Temple of Antas

Is it worth the trip?

If you are in the south-west of the island, yes. A Roman temple with its columns standing, in a green valley under the limestone of Monte Conca s’Omu, is the draw, and the quarries and the Nuragic village make it more than a single building. Be clear about what you are seeing: the columns were re-erected in the restoration, and it is one temple rather than a town, so it fits into a day around Iglesias, 9 km away, rather than being a trip of its own. Check the season before you go: from December to February it opens only on Friday mornings and at weekends, and in winter it closes when it rains.

Getting there

The temple lies about 9 km north-west of Iglesias (de.wikipedia) and about 10 km south of Fluminimaggiore, in that town’s territory (it.wikipedia). From Iglesias, take the SS 126 towards Fluminimaggiore as far as km 54.1, where a signed asphalt road on the right runs about 1.5 km to the site; it takes cars and coaches (SardegnaCultura). The car park, about 250 m from the temple, has a kiosk bar, the ticket office and a bookshop. No public transport is mapped near the site, so plan on a car.

Opening hours follow the season: daily 09.30–19.30 in July and August, 09.30–18.30 in September, and 09.30–17.30 from April to June and in October. In March and November it opens Tuesday to Friday 10.00–14.00 and at weekends 09.30–16.30; from December to February only on Friday 10.00–14.00 and at weekends 09.30–16.30. It is closed on 25 December, and the ticket office shuts half an hour before closing time. A ticket is €6, or €4 for children aged 6 to 12, groups of more than 30 and schools; a €7 combined ticket adds the ethnographic museum in the Licheri watermill (SardegnaCultura, the Regione Sardegna portal, read 19 October 2026 — check before travelling).

History

The valley was sacred long before Rome. From the 9th century BC there were single shaft tombs here, and one held a bronze figurine of a nude male god with a spear in his left hand and his right hand raised, which has been linked to the local god Babai and his Punic counterpart Sid (SardegnaCultura). The Carthaginians built a temple to Sid around 500 BC, after their conquest of the island, and remodelled it around 300 BC (SardegnaCultura). Carthaginians and then Romans were drawn to the district by its metal ores; the articles name lead together with iron or silver (it.wikipedia, en.wikipedia).

Rome rebuilt the sanctuary in the Augustan period (SardegnaCultura), around 38 BC by the dating in it.wikipedia and de.wikipedia, and dedicated it to Sardus Pater Babai, the Roman form of the same god. In the 2nd century AD the geographer Ptolemy described a sanctuary of Sardus Pater at the source of a sacred river, which de.wikipedia identifies with the Rio Antas. Under Caracalla, between 213 and 217, the temple was restored: the Latin inscription from that work records that Quintus Coelius (or Cocceius) Proculus restored the temple of the god Sardus Pater Babi, which had fallen into ruin through age (SardegnaCultura; it.wikipedia). Of the statue that probably stood in the temple only a finger has been found, from which it is estimated at about 3 m tall (it.wikipedia). Votive offerings found in the temple area include bronze figurines, iron spears, 42 Republican and 1,103 imperial coins (it.wikipedia). With the coming of Christianity the temple was closed, around the 4th century AD (de.wikipedia).

The site has been identified with Metalla (de.wikipedia), the Roman mining centre of the Iglesiente run by a procurator of the mines, where Christians and slaves were sent to forced labour (en.wikipedia, it.wikipedia); it.wikipedia notes that Metalla’s exact location is still undetermined. The ruins were found by General Alberto La Marmora in the 1830s (published dates are 1836 and 1838), excavated in 1967–68 and then partly restored to their appearance under Caracalla; the area in front of the temple was excavated between 1984 and 1994 (SardegnaCultura, en.wikipedia, it.wikipedia).