Mozia (Mothya)

 Mothya was the island fortress of Carthage in Sicily. Here, about 2,700 years ago, the Carthaginians built a trade outpost and flourishing commercial town, which became one of their most important and thriving settlements.

The town extendedover just 45 hectares. The streets were narrow and the housing built relatively high, thus making the most of the limited space. The town was surrounded by strong defensive walls to ward off attacks from Greek rivals and a small artificial port, or ‘cothon’, accessed by a man-made canal, was constructed in the most southern part of the island.

Carthaginians built an underwater causeway bedded into the shallow lagoon. This connected the north gate of the town to the mainland and allowed large-wheeled carts and horses to seemingly glide across the water. This causeway can just be made out on satellite photos.

In 397 B.C. Mozia was besieged by Dionysius, the Greek tyrant of Siracusa. After a long and difficult battle the Greeks triumphed, sacked the town and put most of its residents to the sword. A year later, Himilco, the Carthaginian general, retook Mozia back but opted to build a new city, Lilibeo (now Marsala), on the mainland. Mozia continued to be inhabited by a few farmers.

You can visit THE archaeological remains, many of which were discovered by Whitaker, the family who owned the island. The “Cappidazzu”, a place for religious sacrifice, parts of the defensive walls, including the northern gate, a necropolis with several tombstones and the outlines of some villas, complete with examples of extremely old mosaics made using black and white pebbles, all survive on the island. A small museum in the Villa Whitaker contains many artefacts of both North African (Carthaginian) and Greek origin, including a marvellous statue of a charioteer.