2,500-Year-Old ‘Sacred Pool’ Uncovered on Sicilian Island

Excavations on the former island-city of Motya have revealed a big sacred pool that the traditional Phoenicians used for non secular functions and to trace the actions of stars, in accordance with new analysis.

New research within the science journal Antiquity presents a novel interpretation of a man-made basin, often called a “kothon,” on the previous island metropolis of Motya in western Sicily. The authors of the brand new paper, led by archaeologist Lorenzo Nigro from Sapienza University of Rome, say the construction will not be a army harbor as initially believed, however a “sacred pool at the centre of a monumental sanctuary with possible astronomical functions.” The discovery is shedding new gentle on historic Phoenician tradition and their connection to nature.

The kothon (a time period utilized by Greek and Latin authors) was initially uncovered within the early Nineteen Twenties, and it dates to between 550 and 397 BCE. Archaeologists figured it was a man-made harbor, and for good cause; an analogous construction existed in Carthage, and it served the perform of a army port. The new examine challenges this lengthystanding interpretation, arguing that the two,500-year-old construction is a sacred pool, making it among the many largest to be discovered within the Mediterranean area.

Renewed excavations on the website between 2002 and 2010 resulted within the discovery of a giant constructing, the Temple of Ba’al. The temple honoring the Phoenician deity was discovered alongside the sting of the presumed kothon. It was an odd discovery, because it’s not the type of constructing that one would possibly look forward to finding at a army harbor. This led to a decade-long effort to additional examine the construction, during which the staff needed to drain and excavate the basin, which measures 172 ft (52.5 meters) lengthy and 119 ft (36.25 meters) large. That’s greater than an Olympic-size swimming pool.

The staff “excavated stratigraphically, layer by layer, in order to reconstruct its complex history and as it is—unexpectedly—connected with the phreatic aquifer [the Greek term for a natural spring] we had to pump water outside continuously,” Nigro defined in an electronic mail. Indeed, because the excavations revealed, the supposed kothon was not linked to the ocean and was as an alternative fed by pure springs, so “it could not have served as an inlet to a hypothetical navigable basin,” in accordance with the examine.

Importantly, the archaeologists additionally found a further temple across the perimeter of the pool, a construction devoted to the Phoenician goddess Astarte, and a 3rd constructing labeled “Sanctuary of the Holy Waters.” Burial stones, altars, non secular choices, and a pedestal on the heart of the pool have been additionally uncovered. The pedestal nonetheless retained the ft of a tall statue that when stood up prime—a statue the scientists imagine represented Ba’al. Taken collectively, this proof suggests the pool was a placing centerpiece to a considerable non secular sanctuary.

But that’s not all. A map of the pool suggests it was aligned to the celebrities and used to trace celestial actions. As the researchers write:

The reflecting surfaces of swimming pools might be used for astronomical observations through the use of poles to mark the place of stars mirrored within the water, permitting the statement and measurement of celestial our bodies and their angles relative to the horizon. The constellations and their positions within the night time sky on important dates, comparable to solstices and equinoxes, are mirrored within the alignments of the primary buildings on the website, in addition to by sacred options that embrace stelae fastidiously positioned inside the temenos to mark the rising, zenith, or setting of the celebrities over the horizon.

Nigro stated this explicit discovering excited him essentially the most—the “fact that ancient Phoenicians aimed to synchronize their life with that of the cosmos/nature,” he informed me, and that “their gods were stars and nature was a constantly inspiring force in their lives.”

The redefining of the kothon and the characterization of the non secular complicated additional refines our understanding of the traditional Phoenicians, a civilization that lasted from round 2500 BCE to 64 BCE, when Pompey conquered Phoenicia. Nigro stated the brand new findings present us that the Phoenicians “could gather different Mediterranean cultures in their city using this cult complex as a place to mix and exchange their traditions.” This openness, nonetheless, got here at a value, because it served to alienate Carthage, ensuing within the siege of Motya in 398-397 BCE, in accordance with the paper.

Upon completion of the excavation, Nigro’s staff refilled the basin and mounted a duplicate statue of Ba’al to the pedestal. It really seems to be very cool, offering a glimpse of what this sacred place seemed like so a few years in the past.