Sardinia and Corsica were' likewise inhabited by people,
who were partly óf Iberian descent.
Pliny enumerates three tribes as th # ’principal inhabitants
of Sardinia: he terms thèm Ilienses, Balari, and Cförst. -The
Ilienses of Pliny were termed by Strabo Iofaenses; A myth
respecting their origin reported them to have .deseéndëd
from the sons of Hercules, who Came to the island under
Iolaus. The barbarous inhabitants whom' they found'-there,
and among whom they took up their abode, wereVaccording to
Strabo, Etruscans. ; Several other writers mention the Ilienses
or Iolaensesr as Diodorus, Aristotle, and Pausariids, and
they are represented by some as Trojans, by others as Greeks*-
From Strabo, however, we learn that they werè barbarous inhabitants
of the mountainous piarts o f the island, who dwelt
in caves, and scarcely cultivated the ground, but supported
themselves by predatory attacks upon their1 more industrious
neighbours, and chiefly upon the people , of the opposite cohst
of Pisa. Strabo terms them DiagebfeNT"'He say's® thatrtlfeè
were four tribes of those mountaineers in Sardinia, the Tarati,
Sossinati, Balari, and Aeonites. Pausaniafe, • who has givéir a
long and detailed account obSardinia, terms the inhabitants'6f
fee mountainous parts in general Balari. He says that after
the Carthaginians had conquered the island, thb higher districts
in the interior rèmainéd in the possession of the Balari;
They were descended from a mixtüre of Iberians and Libyans;
The first city that was founded in the’4sland of Sardinia Whs
Nora, which was built by Ibérians. * Solirius confirms this
account, which represents the early population of Sardinië tó
have been partly Libyan and partly óf Iberian or igin. p
Euski. But we shall hereafter show that the Oscans were of a very different stock.
Their characters were hut a slight modification of the Etruscan. Between the
Etruscans, who were a trading people, and the Baetic Spaniards, it is likely
that intercourse existed.
* Pausan, in Phocicis, ,10.
■f- The Phoenicians, however, colonized Sardinia at an early period, and it was
afterwards conquered and held in subjection by tfie Carthaginians,' till the first
Punic war. They built the towns of Calaris, Sulchi, and Caralis.—.Pausan(10.
17.—Diodor. 4, 29. 5.15, 15, 24.) Polybius (i. 79.) Cicero expressly declares, that
the. Sardinians in his time were considered as in great part Carthaginians, (Cicero
pro Scauro, c. 14, 18.) See Gesenius Script.JLing. Phcen. Mon. p. 154." A Phoenician
or rather Punic inscription in Sardinia nas been illustrated by Gesenius,
Thfe^populatloi-i h |ife tsic a . - called by th^Greeks Cyraos, is
said likevvjw^bV'ancient w i iters to h a v ^ e em in part Iberian
aud^KM.tl^ Libyanr), hjjs^cjgrnmentary on Dionysius,
^ays^ that^b^fijs^ iith^laitants of tfie Isle of Corsica
■^’pjrpiljberia|^s,* f?Isidq^. and, Serviiqs iSay; Ahiat it was peopled
fc,L^riap^j)but^Pausjama^,de^fP»;S. primitive inhabitants
fro|U; L.yb%.' The form.e.i^i|^p^nL is, ^confirmed by 'the
phy^sophea'Seneca,,, mhp jsasihimsejtf, a ngtiyeiiojf(Spain, and
was-banished>foi^ |.I^)0|^^q|&ca.y^He^rpmarked that the
^k sican s^ sfim b ^ ed ^ e jC g iitp la rk in ^ ^ in in,,their dressy and
Retained some relics o f hheii&oM Iberian dmiemaee ,4.? although
the island was much freq g en td d ^p Ligurians and,' Greeks.
S ection VII.— Observations ore the Origin o f the Oeltie and
Iberian Inhabitants o f Sip&ine
It has been a general Opinion that the Iberians were'the
aboriginal! inhabitants, of the entire1 Spfijifelppeninsula, and
that the^l^iltitrihek) ,wshp1 occupied s 'pm ^ p k ^ ' ° f it/'were
invaders-from tlie^other §ip^‘of the l ^ % n |^ |5who forced their
way among 'thhl earlier and -less warlike inhabitants, and
’gained 1 hossessipnu.df some province^; Against this opinion
Strong doubts have been raised.
That ;the Gelti were invaders of Spain, and ^ofig^posterior
to the Jberi, and that these were the aborigines, was th h
general persuasion of ancients writers.|f||Strabo mentions the
C.elti among the foreign invaders, who gained.# footing in
the peninsula, and he speaks of the Celtiberians^ as having been
originally Celts; Appian says that the Cel'tse^bt somfe time
or .another, passing.’over the Pyrenees and mixing their
dwellings with th e Iberians, acquired thence the' name of
Celtiberi.f Diodorus Eeejns to baveyobtained the same report;^
he says that the Iberians and Celts, after lOrig wars about the
possession of the country, at length made peace and agreed to
inhabit it in common, and their races becoming intermixed,
• Eustath. afi Dionys. Perieg. 458.
+ Appian. Bell. Hisp. 256.
£ ’ Diodor.' Bblioth,w^v.- c: '309.