Romània e Barbària. Alcune considerazioni in merito al limes antibarbaricino

Abstract

The research conducted in Sardinia in the last years allow to cast new light on the never completely solved issue about the existence of a real limes that should have divided two incompatible worlds throughout Punic and Roman dominations, according to the common stereotype of several recreations: the world of coastal cities with their fertile hinterland and the world of mountains. This complex defensive boundary should have been composed of a series of forts situated in the nerve centres of the area, with the purpose of warding off the warmongering native people of the mountain area. Archaeological data – remarkable as regards Imperial Roman period especially – contribute to provide a picture that deviates from traditional reconstructions and leads to decrease – deeply in some cases – the idea of a demanding Roman and Carthaginian military effort, as of a conflicted connection between plain areas and mountain regions.