Urban and Rural Life in Roman Sardinia, Economy, Society and Land Use

By: Attilio Mastino

The work aims to present the history of ancient Sardinia, no longer understood as a peripheral, closed and poor island, but as one of the provinces most inserted in the Roman ecumene: a land according to Polybius vast, populous and fertile. The volume collects and summarizes the heritage of research and scientific commitment carried out in recent decades, the result of projects of increasingly international scope and increasingly technologically advanced research methodologies. The work benefits from the long collaboration with Joyce Reynolds and explores the boundary between change and continuity starting from the possible quadripartition of the sub-provincial territory between the main cities (Carales, Tharros, Turris Libisonis, Olbia). It addresses the theme of the ancient landscape in a rural setting, between Romania and Barbaria. And then the economic and social aspects, the relationship between history and geography, the large estates for community use, the land registry, the farms entrusted to the colonists, the possession by important senatorial families, the roads, the bridges, the milestones, the contribution of the Sardinians to the army, legions and auxiliary units, war fleet. Always with many new features and a very up-to-date bibliography. The aim of this volume is to demonstrate that the Roman legacies profoundly influence the plural identity of today’s Sardinia, an expression of a long history that in some way also conditions contemporary society.