Mozia

Mozia is a small, flat island (40 hectares) covered by olive trees and vineyards in the centre of the Stagnone, a lagoon enclosed by Isola Longa. As at Carthage, the oldest archaeological finds of the Phoenician period date from the end of the 8th century B.C.. The foundation of Mozia as a commercial port is estimated to have occured in the mid 8th century. In 397 B.C. the city zas destroyed by Dionysius of Syracuse, forcing the inhabitants to take refuge on the mainland in Marsala (Lilybeo.) At the beginning of this century, Joseph Whitaker bought the island and began excavations which would add considerably to our knowledge of the Phoenician civilisation. Whitaker's work was continued by his daughter Delia, who, in 1971, left the island and all of her inheritance to a foundation that she established, named after her father.

According to the historian Diodorus Siculus, Mozia was a splendid city, full of palaces. Perhaps, however, he was deceived by Mozia's strategic importance into exaggerating its urban dimensions. In fact, until now the excavations have brought to light only a few remains of houses. These include some walls of buildings which line a street running north-west to south-east and the Casa delle Anfore (House of the Amphorae) in the center of the island.

The city has an axial plan, with streets crossing at right angles forming a grid pattern. The principal artery of the city must have connected "Porta Sud" with "Porta Nord". Near Porta Sud the remains of the Casa dei Mosaici are visible. This house contains wonderful mosaics composed of small white and black pebbles depicting scenes of animals hunting.

Near the ferry landing one can find the villa of Whitaker which houses the museum. One of its most important pieces is the Giovinetto di Mozia (Young Man of Mozia,) a life sized statue of white Parian marble found by the Superintendancy BBCCAA during the excavations of1979. The head is sculpted in the severed style, with its flat contours and heavily rimmed eyes, while the wet drapery style and languid hip shot pose of the body is much later, a juxtaposition to be seen in other sculptures of the Hellenistic period.

Near Porta Sud is the artificial inlet called "Cathon", measuring 50 x 40 m. Its function is still debated; for a long time it was considered to be Mozia's harbour where ships docked with their cargo or sheltered from storms. However its small dimensions seem to rule this out. It could be that it was a port for landing skiffs ferrying cargo from the Phoenican ships anchored in the Stagnone lagoon. However the recent dredging of the Cathon revealed that it had an elaborately-paved floor. This would seem rather surplus to requirements if filled with water. So it seems an attractive theory that the Cathon was a dry dock for the Phoenician ships, and its length fits the dimensions of the ship found in Marsala.

Excavations in the north of the island have brought to light the remains of workshops thought to have been used by potters (demonstrated by an extant oven in Area K) or as a place to dye and tan clothes or hides. Around the middle of the VI century, the city was fortified by strong walls which had rectangular towers, set at intervals of 21 m, seen along the northern side and the necropolis. The walls have been restored and in some places partially reconstructed. Along the walls watchtowers and barracks appear frequently. An interesting element in Porta Nord is its system of 3 dipyla supported by the central pillar. The exterior door of the dipylon was probably surmounted with a sculptural group of a bull being eaten by two lions, which is now in the Mozia museum.

Leading out of the Porta Nord is a road, submerged due to bradyseism, which links the island to the mainland and was a natural bridge to the island used by grape-laden carriages.

Most of the archaeologicl material has been foud in the 2 Mozian necropoleis. The oldest (7th - 6th c. B.C.) is situated in the N.W. area, while the other (VI-V c.B.C.) can be found on the mainland along the Birgi coast. Like the necropoleis at Carthage, Sidon and Cyprus, the funeral rites seen in the older necropolis consitsted of cremation, after which the ashes were placed in a stone casing consisting of six rectangular slabs that formed a box. In the Birgi necropolis tombs have been found, indicating that inhumation as well as cremation was practised. In both necropoeis various grave objects including Attic and Corinthian vases have been foud. Between the old necropolis and "Porta Nord" was found a group of buildings called "Cappiddazzo" of various periods. Among these are the remains of a square enclosure next to a three-aisled building which, given the presence of small stone altars, may have had a religious function. Near the old necropolis there are the remains of the "Tophet", the sanctuary where sacrifices of first-born males were performed. The "Tophet" was an open structure off limits to all but the priests. Today there can be seen votive steles, memorial stones commemorating the victims, small wells and the remains of a small temple. From the last layers of cinerary finds, we can deduce that this sacrificial rite was practised from the 7th to the late 4th c. B.C. The symbolic figurines on the votive steles and some Punic inscriptions indicate tahat te primary divinity worshipped here was Baal Hammon, to whom the sanctuary was probably dedicated.