List of ancient Corsican and Sardinian tribes

Last updated

This is a list of ancient Corsican and Sardinian tribes, listed in order of ethnic kinship or the general area in which they lived. Some closely fit the concept of a tribe. Others are confederations or even unions of tribes.

Contents

Overview

Before the Roman conquest in the 3rd century BC, the islands of Corsica and Sardinia were inhabited by three main peoples or ethnic groups, the Corsi, the Balares, and the Ilienses, each of them divided into several tribes. With the Roman conquest, the province of Sardinia and Corsica was created, becoming the second province of the Roman Republic to be created after that of Sicily.

The ethnic and linguistic affiliation (Paleo-Sardinian language) of the Nuragic people and tribes remains to be further studied, moreover "Nuragic" might have also been a geographical and historical name designating different peoples and languages, rather than indicating a single origin. Current knowledge indicates that they may have been related to the Iberians and the ancient Basque: these peoples were Pre-Indo-Europeans and spoke Pre-Indo-European languages, Proto-Basque (the ancestor of modern Basque) and Iberian. [1] There is also the possibility that the Nuragic peoples may have been related to the Etruscans and other Tyrsenian peoples and languages. [2] One of the Sea Peoples (the Shardana or Sherden) may have been either a population hailing from Sardinia (Ugas 2005, 2016) or a group of tribes that migrated to the island in the Late Bronze Age (Sandars 1978).

If the Corsi, dwelling in Corsica and in the northernmost tip of Sardinia (Gallura), were a subset of the Ligurians [3] and a group of tribes (they probably were an Indo-European people related to the Celts), then they would have been of a different ethnic and linguistic affiliation from the majority of the tribes of Sardinia (although Emidio De Felice found similarities between Paleo-Sardinian and Ancient Ligurian [4] ).

The ancient Sardinian and Corsican tribes are the ancestors of most present-day native Sardinians [5] and Corsicans, and their language or languages, like Paleo-Sardinian and Paleo-Corsican, are the substrate of the modern Sardinian and Corsican languages, now part of the Neo-Latin branch.

Ancient Corsican and Sardinian tribes

Ancient peoples and tribes of Corsica and Sardinia; in blue the land dwelt by the Corsi, in red the land dwelt by the Balares (Balari), in yellow the land dwelt by the Ilienses (Iolei) (tribes' names are in Italian and not in Latin). Etnie Nuragiche.jpg
Ancient peoples and tribes of Corsica and Sardinia; in blue the land dwelt by the Corsi , in red the land dwelt by the Balares (Balari), in yellow the land dwelt by the Ilienses (Iolei) (tribes' names are in Italian and not in Latin).
Ancient tribes of Corsica (tribes' names are in Italian and not in Latin). Corsica-Romana.jpg
Ancient tribes of Corsica (tribes' names are in Italian and not in Latin).
Ancient tribes of Sardinia according to the Greek geographer Ptolemy and Ugas (2005) (tribes' names are in Italian and not in Latin). Etnie Nuragiche-2.svg
Ancient tribes of Sardinia according to the Greek geographer Ptolemy and Ugas (2005) (tribes' names are in Italian and not in Latin).
Tribes of Sardinia geographic location described by the Romans. I popoli della Sardegna Romana.png
Tribes of Sardinia geographic location described by the Romans.

Paleo-Corsicans

Paleo-Sardinians

See also

Notes

  1. Eduardo Blasco Ferrer, Paleosardo. Le radici linguistiche della Sardegna neolitica, Berlin/New York (2010)
  2. La lingua dei Sardi Nuragici e degli Etruschi - Massimo Pittau
  3. Ugas 2005, p. 13-19.
  4. Mary Carmen Iribarren Argaiz, Los vocablos en-rr-de la lengua sarda: Conexiones con la península ibérica
  5. Massimo Pittau, La lingua sardiana o dei protosardi, Cagliari, 2001

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuraghe</span> Ancient type of tower common in Sardinia

The nuraghe, or nurhag, is the main type of ancient megalithic edifice found in Sardinia, Italy, developed during the Nuragic Age between 1900 and 730 BC. Today it has come to be the symbol of Sardinia and its distinctive culture known as the Nuragic civilization. More than 7,000 nuraghes have been found, though archeologists believe that originally there were more than 10,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olbia</span> Comune in Sardinia, Italy

Olbia is a city and commune of 60,346 inhabitants in the Italian insular province of Sassari in northeastern Sardinia, Italy, in the historical region of Gallura. Called Olbia in the Roman age, Civita in the Middle Ages and the Terranova Pausania until the 1940s, Olbia has again been the official name of the city since the fascist period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Sardinia</span>

Archaeological evidence of prehistoric human settlement on the island of Sardinia is present in the form of nuraghes and other prehistoric monuments, which dot the land. The recorded history of Sardinia begins with its contacts with the various people who sought to dominate western Mediterranean trade in classical antiquity: Phoenicians, Punics and Romans. Initially under the political and economic alliance with the Phoenician cities, it was partly conquered by Carthage in the late 6th century BC and then entirely by Rome after the First Punic War. The island was included for centuries in the Roman province of Sardinia and Corsica, which would be incorporated into the diocese of Italia suburbicaria in 3rd and 7th centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sherden</span> 2nd millennium BC Mediterranean ethnic group

The Sherden are one of the several ethnic groups the Sea Peoples were said to be composed of, appearing in fragmentary historical and iconographic records from the Eastern Mediterranean in the late 2nd millennium BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sardinia and Corsica</span> Ancient Roman province

The Province of Sardinia and Corsica was an ancient Roman province including the islands of Sardinia and Corsica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corsicans</span> Ethnic group

The Corsicans are a Romance Italic ethnic group. They are native to Corsica, a Mediterranean island and a territorial collectivity of France.

The Æsaronenses or Aesaronenses were an ancient people of Sardinia, noted by Ptolemy. They dwelt south of the Salcitani and the Lucuidonenses and north of the Æchilenenses or Cornenses.

The Coracenses were an ancient people of Sardinia, noted by Ptolemy. They dwelt south of the Tibulati and the Corsi and north of the Carenses and the Cunusitani.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corsi people</span> Ancient people of Sardinia and Corsica

The Corsi were an ancient people of Sardinia and Corsica, to which they gave the name, as well as one of the three major groups among which the ancient Sardinians considered themselves divided. Noted by Ptolemy, they dwelt at the extreme north-east of Sardinia, in the region today known as Gallura, near the Tibulati and immediately north of the Coracenses.

The Corpicenses were an ancient people of Sardinia, noted by Ptolemy. They dwelt south of the Rucensi and north of the Scapitani and the Siculensi.

The Valentini were an ancient people of Sardinia, noted by Ptolemy. They dwelt south of the Scapitani and the Siculensi and north of the Solcitani and the Noritani. Their chief city was Valentia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuragic civilization</span> Archaeological culture in Sardinia

The Nuragic civilization, also known as the Nuragic culture, was a civilization or culture on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, Italy, which lasted from the 18th century BC up to the Roman colonization in 238 BC. Others date the culture as lasting at least until the 2nd century AD and in some areas, namely the Barbagia, to the 6th century AD or possibly even to the 11th century AD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Torrean civilization</span>

The Torrean civilization was a Bronze Age megalithic civilization that developed in Southern Corsica, mostly concentrated south of Ajaccio, during the second half of the second millennium BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sardinian people</span> Romance ethnic group native to Sardinia

The Sardinians, or Sards, are a Romance language-speaking ethnic group native to Sardinia, from which the western Mediterranean island and autonomous region of Italy derives its name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paleo-Sardinian language</span> Extinct language isolate indigenous to the island of Sardinia

Paleo-Sardinian, also known as Proto-Sardinian or Nuragic, is an extinct language, or perhaps set of languages, spoken on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia by the ancient Sardinian population during the Nuragic era. Starting from the Roman conquest with the establishment of a specific province, a process of language shift took place, wherein Latin came slowly to be the only language spoken by the islanders. Paleo-Sardinian is thought to have left traces in the island's onomastics as well as toponyms, which appear to preserve grammatical suffixes, and a number of words in the modern Sardinian language.

The Balares were one of the three major groups among which the Nuragic Sardinians considered themselves divided.

The Ilienses or Iolaes or Ilians or Iolai ; later known as Diagesbes (Διαγησβεῖς) or Diagebres (Διαγηβρεῖς) were an ancient Nuragic people who lived during the Bronze and Iron Ages in central-southern Sardinia, as well as one of the three major groups among which the ancient Sardinians considered themselves divided. After the Sicilian Wars began with the Punic invasion in the sixth century BC, part of them retreated to the mountainous interior of the island, from which they opposed the foreign rule for centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hampsicora</span> Sardo-Carthaginian soldier

Hampsicora was a Sardo-Punic political leader and landowner of Sardinia, and the leader of the major anti-Roman revolt in the province of 215 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sardinian surnames</span>

Sardinian surnames are surnames with origins from the Sardinian language or a long, identifiable tradition on the Western Mediterranean island of Sardinia.

References