The southern wall of the sacred pool, which separates the pool on Motya from the lagoon.Image credit: © Sapienza University of Rome Expedition to Motya; Lorenzo Nigro, Antiquity (2022); Antiquity Publications Ltd
Posted on 04/06/2022 8:12:34 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Motya, a small island that covers an area of just under 100 acres (40 hectares), sits off the western coast of Sicily. Bronze and Iron Age populations thrived there due to the abundant supply of fish, salt, fresh water and its protected location within a lagoon, Nigro wrote in the study. In the eighth century B.C., Phoenicians began settling there and integrating with locals, bringing their distinctive West Phoenician culture to the island.
Just 100 years later, the settlement had grown into a bustling port city with a trade network stretching across the central and western Mediterranean. This brought Motya into conflict with Carthage, a rival power with Phoenician roots on the North African coast. In the mid-sixth century B.C., Carthaginian forces demolished Motya.
But Motya bounced back. The population quickly rebuilt the city, including the enigmatic artificial basin, which archaeologists discovered in the 1920s...
When Nigro and his colleagues drained and excavated the basin, they saw that it wasn't connected to the sea, but instead was filled by natural freshwater springs. They also found the remains of more temples around the basin, along with altars, engraved stone slabs known as stelae, votive offerings (special objects, such as figurines, that people left for religious purposes) and — as the icing on the cake — a pedestal at the center of the artificial lake that once held a large statue of Ba'al...
Archaeologists also found the bronze pointer of an astrolabe, an ancient navigation tool, during the excavation of the Temple of Ba'al, he wrote in the study. Another discovery included the worn statue of a dog-headed baboon, a personification of the Egyptian god Thoth, who was associated with astronomy and often featured in zodiacs.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
The southern wall of the sacred pool, which separates the pool on Motya from the lagoon.Image credit: © Sapienza University of Rome Expedition to Motya; Lorenzo Nigro, Antiquity (2022); Antiquity Publications Ltd
Ancient sess pit.
Cool!
Considering the Phoenicians’ and Carthaginians’ religious practice of infant human sacrifice maybe Planned Parenthood and the ACLU should file suit to protect the site as an international historic landmark. /s
Always an temple. I could have merely been a precursor of Epstein’s Island.
:^) They didn’t really have an age of consent back then, or hide what they were up to.
Ba’al Zevuv, “lord of the flies”.
Civ, can not well you how much I, as hopefully many others, love your posts. They are fantastic and sure do look forward to seeing them. Thanks.
Cool find.
Pagan ancestors of the fake pope 🤪
I’ve visited this place. It’s incredible. The museum on the island, which houses artifacts dug up there, blew my mind with its sheer volume of artifacts. I’m planning on heading back there in the late spring. It’s in Trapani, about a two hour drive from where I live.
Nice!
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