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When you come from Trapani,
shortly before arriving in Marsala, amid the low islands that barely emerge from
the Stagnone lagoon, at low tide you can walk with your feet just covered by
water the few hundred metres that separate Motya from the mainland; otherwise, a
big boat will take you over in a few minutes. Motya is a little natural and
archaeological miracle: fragments of walls, of flights of steps, of
fortifications, have as their immediate background the sea and the heights on
the other islands; on the bank, the silence is broken by the slow rhythm of the
waves against the stones; the cothon, a rare example of a Punic artificial
harbour – the only one in Sicily – runs weaving in among regular stone blocks,
at whose edges there alteranate green scrub and sandy earth. Ancient Motya,
called San Pantaleo, was founded by the Phoernicians from Tyre around the end of
the 8th century and achieved wealth trough trade, also gradually
taking in peoples of Greek origin and minting money. The etymological meaning of
the word might be “spinning mill”, and indeed it seems it was famous for the
production of cloths dyed with the red of molluscs that were abundant there.
(English
extract by “Civiltà antiche”, Azienda
Provinciale
Turismo
Trapani)
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