link between Etruria, modern Tuscany, and Lydia dating back to the Neolithic period during
10208-497: The migration of Early European Farmers from Anatolia to Europe. A 2019 genetic study revealed that Etruscans (900–600 BC) and Latins (900–500 BC) from Latium vetus shared genetic similarities, with both groups having a mixture of two-thirds Copper Age ancestry and one-third Steppe-related ancestry . This study also suggested indigenous origins for the Etruscans, despite their pre-Indo-European language. A 2021 study confirmed these findings, showing that Etruscans and Latins in
10324-591: The millennium-old Roman imperial structures with relatively little Germanic influence. Although the Judicates were hereditary lordships, the old Byzantine imperial notion that personal title or honor was separate from the state still remained, so the Judicate was not regarded as the personal property of the monarch as was common in later European feudalism . Like the imperial systems, the new order also preserved "semi-democratic" forms, with national assemblies called
10440-418: The mountains (−2 to 4 °C (28 to 39 °F) in January, 16 to 20 °C (61 to 68 °F) in July). Rainfall has a Mediterranean distribution all over the island, with almost totally rainless summers and wet autumns, winters and springs. However, in summer, the rare rainfalls can be characterized by short but severe thunderstorms , which can cause flash floods . The climate is also heavily influenced by
10556-532: The name's existence when the Phoenician merchants first arrived. According to Timaeus , one of Plato 's dialogues, Sardinia (referred to by most ancient Greek authors as Sardṓ , Σαρδώ ) and its people as well might have been named after a legendary woman called Sardṓ ( Σαρδώ ), born in Sardis ( Σάρδεις ), capital of the ancient Kingdom of Lydia . There has also been speculation that identifies
10672-497: The needs of the population and vegetation. The Mistral from the northwest is the dominant wind on and off throughout the year, though it is most prevalent in winter and spring. It can blow quite strongly, but it is usually dry and cool. Sardinia has been inhabited by humans since the end of the Paleolithic era, around 20–10,000 years ago. The island's most notable civilization is the indigenous Nuragic , which flourished from
10788-609: The one side and Phrygia and the Aegean Sea on the other. The Lydian language was an Indo-European language in the Anatolian language family , related to Luwian and Hittite . Due to its fragmentary attestation, the meanings of many words are unknown but much of the grammar has been determined. Similar to other Anatolian languages, it featured extensive use of prefixes and grammatical particles to chain clauses together. Lydian had also undergone extensive syncope , leading to numerous consonant clusters atypical of most Indo-European languages. Lydian finally became extinct during
10904-854: The original themata , and later of Thrakesion . Although the Seljuk Turks conquered most of the rest of Anatolia, forming the Sultanate of Ikonion (Konya), Lydia remained part of the Byzantine Empire. While the Venetians occupied Constantinople and Greece as a result of the Fourth Crusade , Lydia continued as a part of the Eastern Roman rump state called the Nicene Empire based at Nicaea until 1261. Lydia
11020-578: The other Arzawa Lands, these kingdoms had tumultuous relations with the Hittite Empire , acting both as allies, enemies, and vassals at various points in time. By roughly 800 BC, the Lydian people appear to have established their presence and achieved some degree of political cohesion. However, precise dates and events are impossible to determine due to the absence of contemporary written records. The only firm evidence for this early period comes from
11136-667: The peoples to the west of the Halys River, although the actual border of his kingdom was further to the east of the Halys, at an undetermined point in eastern Anatolia. Croesus continued the friendly relations with the Medes concluded between his father Alyattes and the Median king Cyaxares , and he continued these good relations with the Medes after he succeeded Alyattes and Astyages succeeded Cyaxares. And, under Croesus's rule, Lydia continued its good relations started by Gyges with
11252-442: The pre-Heraclid kings and princes of Lydia. The gold deposits in the river Pactolus that were the source of the proverbial wealth of Croesus (Lydia's last king) were said to have been left there when the legendary king Midas of Phrygia washed away the "Midas touch" in its waters. In Euripides ' tragedy The Bacchae , Dionysus , while maintaining his human disguise, declares his country to be Lydia. The relationship between
11368-605: The previous major power in Anatolia, the kingdom of Phrygia. Gyges took advantage of the power vacuum created by the Cimmerian invasions to consolidate his kingdom and make it a military power, he contacted the Neo-Assyrian court by sending diplomats to Nineveh to seek help against the Cimmerian invasions, and he attacked the Ionian Greek cities of Miletus , Smyrna , and Colophon . Gyges's extensive alliances with
11484-482: The purpose of building the monumental Nuraghes. The Nuraghes are not the only Nuragic buildings that stand in place, as there are several sacred wells around Sardinia and other buildings with religious purposes such as the Giants' grave (monumental collective tombs) and collections of religious buildings that probably served as destinations for pilgrimage and mass religious rites (e.g. Su Romanzesu near Bitti ). At
11600-638: The regency of Torchitorio V of Cagliari and his successor, William III , was allied with the Republic of Genoa . Because of this it was brought to an end in 1258, when its capital, Santa Igia , was stormed and destroyed by an alliance of Sardinian and Pisan forces. The territory then was divided between the Republic of Pisa , the Della Gherardesca family from Italy, and the Sardinian Judicates of Arborea and Gallura. Pisa maintained
11716-511: The regional law provides some measures to recognize and protect the aforementioned as well as the island's other minority languages (the Corsican -influenced Sassarese and Gallurese , and finally Tabarchino Ligurian ). Owing to the variety of Sardinia's ecosystems , which include mountains, woods, plains, stretches of largely uninhabited territory, streams, rocky coasts, and long sandy beaches, Sardinia has been metaphorically described as
11832-509: The rule of the Mermnad dynasty and to the Lydian Empire. Lydia would never regain its independence and would remain a part of various successive empires. Although the dates for the battles of Pteria and Thymbra and of end of the Lydian empire have been traditionally fixed to 547 BC, more recent estimates suggest that Herodotus's account being unreliable chronologically concerning the fall of Lydia means that there are currently no ways of dating
11948-517: The smallest-denomination electrum coins, perhaps worth about a day's subsistence, would have been too valuable for buying a loaf of bread. The first coins to be used for retailing on a large-scale basis were likely small silver fractions, Hemiobol, Ancient Greek coinage minted in Cyme (Aeolis) under Hermodike II then by the Ionian Greeks in the late sixth century BC. Sardis was renowned as
12064-409: The time, Sardinia was at the centre of several commercial routes and it was an important provider of raw materials such as copper and lead, which were pivotal for the manufacture of the time. By controlling the extraction of these raw materials and by trading them with other countries, the ancient Sardinians were able to accumulate wealth and reach a level of sophistication that is not only reflected in
12180-445: The two called electrum . The dating of these first stamped coins is one of the most frequently debated topics of ancient numismatics, with dates ranging from 700 BC to 550 BC, but the most common opinion is that they were minted at or near the beginning of the reign of King Alyattes (sometimes referred to incorrectly as Alyattes II). The first coins were made of electrum , an alloy of gold and silver that occurs naturally but that
12296-702: The vicinity of the Gulf of Genoa (barometric low) and the relative proximity of the Atlantic Ocean. Low pressures in autumn can generate the formation of the so-called Medicanes , extratropical cyclones which affect the Mediterranean basin. In 2013, the island was hit by several cyclones, included the Cyclone Cleopatra , which dumped 450 mm (18 in) of rainfall within an hour and a half. Sardinia being relatively large and hilly, weather
12412-438: The whole Italian peninsula; their territory was so renamed into the Kingdom of Italy in 1861, and it was reconstituted as the present-day Italian Republic in 1946. Sardinia is one of the most geologically ancient bodies of land in Europe. The island was populated in various waves of immigration from prehistory until recent times. Remains from Corbeddu Cave in eastern Sardinia have been suggested by some authors to represent
12528-495: Was Iardanus , with whom Heracles was in service at one time. Heracles had an affair with one of Iardanus' slave-girls and their son Alcaeus was the first of the Heraclid Dynasty said to have ruled Lydia for 22 generations starting with Agron . In the 8th century BC, Meles became the 21st and penultimate Heraclid king and the last was his son Candaules (died c. 687 BC). Gyges is the first king whose existence
12644-467: Was an Iron Age kingdom situated in the west of Asia Minor , in modern-day Turkey . Later, it became an important province of the Achaemenid Empire and then the Roman Empire . Its capital was Sardis . At some point before 800 BC, the Lydian people achieved some sort of political cohesion, and existed as an independent kingdom by the 600s BC. At its greatest extent, during the 7th century BC, it covered all of western Anatolia . In 546 BC, it became
12760-555: Was captured finally by Turkish beyliks , which were all absorbed by the Ottoman state in 1390. The area became part of the Ottoman Aidin Vilayet ( province ), and is now in the modern republic of Turkey . According to Herodotus , the Lydians were the first people to use gold and silver coins and the first to establish retail shops in permanent locations. It is not known, however, whether Herodotus meant that
12876-644: Was driven out by the Pisans, who occupied the territory. The Judicate of Arborea , having Oristano as its capital, had the longest life compared to the other kingdoms. Its later history is entwined with the attempt to unify the island into a single Sardinian state ( Republica sardisca 'Sardinian Republic' in Sardinian, Nació sarda or sardesca 'Sardinian Nation' in Catalan) against their relatives and former Aragonese allies. In 1297, Pope Boniface VIII established on his own initiative ( motu proprio )
12992-471: Was founded by people from Tyre , probably in the same time of the foundation of Carthage , in the 9th or 8th century BC. In the 6th century BC, after the conquest of western Sicily, the Carthaginians planned to annex Sardinia. A first invasion attempt led by Malchus was foiled by the victorious Nuraghic resistance. However, from 510 BC, the southern and west-central part of the island were invaded
13108-503: Was further debased by the Lydians with added silver and copper. The largest of these coins are commonly referred to as a 1/3 stater ( trite ) denomination, weighing around 4.7 grams, though no full staters of this type have ever been found, and the 1/3 stater probably should be referred to more correctly as a stater, after a type of a transversely held scale, the weights used in such a scale (from ancient Greek ίστημι=to stand), which also means "standard." These coins were stamped with
13224-495: Was often contested by the Sardinian tribes from the mountainous regions. The east Germanic tribe of the Vandals conquered Sardinia in 456. Their rule lasted for 78 years up to 534, when 400 eastern Roman troops led by Cyril, one of the officers of the foederati , retook the island. It is known that the Vandal government continued the forms of the existing Roman Imperial structure. The governor of Sardinia continued to be called
13340-690: Was the Iberian Crown of Aragon which, in 1324, succeeded in bringing the island under its control, consolidating it into the Kingdom of Sardinia . This Iberian kingdom endured until 1718, when it was ceded to the Alpine House of Savoy ; the Savoyards would politically merge their insular possession with their domains on the Italian Mainland which, during the period of Italian unification , they would go on to expand to include
13456-515: Was waged in eastern Anatolia lasted five years, until a solar eclipse occurred in 585 BC during a battle (hence called the Battle of the Eclipse) opposing the Lydian and Median armies, which both sides interpreted as an omen to end the war. The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II and the king Syennesis of Cilicia acted as mediators in the ensuing peace treaty, which was sealed by the marriage of
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