Urban spaces and monumental architecture

Sulky's lions still in situ (from http://www.archeotur.it/santantioco/immagini/category/3-museo-archeologico.html).

The arrival of the Phoenicians in Sardinia is witnessed by the appearance of an important architectural innovation: the founding of cities.
In fact, although the Nuragic civilization had intense and continuous contacts with contemporary civilizations (such as the Mycenaeans) that had founded their political, social and economic identity precisely on the urban settlement module, it chose the village as its housing formula.
Phoenician cities, located mainly (but not exclusively) on the Sardinian coast, introduce the urban patterns of the motherland to the island and, with them, the building formulas.
From this point of view, the main innovation compared to the building schemes practiced during the Nuragic age is represented by the transition from the circular plan, typical of Nuragic culture (with the exception of the “megaron” temples) to the rectangular one.
Funeral structures are also changing. In fact, we are witnessing the creation of real necropolises and those special burial areas called “tofet”, spaces intended for the burial of children who died in the very first years of life (or sacrificed, according to a thesis that, however, finds less and less consensus among scholars).
Also of particular importance is the introduction by the Punicians of the wall technique called “frame”, whose use lasted a long time not only in Roman times but also in the first centuries of the Middle Ages.

Update

3/7/2025 - 09:50