Draft:Sacred area of the Kothon, Motya

The Sacred area of the Kothon is a Phoenician religious PRECINCT/ sanctuary situated in the southwest of the island of Motya, Sicily.

Motya is a mediterranean island, known to be occupied since xxx,

The sanctuary comprises multiple temples and cultic installations surrounding the Sacred pool of Baal, a large rectangular man-made basin used for ritual purposes. The pool, formerly called Kothon, was believed to be an artificial harbor used as a dry dock for ship careening, until excavations revealed its religious function in connection with its surrounding temples.

The sacred area of the Kothon is delimited by a circular temenos, a sacred enclosure xxx in diameter. The temenos connects with the sea from the west and the south. The sacred pool of Baal occupies a central location within the complex and is surrounded by three temples. To the west of the pool lies the Temple of Baal, to its east, the temple of Astarte, and a third, smaller temple, is dubbed Sanctuary of the holy waters.

Motya

for pool of Baal is a large basin used for ritual purposes. The pool was a central part of a large religious complex that included multiple temples and shrines, including the grand temple of the chief Phoenician deity, the god Baal.

Due to its large size, the pool was mistaken by archeologists for a kothon, an artificial inland harbor.

Historical background
The acropolis of Motya presented evidence that the earliest settlement occurred in 2000 BC.

Phoenicians established a settlement on the island around the beginning of the eighth century BC. They successfully integrated with the Elymians, the island's indigenous occupants. Nigro and Spagnoli describe the effect of this integration in creating a “distinctive West Phoenician cultural identity” on Motya.

The settlement, located at a strategic position at the center of the Mediterranean, developed into a flourishing Punic trading city during the seventh century BC.

Its trade network spanned Central and Western Mediterranean, resulting in conflict with Carthage. The Carthaginians, led by general Malco, attacked and sacked the island in 550 BC. The city was rebuilt shortly after, complete with a massive city wall which, according to Nigro, was “one of the earliest such structures in the Central Mediterranean”. The renewed status of the city was exemplified by the construction of monumental religious areas at the north and south sides of the island.

Decline (MERGE WITH PREVIOUS)
In 397–396 BC, the Greek despot of Syracuse Dionysius the Elder destroyed the Phoenician colony in an epic siege, leaving the island completely ruined and effectually uninhabited. From the third century BCE until the seventh century CE, the sacred pool was spoliated and used as a salt evaporation pond.

First excavations
The island of Motya, which piqued scientists' interest in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, was not the subject of comprehensive research until the beginning of the twentieth century.

The first ... to .... 1875 Schliemann  (downloaded)

Discovery
In the early 1900s, Anglo-Sicilian ornithologist and archaeology aficionado Joseph Whitaker purchased the small island and began partial excavations, revealing a circuit of defensive walls, remains of a large public building or temple, two monumental gateways, and cemeteries. He also uncovered the most distinctive of the site's features, a large rectangular basin, and a channel leading to the sea which he mistook as a causeway to access the lagoon.

Later excavations
In 1955 a small Oxford University expedition arrived in Motya and conducted exploratory digs. Subsequent excavations were undertaken by the British Expedition at Motya under the leadership of Benedikt Isserlin between 1955 and 1970. Isserlin concentrated his work on the 'cothon' in 1968, and three years later he published a synthesis of the expedition findings. Isserlin revised the previous interpretation of the basin, arguing that it was a dry dock for ship repair and careening.

 SINCE WHEN 

Excavation work was resumed by the Sapienza University of Rome and the Superintendence for Cultural and Environmental Heritage of Trapani. The Italian mission undertook extensive excavations that led to the reinterpretation of the function of the pool and its surrounding complex, and helped establish an accurate, site-wide chronology.

Architecture and description
it comprised, around the sacred pool, three main temples, and various other cultic constructions and installations. At the center of the pool stood a larger than life-sized statue of the foremost Phoenician deity, the god Baal. The pool's architecture and layout also suggested a sacred astronomical function.

37 x stone-lined rectangular structure rectangular, made from massive ashlar blocks.

Original interpretation
When Whitaker discovered the large basin and the channel connecting it to the sea, he misidentified it as an inland harbor, which he labeled a "Carthaginian cothon". Whitaker borrowed the classical term “kothon” (cothon) that was used to describe the man-made circular military harbor of Carthage. This until the Scholars believed that the basin was a kothon, an ancient artificial inland ship harbor.

In 1971 Isserlin published a synthesis of his expedition's findings, and revised the previous interpretation of the basin, arguing that it was a dry dock for ship repair and careening.

Reinterpretation of the function of the basin
The Italian mission's most recent excavation campaigns, undertaken between 2002 and 2020, focused on the southern part of the island, particularly the large water basin. These uncovered fresh evidence allowing a full reinterpretation of the function of the construction as a sacred pool of great religious importance. The pool held at its center, a statue of Baal, and it may have been used for ritual ablutions.

A circular temenos, discovered in 2009 confirmed the central location of the pool. The temenos was 0.7 to 1.5 m wide and 3 m high. Within the temenos, and around the pool stood three structures: a temple dedicated to the foremost Phoenician god Baal, another to his consort Astarte, and a third building located on the western side of the complex. The latter was labeled the "Sanctuary of the Holy Waters" by Lorenzo Nigro and his team, because of the cult-related and hydraulic facilities it contained.

discovery of multiple temples surrounding the pool, and of

Further excavations between 2009

and 2021 revealed the temenos wall, 0.7–1.5m wide and 3m high, which encloses the ‘Kothon’

and the Temple of Ba’al within a circular, 118m-diameter area (Nigro 2018: 262–68, 2019a:

1650–52)

that occupied a central location within a massive religious sanctuary.

Dating
The religious complex dates back to 550 BC, and remained in use until the island's destruction in 396 BC.

How the date was known, how it was confirmed

Location
Motya (Mozia modern San Pantaleo) is an island located in a shallow lagoon about 1 km or six stadia from Sicily in the Bay of Stagnone. It is framed by the Isola Lunga to the West and the Sicilian coast to the East. The island measures about 750 x, and it was joined to the mainland in ancient times by a causeway. The island provided natural resources such as salt, fish, and fresh water, as well as a safe harbor in a strategic location between North Africa, Iberia, and Sardinia.

Artifacts and finds
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