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, 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,

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 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) and 18 from Othoca (modern Santa Giusta 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.)

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

See also

References