The sanctuary of Astarte in Motya

The island of Motya (modern Mozia) off the west coast of Sicily holds several remarkable places of interest: the Villa Withaker with its museum, the Phoenician or Punic cemetery, and the sanctuary of Khoton dedicated to the goddess Astarte.

Joseph Whitaker was an intellectual entrepreneur from Palermo who excavated the island in the first two decades of the 20th century. He organized his rich collection of ceramics, glass, coins, vases, jewelry, terracotta artefacts, and mosaics in separate rooms of his estate. This display shows how a private collector could present his precious finds to his friends and guests. At the same time, it is a unique view of archaeology on Motya that yielded so many Punic artifacts.

The museum's pride is the white marble statue of a charioteer that was found buried in a shallow grave on the road to the sanctuary (see: Amazing charioteers). Remarkably, this statue was made almost simultaneously as the bronze charioteer of Delphi, whose body was more static and elongated, probably to fit better inside his chariot.

 

When visiting the Tophet, the Punic cemetery at the northern end of the island, one can only be impressed by the many child graves. The remains were either put inside a terracotta urn or buried in a rectangular box whose lids are generally lost. A very moving confrontation! The nearby necropolis was used from the end of the 8th century until the end of the 6th century BC.

At the seaside, one recognizes the two gate towers from the 5th century BC. Here, we have to imagine the now inundated road that is connected to the mainland. By low tide, carts with larger wheels could cross the isthmus, giving the impression to walk on water. It has been dated to the 6th-5th century BC.

 

At the other end of the island, the artificial basin of Khoton has been exposed, actually a sacred area that goes back to the 8th century BC. It is here that a large temple facing the water was discovered. Inside this temple, there were initially two upright steles and an obelisk. Viewing the night sky at the winter equinox, the stones framed the constellation of Orion, which corresponds to the Phoenician god Baal. During the spring equinox, the temple's portal framed the same divinity, together with Venus, the Phoenician Astarte. Terracotta remains of a female statue were unearthed inside the temple. They belonged to the goddess Astarte, establishing that the temple was dedicated to her.

 

Also known as Anahita, Innana, or Ishtar, Astarte embodies the qualities of water, especially the fertilizing flow of water (see: The powerful goddess Anahita in Persia). The pool in front of her temple clearly refers to these qualities. She is also linked to the night sky, fertility, fecundity, and war. Besides Babylon, her main centers of worship in and around the Mediterranean were Sidon, Tyre, and Byblos, as well as Malta and Sardinia. As mentioned in my post about Anahita in Persia, we should remember that Alexander must have been well-aware of the role Anahita played in the realm of the Persian gods. Like so many other Greeks of his days, he may have assimilated her with Aphrodite.

During the latest excavation campaign, a beautiful head of the goddess Astarte was found. It was made of terracotta covered with a shiny layer of white on her face, red for her curly hair, and gold for her divine diadem. It could be dated to between 520 and 480 BC. The head was discovered inside a round votive pit and a relief rosette that shows traces of gilding. The rosette is one of the most widespread and popular symbols in the eastern Mediterranean and further inland, confirming the Phoenician goddess's presence. Also, the mold of a dolphin with a large naive eye was discovered.

The face of Astarte represents an astral goddess (based on the rosette) and a marine goddess (based on the dolphin). She is the Lady of life, goddess of fertility, love, and the sea and navigation, of fresh and seawater. The terracotta is Greek, although made in Sicily as was customarily done by the Phoenicians of Motya.

Recent archaeological investigations have shed new light on Motya as the oldest city in Sicily. This sacred area of the Kothon is set around a rectangular pool 52.5 m long. It was bordered by a circular temenos measuring 118 m in diameter, encircling three larger temples. The Kothon was dedicated to Baal, the main Phoenician god, lord of the sea, god of the storm and fertility, and to his companion, the goddess Astarte who had her own little temple there. Eventually, the mighty Astarte/Aphrodite of Motya survived as she merged with the goddesses of the peoples who already lived here.

 

Once again, it makes me wonder how much Alexander knew about these western territories and their beliefs. The fact is that we may never find the answer.

[Except for the first two pictures, the next ones come from The Archaeology News Network]

Bello come un dio

Right, “Bello come un dio”, as beautiful as a god – only this actually is a god and what’s more the father of all gods, Zeus.

This statue of the seated Zeus was found in Soluntum, the Greek Soloeis on the north coast of Sicily. Soluntum was one of the three main Phoenician settlements on the island. Together with Panormus and Motya, Soluntum was able to hold its position against the advancing Greek colonies till it eventually fell into the hands of the Carthaginians.

The considerable remains of the city, which are visible near modern Solanto, are clearly from Roman times, although Soluntum’s origin seems to go back to the 7^th century BC. The remains, however, have never been totally explored.

The statue of Zeus that was found inside a sacred building was broken into many pieces. It has just recently been restored and is now on display at the Archaeological Museum Antonio Salinas in Palermo, which itself is undergoing in-depth restoration and reconstruction works.

This rather impressive image of the seated Zeus reminds us very much of the one that once stood inside the temple of Zeus in Olympia, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The father of the gods is sitting on a throne which is decorated with reliefs of Ares being crowned by Nike, Aphrodite, Eros, and the Graces. His head is carved in white marble while the rest of the statue is made of local soft limestone. It has been dated to 150-100 BC.

It is indeed a true beauty!

Exhibition about Carthage in Leiden, Netherlands

In the wake of my visit to Motya in Sicily where I was confronted with a number of Punic artifacts and a Tophet (Punic cemetery), I expected that this exhibition about Carthage at the Rijksmuseum voor Oudheden in Leiden in the Netherlands would be a nice complement. Well, it was not the case, but anyway, I learned a lot more about the Carthaginians who still are shrouded in mystery.

Carthage is advertised as the third city in the Roman Empire after Rome and Alexandria. This grand city was located in northern Africa on the coast of today’s Tunisia and was founded by the Phoenicians (from modern Lebanon) in the 9th century BC. Carthage had a powerful fleet and extended its power all over the Mediterranean Sea, much to the chagrin of the Romans, and led to repeated confrontations. The last so-called Punic War took place in 146 BC from which the Romans emerged victorious. A good century later, thanks to the efforts of Emperor Augustus, the city was rebuilt to become the third largest of the empire. Its glory lasted till 439 AD when Carthage, like so many cities in North Africa, was invaded by the Vandals. From the 7th century onwards it was gradually forgotten, to be rediscovered early in the 19th century. Since then it has been added to the World Heritage List of UNESCO.

The exhibition in Leiden, which is running till 7 May 2015, is divided in two parts: Carthage from 900 to 146 BC and Roman Carthage after 146 BC. The artifacts have been collected from several museums in Tunisia, but also from the Louvre and the British Museum.

Punic art is pretty intriguing, to say the least, for it is not immediately recognizable as for instance Greek or Egyptian art. Their artifacts are always mixed with foreign influences, either from Egypt, Africa, or Syria (their homeland), often with a Greek twist since many artists turned out to be Greek.

A striking example is, for instance, the lady on the marble lid of a sarcophagus from the 4th-3rd century BC found in the Necropolis of Rabs in Carthage. She is presented in Etruscan fashion but with a robe draped in Greek style; of Egyptian influence is her hairdo and the snake on her forehead, as well as the wings folding over her body. She could be a priestess of Isis, but that is not certain. Another noticeable statue is that representing a Goddess with the Head of a Lioness made of terracotta and dated from the first century AD. Although from the Roman era, the statue strongly reminds us of the Punic god Tanir, while she could be identified as the Egyptian Selhmet as well. The head does not really match her body, I’d say, but her robe looks Greek although the feather motives refer to the Middle East. This statue was found at Tinissut and is on loan from the Bardo Museum in Tunis.

There are, of course, many more highlights to be seen, like the Punic steles; the splendid bronze Punic cuirass; the elaborate Phoenician dishes from the 7th century BC; a collection of incense burners on top of terracotta heads that look very Greek and date from the 3rd-2nd century BC; or the unique marble sundial (scaphe) from Carthage dating from the 1st-2nd century AD on loan from the Louvre (see: What about sundials in antiquity?).

The collection from the Roman era is obviously showing an array of Roman men and women among objects for daily use. It is wonderful, however, to see two bronze statues recuperated from a shipwreck discovered off the coast of Tunisia near Mahdia, one representing Eros with the Lamp and the other a Dancing Satyr, both from around 100 BC. 

Absolutely unique is the presence of a Phoenician bronze battering ram that once was mounted at the very bow of a trireme. It looks brand-new and is quite amazing! It was recently discovered near the Egadi Islands, where the remains of at least 11 warships lost during the final naval battle of the First Punic War were uncovered (see also: The Trireme, a Ship to Remember). This battle occurred just off the Western coast of Sicily, near the island of Favignana. The battering ram that is exhibited here seems to be the only Phoenician one among the otherwise Roman examples.

A good number of highlights are illustrated on a special page of the site of Rijksmuseum voor Oudheden and my own highlights can be found in this album, Carthago in Leiden 2015.

The Battle of Himera, a major confrontation

The history of Sicily is a very complicated one. To simplify things, I like to state that the Greeks colonized the island starting as early as the 8th century BC and that their success was such that it raised the envy and jealousy of the Carthaginians, which led to repeated quarrels and battles. Of course, this is a very simplistic explanation because “the Greeks” came from different cities and city-states in the motherland, where they fought among themselves: Corinth, Athens, and Sparta, or from the islands of Rhodes and Crete. By the fifth century BC, mainland Greece suffered from two nearly consecutive invasions by the mighty Persian army, the first in 492-490 BC, which ended with the Battle of Marathon under Darius I, and the second led by King Xerxes I in 480-479 BC, which was settled with the Battle of Plataea and the naval Battle of Mycale. At the same time, the Carthaginians had reached an agreement with the Persians to reduce the Greeks in Sicily, meaning that Persia was, although indirectly, attacking simultaneously on two fronts.

The Carthaginians may have seized the opportune moment now that Sicily was divided among their allies (Selinus (Selinunte) and Himera) and their enemies (Syracuse and Akragas (Agrigento)). They had already conquered several cities on the west and north coasts of the island, like Motya and Panormos (Palermo), and now saw their chance to extend their power further eastward. Carthage had a powerful general Hamilcar, who led both military and naval forces on his warships across the Libyan Sea.

Terillos of Himera was his ally against Syracuse, a tyrant who lacked popular support. In 483 BC, the situation changed as Theron, tyrant of Akragas, deposed Terillos and added Himera to his own realm. Himera was now in the adverse camp, and it is not surprising that Terillos asked the Carthaginians for help to fight against his enemies. He had, however, to wait almost three years before Hamilcar decided to organize an expedition against Sicily.

I am being taken to the very heart of this decisive battle by Michael Metcalfe as I am travelling around Sicily on a tour organized by Peter Sommer Travels “Exploring Sicily”. Before arriving at Himera, I was captivated by Michael’s lively re-enactment of entering the Castle of Eurialo, and I took in the reasons for the solid defenses against the Carthaginians at Motya and Gela. As the tour moved on, the rich historical remains of Syracuse and the sacred area around the sanctuaries of Agrigento, Selinunte, and Segesta have all been mentally reconstructed – even the quarry of Cave di Cusa abandoned since the Carthaginian invasion, looked very real. With my fellow-aficionados, we now flock around Michael to hear how this major battle between the Sicilian allies and Carthage evolved.

As so many times before, Michael is quoting from Diodorus Siculus, a Sicilian historian who lived in the first century BC, and he is voicing the full action. We are actually standing opposite Himera inside the remains of a Doric temple, believed to be the Temple of Victory, built as a celebration just after the war. On the left was the encampment of the Carthagian navy, and on the right the one reserved for their landforces. As always, the figures in antiquity were very much inflated, and Diodorus is no exception when he mentions that 300,000 men and 200 warships went underway together with a fleet of 3,000 and more merchantmen to transport the supplies. Modern historians have calculated that 200 ships is a fair amount, and since they could never have held 1,500 men each, they concluded that 150 men per vessel is about right. This would bring the total number of soldiers to 30,000, i.e., 1/10th of what is being reported. The same logic can be applied to the merchantmen, which would reach 300 instead of 3,000.

Holding Diodorus’ account in hand, Michael tells us how the army had suffered badly from a storm during which Hamilcar lost the vessels carrying his horses and chariots. He first made a halt in the harbor of Panormos (modern Palermo), where he spent three days repairing the storm damage and resting his troops. From here, he marched towards Himera, with the fleet escorting him along the way. Here, the warships were hauled ashore, and the encampments were surrounded by a deep ditch and wooden palisade. After the army supplies were unloaded, the merchants were sent back with orders to bring in more grain and other goods from Libya and Sardinia. Hamilcar then marched on Himera, located on the slope ahead of us, with the pick of his troops, killing many of the Himerans who had ventured out of the city walls. Hamilcar’s daring action scared Theron, the ruler of Akragas, whose role it was to protect Himera, and he decided to send an urgent message to Syracuse for help. Gelon of Syracuse had a huge army in readiness, and as soon as he received the call from Theron, he marched from Syracuse with 50,000 infantry and over 5,000 cavalry according to Diodorus, although 10,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry sounds more reasonable – a large force anyway. Watching the arrival of Gelon’s men must have been quite comforting to the Himerans, who I picture standing on the roofs of their houses or on a safe spot on the city walls.

While setting up his own encampment outside the city (and Michael points to the plain behind us), Theron sent his cavalry out against the Carthaginians, roaming the countryside in search of easy plunder. At least 1,000 men were rounded up and made prisoners. At this stage, and as strange as it may seem, the inhabitants of Himera came to respect Gelon and despise the Carthaginians.

Gelon, who by now was generally accepted as a man of outstanding generalship and clear insight, started to look for an easy way to outwit his enemy without having to sacrifice the lives of his own men. He knew that Hamilcar was preparing for a lavish sacrifice to the gods, and he felt that this was his chance to set the enemy’s fleet afire. Luck was on his side when horsemen reached him with a message that was intercepted from a courier on his way to deliver letters from the people of Selinus to the enemy camp. These letters mentioned that they would send their cavalry on the day Hamilcar had asked for them. A chance opportunity for Gelon since that day was the same as the one planned for the Carthaginian sacrifices. The tyrant of Syracuse sent out a cavalry of his own, ordering them to take a wide loop and making it look as if they were the couriers coming from Selinus. Once inside the Carthaginian stockade, their instructions were to kill Hamilcar and set his ships afire.

From our vantage point inside the temple, it feels as if we can overlook the entire operation, and we hold our breath together with the people of Himera, who are living between hope and fear. Scouts had been posted high up the surrounding hills, for they would signal when the horsemen arrived inside the enemy’s camp.

At sunrise, the fake friendly cavalry rode up to the Carthaginians and was admitted inside the camp by the guards as their supposed allies. They rode straight up to the place where Hamilcar was holding his sacrifice, killed the general, and set fire to the ships. At this point, the scouts in the hills gave the signal, and Gelon advanced with his entire army in close order. The Carthaginians were entirely taken by surprise, trumpets sounded the alarm, and a fierce battle developed. But when the flames of their burning ships rose high into the sky, and the news of Hamilcar’s death started to spread among his men, most Carthaginians got disheartened, and the Greeks took courage. Gelon had given instructions that no one should be taken alive, and the carnage of the fugitives must have been horrendous. Since the heat of the battle was probably fought at the very spot where we are listening to this vivid story, I stare at my feet, realizing the soil must have been soaked in blood – an uneasy feeling to say the least, even after so many centuries. Reasonable figures mention that 30,000 men were killed or wounded, and certainly not all casualties fell in the enemy camp. Wow, what a place to be standing!

The temple that is our vantage point was, in fact, built by the Carthaginians taken captive on the orders of Gelon of Syracuse. Its dedication to Niké/Victory is uncertain, for it may as well have been built in honor of Athena. In any case, it was destroyed and burnt to the ground soon after its completion, and most likely in 409 BC when the Carthaginians attacked the city of Himera again.

After his victory, Gelon rewarded the brave cavalry that had killed Hamilcar and gave out decorations to other valorous combatants. The prisoners were shared proportionally among his allies, who employed them as laborers on public works. Akragas got most of the workforce, mainly because many of the Carthaginian soldiers had fled into the interior, inside Akragas’ territory in particular. They were the men who quarried the stones (like at Cave di Cusa) and who worked on the construction of many temples, the biggest being the Temple of Zeus (see: The Valley of the Temples at Akragas, Sicily). They were also forced to dig out the extravagant swimming pool in Akragas, which served as a water reservoir and a pond for fresh fish. This pond did not last long since it was drained approximately one century later to eventually become a garden where the Arabs cultivated their oranges, the Kolymbetra Garden.

Peace had returned to Himera, but it was short-lived. The Carthaginians had not forgotten their bitter defeat, and they attacked again in 409 BC when Sicily was torn apart by internal conflicts. This time, Himera was razed to the ground and never rebuilt.

So much for the proud city of Himera and so much for this unique experience: Thank you, Michael!

Amazing charioteers

Speaking of a charioteer, the tall and slender bronze statue from Delphi immediately comes to mind. Standing in front of this unique figure with his large inlaid eyes and delicate eyelashes is an unforgettable experience. 

Erected either in 478 or in 474 BC to honor the victory of a chariot team in the Pythian Games that were held every four years at Delphi for the Pythian Apollo, it incarnates the typical conventional style of the late Archaic period as well as that of the early Classical ideal although we easily tend to look beyond his rather rigid pose simply because his face is so fascinating. This charioteer is supposed to have stood behind the chariot drawn by four or six horses, assisted by two grooms forming a quite imposing group in its days. It is believed to be made in Athens and shows certain similarities with the Piraeus Apollo, but nothing is certain.

But there is another charioteer, although much less known who is at home at the Museum of Motya in Sicily. This is a most remarkable marble statue dating from around 440 BC, which by its pose alone expresses great confidence. It may have been made by a Greek master and scholars even think that Phidias may have been its creator. This work is much more realistic, fully belonging to the Classical period. As it was found buried in a shallow grave on the road to the sanctuary his face and vital parts have been abraded, but otherwise, he is amazingly well preserved. He lost the bronze band around his chest and his arms which he held in quite a defiant pose. In fact, he carries his entire body in a rather provocative pose and the tight long dress gives him a sexy appearance.

On second thought, this statue may not be that of a charioteer but rather represents the Phoenician god Melgart (equal to the Greek Heracles), the supreme god of Tyre, or even an unknown Carthaginian hero. Personally, I favor the idea of a charioteer, were it only because of the elongated lower body and his dress which corresponds entirely to his Delphian counterpart.

Both statues also come together in Sicily as the inscription found on the limestone base of the Delphian charioteer states that the bronze was dedicated by the tyrant of Gela, a Greek colony in Sicily to thank Apollo for helping him to win the chariot race (Polyzalos dedicated me … Make him prosper, honored Apollo). The marble charioteer, on the other hand, was extracted from Sicilian soil more recently.

It never ceases to amaze me how close the relationship between the peoples around the Mediterranean was. In the 5th century BC, Sicily was indeed very wealthy and the local rulers could easily have afforded the most magnificent offerings to the gods. The Motya charioteer is proof of that.

[Click here for more pictures of the Motya charioteer]