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Call in modern San Pantaleo (by a community of monks that had its headquarters in the Middle Ages), the ancient Mozia was founded by the Phoenicians of Tyre around the end of the eighth century and gained commercial wealth, also gradually accepting people of Greek origin and beating currency. The etymology could mean “spinning mill”, and in fact it seems he went famous for the production of fabrics dyed with the purple shellfish, who were there in abundance. In the sixth century, the expansion of the Carthaginian Empire and the rivalry with the Greek colonies led Mozia to establish a defense system that became gradually more and more solid. But all this was not enough to withstand the onslaught of the army of Dionysius of Syracuse, in that 397 besieged the island, using a new weapon, Catapult, capable of projecting “missiles” long-range. Defeat the Punic fleet, despite the strong defense of the inhabitants, Motya was razed to the ground. Shortly after, The Phoenicians took up the island but never rebuilt the city, transferring survivors in nearby Lilibeo. Now owned by the Whitaker Foundation, in those 45 ha there is no corner that whispers its lavish and sad events. The sanctuary in the locality Cappiddazzu, with the remains of a walled complex of worship; the left tophet, the sacred area where the Phoenicians they laid their sacrifices in honor of Baal and Astarte: it contains seven layers of urns with the remains of the victims (nella foto); we see today a part, disseminated carpet, stuck halfway into the ground, with a mixture of pity and horror into a ritual for which death seemed to enjoy greater respect for life. And then, the House of Mosaics; the remains of a pottery workshop, with wells and ovens for the manufacture of ceramics; an archaic necropolis, where the bodies were cremated. And finally, the precious museum dedicated to Joseph Whitaker, which preserves, inter alia, the most substantial collection of artifacts Phoenician-Punic Sicily: there is a superb group of stone with two lions attacking a bull; a famous grinning mask, the first of its kind found in Sicily, of meaning apotropaic; the statue clay figurine with a naked, adorned with necklaces and belt, that puts his hands on her breasts, probably a goddess of fertility; pots in polychrome glass paste, type greek and Punic, tombstones, votive inscriptions, funeral, amulets, beetles and burners. The eye that runs in front of these little masterpieces of craftsmanship and taste, even those
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