The monument is located in a suggestive valley dominated by the limestone relief of Monte Conca s'Omu, in the Fluminese area.
The temple, founded as a nuragic sanctuary, probably intercantonal, was also active in pre-colonial, Punic and Roman times, but it does not reveal traces of a Phoenician phase.
Since the beginning of the Iron Age, in the 9th century BC, the site had a funerary value, perhaps linked to the cult of ancestors, as attested by a series of monosomal sump tombs found at the podium. One of the tombs returned a bronze figurine, with a Nuragic workmanship, but with a clear Levantine influence, representing a naked male deity who holds a spear with his left hand, while raising his right hand in a blessing sign. The figurine can be associated with the physiognomy and cultural traits of the Punic god Sid, warrior and hunter, a transposition of the local divinity Babai, who reappeared in Roman times with the name of Sardus Pater Bab (a) i.
In the Punic Age, the sanctuary experienced two construction phases: the first around 500 BC, immediately after the Carthaginian conquest of the island; the second, with a Punico-Hellenistic imprint, around 300 BC. The labile traces of the two phases were identified under the monumental staircase of the monumental age Roman.
The fact that the temple was of considerable importance in the Punic Age is attested by various architectural elements and numerous votive offerings found out of context. The state of fragmentation of the ex-vots has led scholars to hypothesize a deliberate destruction of the sanctuary. This could have happened at the time of the revolt of the Carthaginian mercenaries stationed in Sardinia, in the third century BC, that is, by the first Christians.
The structure currently visible dates back to Roman times: a first structure is Augustinian, while a second phase of renovation, with the placement of the Caracalla inscription in the pediment, dates back to the third century AD. The epigraph reads: “Imperatori Caesari M. Aurelio Antonino.
Augusto Pio Felici Templum dei Sardi Patris Babi vetustated with lapse... A... restituendum curavit Q Coelius or Cocceius Proculus”: in honor of the emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus, Pius Felix, the temple of the god Sardus Pater Babi ruined by antiquity had Quintus Celio (or Cocceius) Proculus restored.
The monument, built with local limestone, has an access staircase and a podium made of “opus quadratum”. The steps, of which only three partly reconstructed steps remain, originally consisted of numerous shelves paved in cocciopesto; on the fourth shelf, corresponding to what must have been the sacred rock of the Punic temple, the sacrificial altar was raised, according to Roman ritual canons.
The temple is divided lengthwise into pronaos, cella and bipartite 'adyton' (or penetraal). The pronaos, 6.6 m deep, has four columns on the façade and one on each side; the columns have a smooth frame (about 8 m of a reconstructed height), Attic bases and Ionic capitals. The cell, about 11 m deep, has pillars leaning against the walls, while the floor preserves the white mosaic covering the entire surface. In the back wall of the cell, there are two doors that lead to two tiny, almost square rooms (the bipartite “adyton”) equipped with two quadrangular tanks.
The sacred area around the temple, which has always been considered an integral part of the previous Punic temple, has recently been interpreted as an additional part after Caracalla.

History of the excavations
It was excavated between 1967 and 1968. Subsequent restorations brought it back in part to the appearance it had at the time of Caracalla (213-217 AD), when it was restored. Between the years 1984-1994, an excavation intervention affected the area in front of the structure.

Bibliography
Punic research in Antas: preliminary report of the Archaeological Mission of the University of Rome and the Superintendence of Antiquities of Cagliari, series “Semitic Studies”, 30, Rome, Institute for Near Eastern Studies, University of Rome, 1969; R. Zucca, The Temple of Antas. Sassari, C. Delfino, 1989 (Archaeological Sardinia. Guides and itineraries; 11);
P. Bernardini-L.I. Manfredi-G. Garbini, “The sanctuary of Antas in Fluminimaggiore: new data”, in Phoinikes by Shrdn. The Phoenicians in Sardinia: new acquisitions, exhibition catalog (Oristano, Antiquarium Arborense, July-December 1997), curated by P. Bernardini-R. D'Oriano-P.G. Spanu, Cagliari, Historical Memory, 1997, pp. 105-113.

How to get
From Cagliari, take the SS 130 to Iglesias, then the SS 126 to Fluminimaggiore up to 54,100 km; a small paved road on the d., with a route of about 1.5 km (passable by car or bus) and with adequate signs, leads to the archaeological zone.