Neapolis (; ; ; ) was an ancient city of
Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...
founded by the
Carthaginians
The Punic people, usually known as the Carthaginians (and sometimes as Western Phoenicians), were a Semitic people, Semitic people who Phoenician settlement of North Africa, migrated from Phoenicia to the Western Mediterranean during the Iron ...
in the sixth century BC, and apparently one of its most important places. It was situated on the west coast, at the southern end of the
Gulf of Oristano
The Gulf of Oristano (, ) is a gulf in the Sardinian Sea, near Oristano, in the western Sardinian coast.
It is limited from north by the Cape San Marco, in the Sinis peninsula, and from the south by Cape Frasca. It faces the provinces of Or ...
, at the present-day ''
località
A ''località'' is an inhabited place in Italy that is not accorded a more significant distinction in administrative law, such as a '' frazione'', ''comune'', '' municipio'', '' circoscrizione'', or ''quartiere''. The word is cognate to English ' ...
'' of Santa Maria di Nabui, in the ''
comune
A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...
'' of
Guspini
Guspini (Gùspini in Sardinian) is a town and ''comune'' of about 12,000 inhabitants in west Sardinia (Italy), in the province of South Sardinia. It is from the capital Cagliari and from the railway station at San Gavino Monreale.
Close to Gus ...
,
Province of South Sardinia
The province of South Sardinia (; ) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the autonomous island region of Sardinia, Italy, instituted on 4 February 2016. It includes the suppressed provinces of Province of Carbonia-Iglesias, Carbonia-Iglesias and ...
.
The
Antonine itineraries
The Antonine Itinerary (, "Itinerary of the Emperor Antoninus") is an , a register of the stations and distances along various roads. Seemingly based on official documents, possibly in part from a survey carried out under Augustus, it describes t ...
place Neapolis 60 miles from
Sulci
Sulci or Sulki (in Greek , Stephanus of Byzantium, Steph. B., Ptolemy, Ptol.; , Strabo; , Pausanias (geographer), Paus.), was one of the most considerable cities of ancient Sardinia, situated in the southwest corner of the island, on a small isla ...
(in modern
Sant'Antioco
Sant'Antioco (; ) is the name of both an island and a municipality (''comune'') in southwestern Sardinia, in the Province of South Sardinia, in Sulcis zone. With a population of 11,730, the municipality of Sant'Antioco it is the island's largest ...
) and 18 from Othoca (modern
Santa Giusta
Santa Giusta (; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Oristano in the Italian region of Sardinia, located about northwest of Cagliari and about southeast of Oristano in the Campidano area.
History
The site of the Phoenician por ...
near
Oristano
Oristano (; ) is an Italian city and (municipality), the capital of the Province of Oristano in the central-western part of the island of Sardinia. It is located on the northern part of the Campidano plain. It was established as the provincial ...
), both also Phoenician settlements. (Itin. Ant. p. 84.)
Pliny calls it one of the most important towns in Sardinia; and its name is found also in
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...
and the Itineraries. (Plin. iii. 7. s. 13; Ptol. iii. 3. § 2; Itin. Ant. ''l. c.'';
Tab. Peut.;
Geogr. Rav. v. 26.) Its ruins are still visible at the mouth of the river Pabillonis, where forms the estuary or lagoon,
Stagno di Marceddi, and present many remains of ancient buildings as well as the vestiges of a Roman road and aqueduct. The spot is marked by an ancient church called Santa Maria di Nabui. (De la Marmora, ''Voy. en Sardaigne'', vol. ii. p. 357.)
The
Aquae Neapolitanae mentioned by Ptolemy as well as in the Itinerary, which places them at a considerable distance inland, on the road from Othoca to Caralis (modern
Cagliari
Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...
), are certainly the mineral sources now known as the
Bagni di Sardara, on the high road from Cagliari to Oristano. (Itin. Ant. p. 82; Ptol. iii. 3. § 7; Geogr. Rav. v. 26; De la Marmora, ''l. c.'' p. 406.)
See also
*
List of Phoenician cities
This is a list of cities and colonies of Phoenicia in modern-day Lebanon, coastal Syria, northern Israel, as well as cities founded or developed by the Phoenicians in the Eastern Mediterranean area, North Africa, Southern Europe, and the island ...
References
*Miles, Richard. (2010). ''Carthage Must be Destroyed''. p. 75-76
*Van Dommelen, Peter (2002) p. 130–37; (1998) p. 124-5
*
{{Authority control
Former populated places in Sardinia
Archaeological sites in Sardinia
Phoenician colonies in Sardinia