Sardinian mythology

The mythology Sarde is ancient (since the Lower Paleolithic) and particularly rich (ozieri period, Nuragic period). The stable settlement of Sardinia results from population movements of the Cardial Pottery culture that occurred around 6000 BC. AD from the Italian peninsula. But it continued, over the invasions, to give the Sardinian people.

One can find two types of supposed origins of the name of the island. Indeed, the first, which is more of the order of myth, comes from the term Ichnusa (Ιχνούσσα / Ichnoússa) or Sandàlion (Σανδάλιον / Sandálion) which derives from the root Greek which means footprint. This term refers to the shape of the island, "by the gross resemblance that the ancients found between its shape and that of the imprint of a human foot".

But a second origin would come from a Berber leader from North Africa (ancient Libya, west of the Nile) called "Sardus, alleged son of Hercules", who established a colony south of Sardinia. Sardus was venerated, so much so that “statues were erected to him on the island, with this inscription, Sardus Pater”.