Like other parts of the Empire, Sardinia offered Rome a richly layered cultural landscape, shaped by the succession of different peoples over the centuries. During the Roman period, traces of earlier Phoenician-Punic and Nuragic traditions remained clearly visible.
Religion was one sphere in which these earlier traditions proved especially enduring, the domain where people have always expressed their deepest fears and strongest aspirations. In showcase 0.27, several objects bear witness to ancient beliefs that continued well into Roman times.
For centuries, Sardus Pater was worshipped as the national god of the Sardinians. His cult dates back to the Nuragic period, when he was known as Babi; in Punic times he was identified with the god Sid. A hunter deity, regarded as the ancestor and founder of the Sardinian people, he was venerated for generations at the temple of Antas, near Fluminimaggiore, an area of major importance for mining. He also appears on a coin minted under Octavian, the future Emperor Augustus, depicted with a feathered tiara and a spear, number 11.
Echoes of Punic, and perhaps even prehistoric, cults are also reflected in the so-called Sardae Cereres, number 13. In Punic Sardinia, rural sanctuaries dedicated to Demeter were widespread. Goddess of the harvest and of fertile nature, she was especially revered in Carthage and in regions closely linked to agriculture, particularly cereal cultivation. Towards the end of the first century BC, under Roman rule, the incense burners known as thymiateria — typical of Punic sanctuaries devoted to Demeter and often shaped as female faces with headdresses adorned with ears of wheat — gave way to terracotta busts. These depict a female deity identified with the Roman Ceres, shown with a veil, a diadem and a tall headdress known as a polos, surmounted by an ear of wheat.
Traditional Roman gods and goddesses are also represented. Observe, for example, the figure of Hermes on a fragment of terra sigillata, number 6, and the terracotta statuette of Venus, number 7. Both come from Nora, a prosperous city in what is now the municipality of Pula, on Sardinia’s southern coast.
Finally, take a moment to consider the museum’s glass collection. A selection from the holdings of the National Museums of Cagliari is displayed here, numbers 1 to 5.
