Listed 3 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "MOZIA Island SICILY" .
Motya (Motue: Eth. Motuaios: S Pantaleo), a city on the W. coast of
Sicily, between Drepanum and Lilybaeum. It was situated on a small island, about
three quarters of a mile (six stadia) from the mainland, to which it was joined
by an artificial causeway. (Diod. xiv. 48.) It was originally a colony of the
Phoenicians, who were fond of choosing similar sites, and probably in the first
instance merely a commercial station or emporium, but gradually rose to be a flourishing
and important town. The Greeks, however, according to their custom, assigned it
a legendary origin, and derived its name from a woman named Motya, whom they connected
with the fables concerning Hercules. (Steph. B. s. v.) It passed, in common with
the other Phoenician settlements in Sicily, at a later period under the government
or dependency of Carthage, whence Diodorus calls it a Carthaginian colony; but
it is probable that this is not strictly correct. (Thuc. vi. 2 ; Diod. xiv. 47.)
As the Greek colonies in Sicily increased in numbers and importance the Phoenicians
gradually abandoned their settlements in the immediate neighbourhood of the new
comers, and concentrated themselves in the three principal colonies of Solus,
Panormus, and Motya. (Thuc. l. c.) The last of these, from its proximity to Carthage
and its opportune situation for communication with Africa, as well as the natural
strength of its position, became one of the chief strongholds of the Carthaginians,
as well as one of the most important of their commercial cities in the island.
(Diod. xiv. 47.) It appears to have held, in both these respects, the same position
which was attained at a later period by Lilybaeum. Notwithstanding these accounts
of its early importance and flourishing condition, the name of Motya is rarely
mentioned in history until just before the period of its memorable siege. It is
first mentioned by Hecataeus (ap. Steph. B. s. v.), and Thucydides notices it
among the chief colonies of the Phoenicians in Sicily, which still subsisted at
the period of the Athenian expedition, B.C. 415. (Thuc. vi. 2.) A few years later
(B.C. 409) when the Carthaginian army under Hannibal landed at the promontory
of Lilybaeum, that general laid up his fleet for security in the gulf around Motya,
while he advanced with his land forces along the coast to attack Selinus. (Diod.
xiii. 54, 61.) After the fall of the latter city, we are told that Hermocrates,
the Syracusan exile, who had established himself on its ruins with a numerous
band of followers, laid waste the territories of Motya and Panormus (Id. xiii.
63); and again during the second expedition of the Carthaginians under Hamilcar
(B.C. 407), these two cities became the permanent station of the Carthaginian
fleet. (Id. xiii. 88.)
It was the important position to which Motya had thus attained that
led Dionysius of Syracuse to direct his principal efforts to its reduction, when
in B.C. 397 he in his turn invaded the Carthaginian territory in Sicily. The citizens
on the other hand, relying on succour from Carthage, made preparations for a vigorous
resistance; and by cutting off the causeway which united them to the mainland,
compelled Dionysius to have recourse to the tedious and laborious process of constructing
a mound or mole of earth across the intervening space. Even when this was accomplished,
and the military engines of Dionysius (among which the formidable catapult on
this occasion made its appearance for the first time) were brought up to the walls,
the Motyans continued a desperate resistance; and after the walls and towers were
carried by the overwhelming forces of the enemy, still maintained the defence
from street to street and from house to house. This obstinate struggle only increased
the previous exasperation of the Sicilian Greeks against the Carthaginians; and
when at length the troops of Dionysius made themselves masters of the city, they
put the whole surviving population, men, women, and children, to the sword. (Diod.
xiv. 47-53.) After this the Syracusan despot placed it in charge of a garrison
under an officer named Biton; while his brother Leptines made it the station of
his fleet. But the next spring (B.C. 396) Himilcon, the Carthaginian general,
having landed at Panormus with a very large force, recovered possession of Motya
with comparatively little difficulty. (Id. ib. 55.) That city, however, was not
destined to recover its former importance; for Himilcon, being apparently struck
with the superior advantages of Lilybaeum, founded a new city on the promontory
of that name, to which he transferred the few remaining inhabitants of Motya.
(Diod. xxii. 10. p. 498.) From this period the latter altogether disappears from
history; and the little islet on which it was built, has probably ever since been
inhabited only by a few fishermen.
The site of Motya, on which earlier geographers were in much doubt,
has been clearly identified and described by Captain Smyth. Between the promontory
of Lilybaeum (Capo Boeo) and that of Aegithallus (S. Teodoro), the coast forms
a deep bight, in front of which lies a long group of low rocky islets, called
the Stagnone. Within these, and considerably nearer to the mainland, lies the
small island called S. Pantaleo, on which the remains of an ancient city may still
be distinctly traced. Fragments of the walls,, with those of two gateways, still
exist, and coins as well as pieces of ancient brick and pottery-the never failing
indications of an ancient site - are found scattered throughout the island. The
circuit of the latter does not exceed a mile and a half, and it is inhabited only
by a few fishermen; but is not devoid of fertility. (Smyth's Sicily, pp. 235,
236.) The confined space on which the city was built agrees with the description
of Diodorus that the houses were lofty and of solid construction, with narrow
streets (stenopoi) between them, which facilitated the desperate defence of the
inhabitants. (Diod. xiv. 48, 51.)
It is a singular fact that, though we have no account of Motya having
received any Greek population, or fallen into the hands of the Greeks before its
conquest by Dionysius, there exist coins of the city with the Greek legend MOTUAION.
They are, however, of great rarity, and are apparently imitated from those of
the neighbouring city of Segesta. (Eckhel, vol. i. p. 225.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
An ancient Sikel-Greek settlement near San Cataldo on a group of five
small hills. Excavation has clarified the history of this unknown city which,
as some evidence indicates, should perhaps be identified with Motyon, the Akragan
fortified site destroyed by the Sicilian leader Ducetius in 451 B.C. and immediately
reconquered by the Greeks the following year. Excavation has indicated a phase
in the Early Bronze Age. The first Greek vases appear around the second quarter
of the 6th c., perhaps after contact with Akragan colonists. During the 5th c.
B.C. the village assumed the appearance of a small Greek polis, with houses on
terraces, streets on a grid plan, and a sanctuary with a small temple decorated
by painted antefixes of Geloan-Akragan type.
Shortly after mid 5th c. destruction, the city recovered with great
vigor; houses and sanctuary were rebuilt, and the small temple received a new
decoration with molded antefixes. Coins of this period are exclusively Akragan
and the graves of men in the necropolis invariably produce the same funerary gifts:
one krater and one pelike of Attic red-figure ware, an iron dagger, and a bronze
strigil. The city appears to have been repopulated mainly for military reasons
since it was located on the Akragan border; this fact could validate its identification
as Motyon. Excavation has also shown that the city, like others in the same area,
was abandoned at the end of the 5th c. B.C., probably at the time of the Carthaginian
invasion, and was rebuilt in the second half of the 4th c. B.C. as part of the
general program of Sicilian recolonization promoted by Timoleon. Even this city,
however, like the neighboring centers of Gibil Gabib, Sabucina, and Capodarso,
was completely destroyed ca. 311-310 B.C., probably by Agathokles, tyrant of Syracuse.
At the end of the 4th c. A.D., it was again inhabited by a small Christian
community, as shown by the discovery of cist and arched tombs containing lamps
of African type. Of the excavated areas, only the sanctuary has been left uncovered
in the single-level area within the center of the city. It includes a small temple
with temenos and altar, and it is surrounded by rectangular structures, some of
which contained votive offerings. The archaeological finds (vases, bronzes, statuettes,
architectural terracottas) are displayed in the museums of Gela and Agrigento.
P. Orlandini, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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