Ricerc@Sapienza

Sapienza University of Rome and the Superintendence of Trapani have
been carrying on a major research project on the island of Motya since year
2002. Renewed excavations, restorations and studies over 15 years produced
a flow of fresh data which substantially changed the narration of the history
of the island from a prominent prehistoric occupation in the first half of the
second millennium BC to the Phoenician landing and development of a
flourishing harbour city at the centre of the Mediterranean, until its final
destruction in 397/6 BC by Dionysious of Syracuse, later surviving as seat
of industrial activities and of a rural religious outpost. This paper summarizes
most recent results of fieldwork and related studies, highlighting what
has changed in the archaeological record, as well as in the historical interpretation.