During a study carried out in the Phoenician city of Motya, Just off the coast of Sicily, archaeologists have discovered an artificial lake that was actually a sacred pool aligned with the stars.
Motya is currently known as San Pantaleon Islanda few kilometers west of the Sicilian coast.
About 2,500 years ago it was a wealthy trading colonybut also had one of the ritual pools the largest in the Mediterranean. Now it has been discovered that it is also aligned with the stars.
A ‘pool’ aligned with the stars
Many years of research had led experts to believe that the artificial lake was a military portsimilar to that found in the Phoenician city of Carthage.
However, a new study published in the journal antiquityrevealed that it really is a sacred freshwater pool. It was surrounded by temples with statues of the deity Ba’alon a pedestal in the center.
Mapping of where the pool is. Credit: La Sapienza University of Rome/Antiquity
Ba’al is a deity who was present in different cultures of Asia Minor, such as the Babylonians, Carthaginians, Philistines and, of course, the Phoenicians. He was known as the god of rain, thunder and fertility.
Experts believe that the ritual pool was created in the 550 BC C., when Motya was rebuilt after a carthage attack. Moreover, it was aligned with the stars as the centerpiece of a huge religious shrine.
The remains of the pool have been discovered for the premiere in 1920but archaeologists have estimated that it was an artificial harbor. It was only during recent studies carried out on site that it was discovered that this was not the case.
South wall of the “cotton” that separates the swimming pool from the Marsala lagoon. Credit: “La Sapienza” University of Rome.
Teacher Lorenzo Negrofrom La Sapienza University in Rome, said that for a whole century it was believed that the Motya Cotton it was a port, but new excavations have radically changed this interpretation. That’s how we found out he was a sacred poolin the center of a huge religious complex.
The recent excavations are part of a decades-long project at Motya. Previous studies had located a Ba’al Temple on the edge of Cottoninstead of the expected port buildings.
This unexpected discovery led to a re-examination of the artificial lake from 2010.
Huge religious complex
Over the next 10 years, Nigro and his team drained and dug the basin, which exceeds the diameters an Olympic swimming pool.
These same data led the team to confirm that it was not a portsince it was not connected to the sea. Instead, it was powered by natural springsexplained the professor.
Archaeologists have also made another important discovery; additional temples surrounding the Cothon, as well as stelae, altars, votive offerings, and a pedestal in the center of the lake which at one time contained a statue of Ba’al.
Remains of the statue found in the center of the pool alongside an edit of his appearance in the past. Credit: Credit: La Sapienza University of Rome/Antiquity
Each of these discoveries reveals that the space was not a port, but a sacred basin at the center of one of the largest worship complexes in the preclassic Mediterranean.
Even more surprisingly, mapping the location revealed that it was aligned with the stars:
“The nearby Temple of Ba’al is in line with the rise of Orion at the winter solsticewhile contrails and other features were aligned with other astronomical events. This testifies to the deep knowledge of the sky acquired by ancient civilizations.”
The huge sacred pool will continue to be studied by experts, in search of new data about it. However, it already shows us, once again, the enormous degree of knowledge about astronomy and our universe in general that civilizations had in the past.
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