Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/37

Inland Tribes. 19 Fig. 7. -Sardus rater, coin of the Ati; family. small number of its inhabitants. Fired by these glowing descrip- tions, they had placed their families and few valuables in large open boats, such as we see on the Menephtah inscription at Kar- nak, where they boldly venture into the Nile and the surrounding canals x during the time of the year when light steady winds pre- vail. The coasts of Sardinia being nearer, were the first to be inhabited. Hence the mysterious hero Sardos, stated to have been a son of Hercules, represented on Sardinian coins with the legend "Sardus Pater" (Fig. y), 2 may have been due to the lingering remem- brance of the Libyan Shardana. But even admitting that they gave the name to the island, they were not left long in sole and undisputed possession ; other Libyan tribes, attracted by the facility of the voyage, soon followed in their wake. According to Pausanius, Iberians, Boeotians, and Athenians should be numbered among early immigrants to Sardinia. However this may be, the fact remains that Sardinia, in remote ages, was inhabited by a number of different tribes ; this, without looking further, suffices to account for the Shardana having dis- carded some of their national customs and modified their dress for reasons of convenience and expediency, so as to fit and harmonize them with their new surroundings. How great was the fusion of the various elements that were brought for the first time in juxta- position on a narrow space is not known, but that it was consider- able may be inferred from historians having made no allusion to difference of language or manners in the tribes which they include under the generic name of Sardi, Sardes, and which we call Sardi- nians. The names of the chief tribes have come down to us : thus the Ilienses, as we said, occupied the narrow valleys and the tableland stretching between the east coast and the Tharsos, which forms the division now called Barbagia, whilst the Balari, a name recalling Baleari, held the region somewhat more to the north ; 1 In the great Karnak inscription relating the invasion of the Barbarians under Menephtah and the manner of their expulsion we read these words : " They sacked maritime cities, spreading over the country, which they entered through the river " (Lenormant, Histoire Ancienne des Peuples d' 'Orient, 9th edit, torn. ii. p. 280). 2 Pausanias, X. xvii. 2.