"...In any case, thanks to its vast commercial network and its two ports straddling the isthmus, the lagoon and the Gulf of Palmas, the city quickly became a metropolis of great wealth and started to control the territory of south western Sardinia which still today bears the name of Sulcis. The testimonies of its commercial activities have emerged from the excavations carried out in the town and speak to us from the first half of the eighth century BC. of stable relations with Tyre and with the other Phoenician cities of the eastern motherland, of links with Cadiz and with the other Phoenician centers of Andalusia, of very close exchanges with the Etruscan world and with the Greek environment of Euboea and the Magna Greecian colonies. The Phoenician community spent a period of about two hundred and fifty years of quiet commercial, agricultural and domestic activity in the town of Sulky until - around 540 BC, when Carthage, a Phoenician city of Tyrian origins located on the African coast between Sicily and Sardinia, following an imperialist policy aimed at conquering the coastal territories of the western Mediterranean, decided to set foot in Sardinia to take possession of it and effectively insert it into its metropolitan territory. For some time now, the North African city seemed to have expressed its expansionist ambitions, establishing some colonies in the North African area, but only around the middle of the 6th century BC these intentions really took shape in all their violence and drama with the invasion of the western part of Sicily and with the consequent conquest of Motya and of the Phoenician centers present in the territory. In fact, with two successive invasions, the one which happened precisely around 540 and the other towards 520 b.C., Carthage invaded Sardinia. The succession of events is widely known, that is, how an army commanded by General Malco, already victorious in Sicily, came to the island first. It is told by old and unfortunately scarce sources that the Carthaginian commander, after ups and downs, was severely defeated, probably by a coalition of Phoenician cities whose head was probably Sulky, and forced to re-embark towards Carthage. It is not to be excluded that against the Carthaginian army also nuragic troops intervened, both as allies, and as mercenaries of the Phoenician cities. Although temporarily defeated, Carthage continued to develop its hegemonic policy aimed at supremacy in the waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Proof of this are the events that resulted in the naval battle fought in the Sardinian Sea, probably to be found in the waters of Corsica, perhaps in Alalia, and the alliance with the Etruscan city of Caere, now Cerveteri, highlighted by the well-known gold plates of Pyrgi.
Later - around 520 b.C. - Carthage made another attempt and its armies passed under the command of Asdrubale and Hamilcar sons of Magone, conqueror of the Iberian peninsula. This time the Carthaginian armies defeated the resistance opposed by the inhabitants of the Phoenician cities of Sardinia. In fact, as evidenced by the significant traces of destruction, the hostilities of the North African city were mainly directed towards these centers and therefore especially towards Sulky. So, after fierce fighting, Carthage firmly took possession of Sardinia, so much so that, already in 509 BC, in the framework of the first peace treaty with Rome, handed down from the Greek historian Polibio, the island, if it was not literally assimilated to its metropolitan territory , was strictly controlled so that foreign sailors were prevented from landing and from the realization of any form of trade if Carthaginian officials were not present. In any case, like most of the Phoenician cities of Sardinia, Sulky also came out severely damaged by the Carthaginian conquest. The African metropolis, which had conquered Sardinia to take over the considerable agricultural resources of the island, brought settlers transported from the coasts of North Africa to the Sulcitan city. Many areas of the island, especially the hilly ones, were abandoned because they were unsuitable for the landowner-type agriculture carried out by Carthage, while numerous new settlements arose in the plains. So, while in the previous centuries the island had constituted a fundamental node of exchange between East and West and between the North and the South of the Mediterranean, the entirety of Sardinia was practically assimilated by the metropolitan territory of Carthage and was totally and strictly closed to internal trade. In particular, all imports from Etruria and Greece ceased, while only those subjected to Carthage's mediation were permitted and under the strict control of its officials."
Now, about the Punic necropolis (so the one founded after the Carthaginian conquest of the city), I've found this information:
"The Punic necropolis of Sant'Antioco is certainly among the most important in the Mediterranean for the vastness of the funeral plant, for the architectural richness and for the numerous finds discovered during the excavations of the tombs. The area currently visible dates back to a period between the fifth and the end of the third century. a.C., at the time of the Carthaginian conquest in Sardinia.
Since the extension of the necropolis exceeds 6 hectares and considering that each tomb covers an area of about 40 square meters, we can hypothesize a number of about 1500 hypogea. From these data we can estimate the population of the ancient Sulky in about 9000-10.000 units, certainly among the most populous and extensive cities in the whole Mediterranean area."
http://www.parcogeominerario.eu/index.php/sulcis/siti-culturali/necropoli-punica-santantioco?lang=it
Later - around 520 b.C. - Carthage made another attempt and its armies passed under the command of Asdrubale and Hamilcar sons of Magone, conqueror of the Iberian peninsula. This time the Carthaginian armies defeated the resistance opposed by the inhabitants of the Phoenician cities of Sardinia. In fact, as evidenced by the significant traces of destruction, the hostilities of the North African city were mainly directed towards these centers and therefore especially towards Sulky. So, after fierce fighting, Carthage firmly took possession of Sardinia, so much so that, already in 509 BC, in the framework of the first peace treaty with Rome, handed down from the Greek historian Polibio, the island, if it was not literally assimilated to its metropolitan territory , was strictly controlled so that foreign sailors were prevented from landing and from the realization of any form of trade if Carthaginian officials were not present. In any case, like most of the Phoenician cities of Sardinia, Sulky also came out severely damaged by the Carthaginian conquest. The African metropolis, which had conquered Sardinia to take over the considerable agricultural resources of the island, brought settlers transported from the coasts of North Africa to the Sulcitan city. Many areas of the island, especially the hilly ones, were abandoned because they were unsuitable for the landowner-type agriculture carried out by Carthage, while numerous new settlements arose in the plains. So, while in the previous centuries the island had constituted a fundamental node of exchange between East and West and between the North and the South of the Mediterranean, the entirety of Sardinia was practically assimilated by the metropolitan territory of Carthage and was totally and strictly closed to internal trade. In particular, all imports from Etruria and Greece ceased, while only those subjected to Carthage's mediation were permitted and under the strict control of its officials."
Now, about the Punic necropolis (so the one founded after the Carthaginian conquest of the city), I've found this information:
"The Punic necropolis of Sant'Antioco is certainly among the most important in the Mediterranean for the vastness of the funeral plant, for the architectural richness and for the numerous finds discovered during the excavations of the tombs. The area currently visible dates back to a period between the fifth and the end of the third century. a.C., at the time of the Carthaginian conquest in Sardinia.
Since the extension of the necropolis exceeds 6 hectares and considering that each tomb covers an area of about 40 square meters, we can hypothesize a number of about 1500 hypogea. From these data we can estimate the population of the ancient Sulky in about 9000-10.000 units, certainly among the most populous and extensive cities in the whole Mediterranean area."
http://www.parcogeominerario.eu/index.php/sulcis/siti-culturali/necropoli-punica-santantioco?lang=it
