Why Is Sardinia So Special?

[Teucer]

Since I joined TA, Sardinia has often been idolised for its 'purity' and used as a proxy for 'Neolithic Farmer' ancestry in the Med.

I don't doubt these claims. From what I have seen, they are clearly a very homogenous population. My question is why? Why has Sardinia been left untouched by the nations that conquered her when other islands (Cyprus, Sicily, etc) in the med were not?

[GiCa]

Geographic Isolation

[Bosniensis]

"Barbarians" wanted GOLD... and they were pushing for Rome and Constantinople.

Sardinia wasn't important ... there is nothing of significance there.

Same happened to Western Balkans... Romans used to say: "It's not worth to spill blood against Illyrians for they have nothing of value, living in poverty fighting each other".

[GiCa]

Yes.. Also Sardinia never appeared as a Rich land to conquer

[Hylates]

Didn't Phoenicians landed on Sardinia ?

[Teucer]

Didn't Phoenicians landed on Sardinia ?

Thats what i thought too

[Hylates]

Thats what i thought too

Except if they only traded on the island_instead of colonizing it , cause it was way too close to Sicily and wasn't that rich ?! We surely can Not say the same for Cyprus case, since they rushed to colonize the island . Looks like something was alluring them ... Copper . They secured the copper routes of Cyprus and they were sucking Cyprus riches with a straw from Tyre .

[Cristiano viejo]

Sardinia is special indeed. Fantastic culture, people, food, landscape... definitely my favourite isle after Balearic Islands.

[Bobby Martnen]

Sardinia is special indeed. Fantastic culture, people, food, landscape... definitely my favourite isle after Balearic Islands.

You would never pass there

[Cristiano viejo]

You would never pass there

None of your business.

[Bobby Martnen]

None of your business.

...

[Mens-Sarda]

Didn't Phoenicians landed on Sardinia ?

Phoenicians initially built only trade and supply ports along the southern coasts of the island around 1000 b.C. then these city-states, and after the Carthaginian central power tried to conquer more of the island, but they only managed to conquer the south-western half of the island, (an area of plains, fertile fields and low hills), what stopped them was a great battle in central Sardinia where Phoenicians were badly defeated, the populations of the mountains were made of a different mettle, too wild and ferocious to be subdued, so the Phoenicians were content to rule only on the fertile plains of southern Sardinia. During the Roman age the situation repeated, they didn't bother to conquer the mountainous areas, as practical people the Romans didn't want to start a long, difficult and expensive military campaign to conquer the mountains, then they just built military outposts and fortifications around this area that they named Barbaria (actual Barbagia) to contain the free tribes inside, moreover a full legion was stationed in the city of Forum Traiani, the Roman military HQ, situated in central Sardinia to guard the Roman territory from the attacks from Barbaria.
From the ancient fonts we know that this situation continued also during the Byzantine age, the peoples of Barbaria continued to live outside of the imperial control, they still practiced their pagan religion until VI or VIIth century A.D. at least; there is even a letter written by Pope Gregorius I Magnus to redargue the Sardinian bishops, because most of Sardinians were still pagans, he then addressed to a certain Hospiton Dux Barbaricinorum (Hospiton, chief of the Barbaricini), inviting him to convert his people to Christianity. Even nowadays the region named Barbagia is an unruly region, an island within the island; in general all Sardinians can be quite close towards strangers, we live on an island, but we are not sailors or fishermen, it's like an island inhabited by mountaineers and farmers; that's why during the millennia we kept so stable our gene pool.

Phoenician territory (yellow)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/Limes_Sardegna_Punica.png/220px-Limes_Sardegna_Punica.png


Roman territory (yellow)

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/bd/c5/85/bdc5851618b20823234ae48a4c173428.png