The mixing of cultures throughout the Mediterranean, especially in coastal cities and towns, is evident throughout Sicily. Record of such are these “ushabti” housed in the G. Whitaker Museum on Mozia near Marsala. Ushabti are funerary figurines that were common in Ancient Egypt. Buried with the dead, they represent servants or serfs for the deceased…
Tag: fenicio
Tanit, Ancient Goddess
This image represents the ancient goddess Tanit who was revered by Punic peoples throughout the Mediterranean and north coast of Africa. She was a heavenly goddess of war, a virginal mother, and a nurse. At Solunto, an ancient Phoenician site established between the 8th and 7th centuries BC near present-day Bagheria and Santa Flavia, there…
“Pip” Whitaker
On the island of Mozia, off of Marsala, is the G. Whitaker Museum, named for Giuseppe, or Joseph Whitaker (1850-1936), who was affectionately known as “Pip.” Pip was the son of Joseph Whitaker, Senior, an entrepreneur from West Yorkshire, England. The Whitakers, like their industrious counterparts the Woodhouses, Hopps, Inghams, and Pynes, came to Sicily…
Unknown Star
This six-pointed star is an inlay in the terracotta pavement of the principal street at Solunto on the summit of Mount Catalfano in Santa Flavia. Scholars don’t know the sigificance of it. Solunto was originally a Pheonician settlement that was established between the 8th and 7th centuries BC. The Greeks conquered it in the 4th…
Solunto, an Ancient Phoenician City
I like to believe that I could trace my roots to Solunto, one of the first settlements by the Phoenicians that was established between the 8th and 7th centuries BC. The ruins of Solunto, of which these three reconstructed columns are a part, may be visited in Santa Flavia atop Mount Catalfano, overlooking Porticello where…