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Sardus

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Depiction of Sardus Pater in a Roman coin (59CE)

Sardus (Ancient Greek: Σάρδος, romanized: Sardos), also Sid Addir and Sardus Pater ("Sardinian Father") was the eponymous mythological hero of the Nuragic Sardinians. Sardus appears in the writings of various classical authors, like Sallust, Solinus and Pausanias.

Ancient sources

According to Sallust, Sardus son of Hercules, left Libya along with a great multitude of men and occupied the island of Sardinia, which was so named after him. Later Pausanias confirms the story of Sallust and in the second century CE writes that Sardus was the son of Makeris (identifiable with Mecur / Macer, a Libyan name deriving from the Berber imɣur "to grow"), and that the island of Sardinia changed its name from Ichnusa to Sardinia in honor of Sardus. Makeris is likely identifiable with Melqart, whom Pausanias and classical authors identified as the "Heracles" of Libyans and Egyptians.

See also

Notes

  1. Sallust, Historiae, II, fr.4
  2. Pausanias, Ελλάδοσ περιήγησισ, X, 17
  3. Lipiński, Edward (1995). Dieux et déesses de l'univers phénicien et punique (in French). Peeters Publishers. p. 368. ISBN 9789068316902.
  4. Miles, Richard (2011). Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization. Penguin. ISBN 978-1-101-51703-1. The close relationship between Melqart and Sid on Sardinia is confirmed in the work of the second-century-AD Greek travel writer Pausanias, who claimed that 'The first sailors to cross to the island are said to have been Libyans. Their leader was Sardus, son of Maceris, the Maceris surnamed Heracles by the Egyptians and the Libyans.' 'Sardus Pater' was the name that Sid Babi came to be known by in the Roman epoch, and 'Maceris' almost certainly refers to Melqart, the Libyan Heracles. Indeed, epigraphic evidence points to the two gods having been closely linked with one another in Carthage.
  5. Mastino, Attilio (2021). "Ancient Historical Contexts: Phoenicians, Carthage, Rome and the Barbaricini". In Metcalfe, Alex; Fernández-Aceves, Hervin; Muresu, Marco (eds.). The Making of Medieval Sardinia. Brill. p. 69. ISBN 978-90-04-46754-5. The only truly 'indigenous' divinity, however it is reinterpreted a posteriori, was Sardus Pater-Babi, founding hero and 'demiurge benefactor', which Classical mythographers held to be the son of the African Heracles (Melqart-Makeris), who in turn was said to have reached Sardinia from Libya.

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