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Discovering
the Island
Main Attractions Edition
The first scratch map of Sardinia, you will discover 40 attractions of the Island. Each of them will make you know more local elements.
25 - THARROS
The area in which the town of Tharros is located belongs to the municipality of Cabras.
Founded by the Phoenicians in the 8th century B.C. in the southern part of the Sinis peninsula, on an area already frequented in pre-Nuragic times. The idea that the settlement was much older takes root, in fact the Nuragic traces are persistent both in the upper part and towards the tower on the opposite promontory. Unfortunately we still do not have complete information because of a total excavation that does not reach the third part of the entire settlement. It is also found that, following the rise in sea level and the phenomenon of positive bradyseism from 3,000 years to the present day, a part of the urban fabric is below the same sea level.
Tharros today is an open-air museum where one can observe the variety of peoples who have colonized and inhabited the area in different historical phases, starting with the remains of a proto-Sardinian village dating back to the Bronze Age (Su Murru Mannu).
On the upper part of the village was built the Tophet, an open-air sanctuary where urns were placed with the ashes of prematurely dead children and animals sacrificed to the gods.
The two necropolis also belong to the Phoenician age, consisting in most cases of simple pits dug in the sand in which the remains of the deceased are deposited with pottery and personal belongings.
The city of Tharros was fortified during the period of Carthaginian domination. At that time Tharros experienced a moment of economic prosperity due to the continuous trade with North Africa, the Iberian peninsula and the Greek colony of Massalia (today Marseille).
It was conquered by Rome in 238 BC. The imperial period brought about an urban renewal, consisting of the construction of the baths, the aqueduct and the new road system built with basalt slabs. Tharros was one of the epicentres of the anti-Roman revolt led by Amsicora in 215 BC. The closed hydraulic system for black and white water is certainly of great value. Moreover, for each house there was a cistern for the rainwater collection.
It is thought that in the most flourishing period, the settlement housed more than 8,000 people.
The artefacts found in this area are scattered in many museums, in the Municipal Archaeological Museum Giovanni Marongiu of Cabras, in the Antiquarium Arborense of Oristano, in the National Archaeological Museum of Cagliari and also in the British Museum of London.
The archaeological site of Tharros attracts an average of 100,000 visitors per year.
Unfortunately, the unattended nature of the site for many years has reduced its wealth due to the incursions of grave robbers or those who stole lithic material for building purposes.
In many respects, due to the urban/structural overlapping of the peoples who inhabited it and the strategic geographical position on the coast, Tharros has strong similarities with the settlement of Nora, south of Sardinia, also partly submerged by water.
