This image is of a 1st century B.C. wall painting of theatrical mask with garland and fruit from the House of the Masks in Solunto, an ancient city on top of Mount Catalfano in Santa Flavia. The precious fresco is now housed at the Regional Archaeological Museum Antonio Salinas in Palermo. Fun fact: my grandfather…
Tag: solunto
Rejoice! Progress in Palermo!
Palermo’s archaeological museum, Il Museo Archeologico Regionale “Antonio Salinas,” houses one of the world’s most robust collections of ancient Punic and Greek art and artifacts. Priceless pieces from sites across Sicily are represented; however, for the past 5-6 years, the museum has been closed for renovation and its collection has remained behind the locked doors….
Collecting Water
The ruins of the ancient city of Solunto high up on the slope of Mount Catalfano show a sophisticated use of gravity for water collection, as illustrated here by what is left of a large public cistern that sits at the end of the main street. Founded by the Phoenicians circa 700 BC and then…
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…
Porticello from Solunto
Porticello from Monte Catalfano and the ancient city of Solunto. The Phoenicians, who settled on the top of Monte Catalfano several hundred centuries BC, knew a good view when they found one!
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…