J1J  el in the

low ground below the modern town, may be mentioned . Close to it, among the houses of the modern town, a solid base about 25 ft. square, belonging possibly to a lighthouse or a tomb, records the existence of a temple of Isis and Serapis during the imperial period . A bilingual inscription of the 1st century B.C . (?) in Latin and in neo-Punic records the erection of a statue to Himilkat, who had carried out a decree of the local senatus for the erection of a temple to a goddess (described in the Punic version as domina dea—possibly Tanit herself) by his son Himilkat (T . Mommsen in Corp. incr. lat. x . 7513, 7514) . The Phoenician tombs consist of a chamber cut in the rock, measuring about 14 ft. square and 8 ft. high, and approached by a staircase: some of these have been converted into dwellings in modern times . Many of the curious sculptured stelae found in these tombs are now in the museum of Cagliari . On many of them the goddessTanit is represented, often in a form resembling Isis, which gave rise to the unfounded belief of the Egyptian origin of Sulci . The Roman tombs, on the other hand, are simply trenches excavated in the rock . There are also several catacombs: a group still exists under the church, in which was discovered the body of the martyr St Antiochus, from whom the modern town takes its name . The church is cruciform, with heavy pillars between nave and aisles, and a dome over the crossing: it belongs to the Byzantine period, and contains an inscription of Torcotorius, protospatarius and Salusius, apxwv, dating from the loth century A.U .

(A . Taramelli in Archivio storico sardo, 1907, 83 sqq.) . Others farther

south-west were Jewish; they have inscriptions in red painted on the plaster with which they are lined, and the seven-branched candlestick occurs several times . The fort which occupies the highest point—no doubt the acropolis of the Punic period—is quite modern . The long, low isthmus which, with the help of bridges, connects the island with the mainland, is very likely in part or entirely of artificial origin; but neither it nor the bridges show any definite traces of Roman date . On either side of it ships could find shelter then as nowadays . The origin of Sulci is attributed by Pausanias to the Carthaginians, and the Punic antiquities found there go to indicate the correctness of his account . It is mentioned in the account of the First Punic War as the place at which the Carthaginian admiral Hannibal took refuge after his defeat by C . Sulpicius, but was crucified . In 46 B.C. the city was severely punished by Caesar for the assistance given to Pompey's admiral Nasidius . Under the empire it was one of the most flourishing cities of Sardinia . It was attacked by the Vandals and Saracens, but ceased to exist before the 13th century .

Previously to this it had been one of the four episcopal

sees into which Sardinia was divided . A castle in the low ground, attributed to the index Torcotorius, to the south of the modern town, was destroyed in modern times . See A . Tarawelli in Notizie degli scavi (1906), 135; (1908), 145, 192 . (T .