Natural water springs fed the basin
Archaeologists from La Sapienza University in Rome have been digging on Mozia for around 60 years. When they began to take a closer look at the supposed port 20 years ago, they drained the basin and exposed its stone block surround. They found that underground springs fed the basin with water through channels. In addition, the researchers discovered the remains of buildings in the area that belonged to three temples: a large building for the weather and sky god Baal, east of the basin. Not far from the house of Baal, north of it, was a temple of Astarte – the important Phoenician goddess is associated with war, but was also worshiped as a deity of love similar to the Greek goddess Aphrodite. In addition, west of the basin there was a sanctuary with buildings including a brick sacrificial pit under the open sky, which was filled with the bones of sacrificial animals. Possibly the blood of the animals had also been offered here. The pit had been sealed with two stone anchors. Due to hydraulic engineering installations, the excavators around Nigro assume that the remains were a kind of water sanctuary.
The remains of numerous smaller buildings, steles, altars, sacrificial pits and votive offerings were also found on the circular area. The function and location of these finds, the temple and the basin to each other led Nigro to assume that everything belonged to a large temenos, a sacred area. The cultic activities may have revolved around the sky, water and associated deities, typical of Phoenician beliefs. In particular, the element of water was probably of outstanding importance: it turned out during the excavations that at the time of the Phoenicians – from the 8th to the 5th century B.C. BC – the basin was never connected to the lagoon. Only after the destruction of Mozia by Dionysus I was a canal laid to the sea shore. Later, in Roman times, fish were bred here, and in modern times the basin was converted into a salt works.
A sanctuary aligned with the starry sky
Many centuries earlier, the Phoenicians had probably performed rituals in and around the basin with the aim of pleasing the gods and asking for safe sea voyages. Nigro supports this thesis with reference to the buildings and their orientation: The longitudinal axis of the Baal temple points approximately to the east-southeast – to where the constellation Orion rises at the winter solstice. The Phoenicians identified Orion with the god Baal. In addition, a find indirectly confirmed Nigro’s thesis: in the context of the Baal temple, the excavators came across a bronze needle that once belonged to an ancient navigation device.
The main entrance to the Temple of Baal faced south-southwest, as did the Temple of Astarte. The planet Venus, with which the goddess Astarte was equated, appears on this axis in the summer night sky. Inside the temple, in a niche on the north side, there was probably an image of the goddess – in the extension of the niche lies Mount Eryx in western Sicily. There was an Elymian settlement of the same name in Phoenician times. They were part of the pre-Greek population of Sicily and had also built a temple to Astarte, or Aphrodite or Venus, which according to Cicero was known for its wealth and temple prostitution.
Statue Fragments | The fragment of the base and the torso of a statue were found near the sacral pool of Mozia and in the lagoon in front of the island.
The equinoxes were also marked with steles and niches in the temenos. To be more precise, certain stars rose at these points in time at the marked points, such as Sirius in the southern sky at the autumn equinox. Last but not least: The water sanctuary, which is located in the west towards sunset, is linked to ideas of the underworld, according to Nigro. This is indicated by the sacrificial pit that leads down into the ground.
A statue of Baal towered in the center of the pool
During the excavations, the researchers documented a series of protruding blocks on the northern edge of the basin. At this point, the sanctuary visitors could have drawn water or carried out ritual ablutions. In any case, it was easy to get to the water here, which didn’t go very deep: just five feet. Ships could certainly not navigate the basin, which contradicts an interpretation as a port or dry dock.